We have lived here for the last 10 years. We always pay our water bill. Occasionally, we’ll forget and receive a final notice for our water bill which we will promptly pay.
Tonight at 8 pm, a city police officer banged on our door with a blinding flashlight in hand. Made me verify my identification and then handed me my water bill (the due date being a week from now)
What the hell!
Well that’s dystopian as fuck… unless it’s like a really small town and like one dude is the mayor, sheriff, town treasurer and champion hotdog eater. Then it becomes a simple matter of necessity.
It is a small-ish town, but in the 8 years we have lived here we’ve never had a police officer deliver a water bill or anyone for that matter, especially at 8 at night
With an authoritative tone he told me to “Make you pay that in the morning”
According to the bill he handed me, it’s due in a week
Made me wonder how many other people he harassed tonight
Does the city own the water company? It seems pretty petty and weird and kind of a resource management issue. I doubt the cop was thrilled about it either… most of them do like to think of themselves as crime fighters not debt collectors.
I’d call the police station or the water company and ask. I might even call the local paper and mention that you’re being harassed. I can’t count how many times I paid a water bill late in my 20’s… actually had them come out and pull the whole valve out and cap the supply line. 😅
Never got a visit from the police.
Same here
The usual process is that if you don’t pay your bill then the city worker comes out to shut off the water, then if you still don’t pay it they send the bill to collections
At no point is law enforcement involved
According the bill, it wasn’t even due yet
City hall is getting an earful in the morning
Not only is it inappropriate, it’s dangerous. Someone beating on my door aggressively at 8 at night instinctively made me think about grabbing a weapon.
Instead I peered through a window and saw the cop and his car and opened the door.
But people can be jumpy, fight or flight kicks in and suddenly someone gets seriously hurt or even dead over a stupid water bill.
He first tried to verify my identification without stating the nature of his visit. He asked me for my name and date of birth. Instead of giving that to him I asked to state the nature of his visit.
Then he asked again. I never gave him my name even though he asked for it repeatedly.
He said he wanted to make sure it ended up at the right house. He read off the address and I just looked at the number on the house and pointed to the mailbox.
I’m not identifying myself to the police for no real legal justification or taking hand receipt of a document, God knows if it’s some kind of ploy to initiate some other charge.
ACAB
You sure the cop was real? Almost sounds like a scam where a fake cop intimidates you in paying a fake bill
My first thought too lol
But if it is a scam the dude put a ton of effort into it with a complete uniform and a cruiser with the correct city livery and accessories just to hand me a complete and correct water bill that matches their weird card stock they use
It would be a pretty impressive scam for a town with a population of less than 4,000
maybe the bill is fake and it goes to his donut fund
Well, I’m paying in person at city hall so they’re going to have to give it to him