Mostly because they don’t know who else to call.

Not long ago I saw a very ragged man stumbling around and he just curled up and went to sleep in the middle of a busy road. What to do? I can stand and block traffic. But, he’s not listening to anyone and I’m not going to grab and drag someone who is that far gone.

Thankfully, before I called the police another (very likely homeless) person was braver than me. He did grab the passed-out dude, got him to his feet and over to the sidewalk to lay back down.

I’m not happy with any aspect of that event -especially not myself. But, I only had two options: get myself into a potential wrestling match with someone who was very much out of their mind, or ask a cop to do it instead.