If you’ve been following along with my writing here at Guessing Headlights, you already know I have a soft spot for funny law enforcement social media posts. If you haven’t been following along, you are missing out, in my opinion.
Sure, the jokes are usually corny. A lot of them are dad jokes, but that is part of the charm.
Posts like these are also a good reminder that police officers deal with some truly bizarre situations. They remind us that there are always multiple sides to a story, that not everything someone tells law enforcement turns out to be true, and that good evidence can change an investigation in a hurry.
Maybe most importantly, they remind us that we do not always need to take everything so seriously. Done right, a little humor can make law enforcement seem more human and approachable while still getting an important message across.
That is why this recent post from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office got me.
Polk County’s WD-40 Kerfuffle
Please give the Facebook post a moment to load.
At its core, the story is pretty simple. A woman named Cynthia called deputies to report a disturbance in front of her Poinciana home. She also claimed her neighbor had tried to run her over with his car. That is not very neighborly.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies arrived and spoke with both people involved. Cynthia told them she had been walking along the road when her neighbor suddenly tried to hit her with his car.
Then deputies heard the neighbor’s side of the story. He told them he had arrived home, backed into his driveway, and pulled into his garage. That is when he said Cynthia ran over, yelled, and cussed at him, then stood at the garage entrance and blocked the door sensor so he could not close it. The sheriff’s office said the man stayed in his car with the windows up.
Then, according to the post, Cynthia grabbed a sandal and threw it at his windshield. After that, she allegedly grabbed a can of WD-40 and threw it at the windshield, too.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office described WD-40 as a multi-purpose product commonly used as a solvent, penetrant, and moisture displacer. Its less common use, the agency noted, is as a projectile during a kerfuffle.
That line alone pretty much sold me on the whole post.
The Video Changed The Story
This could have been a classic he-said, she-said neighborhood mess. Only in this case did he have video.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies reviewed security footage and determined that the incident did not happen as Cynthia described.
Cynthia was arrested and taken to what the department called “Grady Judd’s Bed & Breakfast.” She was charged with burglary with assault, petit theft from a dwelling, and knowingly giving false information of a crime.
Again, the actual case is serious. False reports are not funny. Throwing things at someone’s car is not funny if you are the person sitting inside it. But the way the sheriff’s office told the story is why people could not stop sharing it.
The Sheriff’s Office Knew Exactly What It Was Doing
What really impressed me was not the arrest story itself. It was the writing.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office could have written a dry post stating that a woman was arrested after deputies reviewed security footage and determined that her complaint did not match the video. That would have been accurate. It also would have been forgotten about in five minutes.
Instead, the department wrote about WD-40 projectiles, kerfuffles, Paul Harvey, words that rhyme with witch and duck, and Grady Judd’s Bed & Breakfast. Then the image gave people even more to look at, with Mr. Rogers, State Farm references, the Tin Man, a flying duck on a broom, and what many commenters quickly identified as an AMC Pacer.
That is why the post worked.
The sheriff’s office did not need to release a booking photo or turn the whole thing into a public shaming session. If that upsets you, I think you may have missed the point.