Last night I heard a domestic dispute.
“Domestic dispute” is probably what it would be called in a police incident report, but the polite phrase doesn’t do justice to the violent screaming I heard. A man was roaring vile words at a woman, calling her a “c**t”, and “look what you make me do”, and the woman was screaming in apparent terror.
I was safe behind the locked door of my AirBnb apartment in central Sydney, and yet I didn’t call the police.
Sitting here today, it is difficult to explain exactly why I didn’t make that call. I was alone in a strange city for the first time and I didn’t know anyone, so I was scared. I had seen some rough-looking people around the apartment complex, and I was mostly afraid that if I did call the police to report the dispute, I would somehow be identified. Perhaps the police officers would come up to my apartment to talk to me, and everyone would know that it was me; that I was the snitch.
Top Comments
I hope next time you make the call. Make that call because the unknown woman you heard screaming probably won't be able to...and even if she could the police would be the last people she would think to call. Maybe things have changed now but rarely is the victim taken seriously so it needs to be a member of the public! So make the call someone's life could depend on it.
I was staying in a hotel in the US and as I opened my door, I heard screaming and yelling, and a bang, from the room next door. I was terrified for a moment and froze, but I called the hotel front desk and 911. I don't know what happened from there, because I turned around and ran out of the hotel again, but I hope that woman is okay. I think about her every now and then.