Has someone been Clowning Around?
By Chief Danny Watson, City of Darlington Chief of Police
I can genuinely say without any reservation that I do in fact have a sense of humor. There are many things that I find funny that others do not find as humorous as I do. People’s ideas of what it is funny, and what is not funny, are as varied as their political opinions. Seeing someone fall down is in no way funny to me. If you watch clips online or certain movies this type of physical comedy is hilarious to some. Someone falling down just does nothing to tickle my funny bone. I’m not judging, if that’s your thing then by all means enjoy.
Another thing that a lot of people find really funny is for someone to jump out and scare someone else. I have several brothers, and I can tell you that this has happened to me a few times. I can also tell you that if they did it, they knew not to be within reach of me when they did it. Scared people react in all types of different ways. It is safe to say that if you jump out and scare me, I’m most likely going to hit you before I even realize who you are. There are many people like this; I surely am not the only one.
Now, for some reason there have been some interesting reports that have popped up around the country about bizarre clown sightings. I can safely say that I know quite a few people who are in fact afraid of clowns. People who are afraid of clowns can’t really pinpoint a reason they are afraid, clowns just “creep them out.” My daughter is afraid of clowns, and has been all of her life. I will admit that I find it kind of funny that she is afraid of clowns. I, in an attempt at humor, have sent her a picture of a clown or two on her phone. She does not like this even a little bit. She has in fact punched me a couple of times to remind me that she frowns upon my poor attempt at humor. I realized when this happened I had it coming.
Keeping this in mind, around the country there have been several reports of clowns creeping in the woods, hiding in shadows, and so on. So far I have found no reports where an actual clown was located. This has now become a common occurrence such as a Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster sightings being reported. Since the first reporting, more and more of these sightings are being called in around the country. So what is causing this, you ask? I truly for the life of me can’t say. It seems pretty clear to me that if you say you’ve seen a clown creeping about that this is not something that commonly occurs.
It is my belief that if this doesn’t stop, someone is going to get hurt badly. People have a tendency to overreact when they are frightened. Earlier I spoke of my brothers jumping out and scaring me. Trust me- getting punched in the eye really hard is no laughing matter. We can certainly “what if“ this scenario to death. Law enforcement takes every complaint seriously; I know for a fact that our agency does.
The most frightening thing to me as a police officer is what happens when the prank goes awry. It’s too late when someone gets hurt to say, “It was only a joke, I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.” I’m positively sure that I will have detractors who will say, “The police have no sense of humor, and it’s all in good fun”. Maybe it is in good fun. Maybe no one will get hurt, and lots of people will laugh until their sides almost split.
I do have a suggestion for my wannabe clowns out there. If you want to dress like a clown I am almost positive there are jobs available at the dozens of haunted houses around the country during this Halloween. So if that is your thing, then by all means go to a haunted house and get your scare on. Do not go out in public dressed like a clown and jump out for the purposes of scaring the daylights out of someone though.
Finally, if you think it is really funny to just call the police for the purposes of perpetuating some type of prank – just don’t. Police departments, sheriff’s offices and other agencies already have their hands full on a daily basis without this nonsense. So, what’s the harm in doing that? Well, incidentally, filing a false report is a crime. So do yourself and the police agency in the jurisdiction you live in a favor, don’t be a clown. If you decide that this is an overwhelming compulsion you just can’t keep from doing, my suggestion is to join the circus. Joining the circus means you get to be a clown every day and get paid for it. Pranks are great but they need to be done with some common sense in an atmosphere where no one gets hurt.
By the way, common sense must be a super power these days.
Chief Danny Watson MPA FBI NA # 228, Chief of Police for City of Darlington, has been on the Darlington Police Department since 1994 and Chief since 2011.