User:RJ Beam/Call the cops

Call the cops is a satire news blog that specializes in fake police, fire and paramedic news. They are often times called "The Onion for cops" or "The Onion for fire/EMS"

Started in the summer of 2013 the site has become a popular destination for public safety workers looking for a laugh. Interestingly though much of the humor of this satire is found in the comments of people who think the posts are real. Noted Fire service author Dave Statter even did a article about people taking what they read on the internet too seriously and used CallTheCops as his primary example. The writers all write under pen names, but due to the terms and slang they use it is assumed they must work in Public Safety.

The people behind CallTheCops do not try to hide they are satire. Their slogan is "The 27th Most Trusted Public Safety News Source". They also have an "about me" page that flat out say they are fake news and not to be taken seriously. In addition this "about me" points out how they fail to proof read just so the news has spelling errors no legitimate news outlet would allow.

CallTheCops first gained notoriety when they published an article about "Wal-Mart stores looking to run EMS services in rural communities". EMS directors even wrote letters to Professional EMS magazines asking about the possibility of Wal-Mart moving into their communities

Most recently CallTheCops got attention due to an article talking about Bitstrips being an NSA Trojan. This lead to an entry in Snopes and also at Gwaker Media web page Lifehacker

References

External Links

CallTheCops