It seems like you can't go a day in America without hearing a story about the incompetence of the police in one city or another. People complain about excessive force, unnecessary car chases, or labyrinthine bureaucratic systems. And I for one feel like this is completely unfair.Don't get me wrong, there are times when law enforcement can go too far. But America is a dangerous place, and the fact is that there are people that want to do bad things. Someone needs to protect society, and if you break a few eggs (or skulls) in the process, well, such is the way of things. But there are instances of police ineptitude that are simply inexplicable. And it's nice to know that its not limited to just our shores. As in the following example:

On Monday, police in England raided the a family home after an officer spotted an armed suspect through a front window. Unfortunately, the armed assailant turned out to be a life-size mannequin of Lara Croft with her signature weapon drawn.

David Williams, a 42-year old computer store owner, had brought the gaming vixen home to sell on eBay and had left her in his front room. Mr. Williams had called police to his home to register a complaint about some nuisance phone calls he had been receiving. The first officer to arrive on the scene spotted the silhouette of the dummy through the window, and called for armed backup.

"What's that you say? An armed woman?!

Before long the street had been cordoned off and the house was stormed through the back. Officers screamed at Williams to get on the floor with guns drawn.

"I didn't have a clue what was going on, I assumed they'd got the wrong house. I couldn't believe it when I reali[z]ed they'd mistaken a Lara Croft dummy for someone with a gun," said a shaken David Williams to the British Daily Mail.

The officers on the scene eventually learned their mistake, and the situation should have ended there. However, Mr. Williams was taken into custody and held in prison for 13 hours. He is now out on bail pending a firearms charge. He is considering a lawsuit against the officers responsible.

At least she listened when they said, "FREEZE!"

I have a feeling that the cop who made the initial call may have been trained in emergency response with the same Boston precinct that turned an Aqua Teen marketing campaign into a bomb scare

First I want a chopper waiting to take me to the moon... Source