A recording of an emergency call by a young boy in New Zealand has gone viral after police responded to the four-year-old’s call to “come over and see” his toys.
Police in the South Island city of Invercargill shared the exchange on social media.
While they do not encourage children to ring the emergency number, officers said the call was “too cute not to share”.
The call begins in standard fashion, with the emergency operator saying: “This is police, where is the emergency?”
After a pause the unidentified boy hesitantly says, “Hi”, and then “Police lady?”
“Yes,” the dispatcher says, in a softer tone. “What’s going on?”
“Um, can I tell you something?” the boy asks, before adding: “I’ve got some toys for you.”
“You’ve got some toys for me?”
“Yep. Come over and see them!”
A man then picks up the phone from the boy and confirms the call was a mistake and there was, in fact, no emergency.
Nevertheless, a police dispatch call then goes out, providing the address and stating clearly: “There is a four-year-old there who is wanting to show police their toys, over.”
An officer pounces into action, saying: “Yeah, I’m one up, I’ll attend to.”
Police said the officer, identified only as Constable Kurt, attended the address, whereupon he was shown a selection of toys. He later confirmed to his fellow officers that, as he had testified, the boy did indeed “have cool toys”.
The force also shared a photo of Constable Kurt with the boy sitting happily on the bonnet of his police car and wearing the officer’s hat, saying the youngster had even been treated to seeing its flashing lights in operation.
