I mean like sending them an email asking for the official reports/bodycams or what have you, not just flat out asking them "hey did you go to x person's house on y date because of z crime?" and getting an answer.
It feels so... unbureaucratic, which I'm not used to at all.
It's scary when you realize the local police department is actually
more efficient and transparent than the rest of our broken criminal justice system (and slightly less crooked, too).
Ironically, since cops hate paperwork with a passion, they're all too happy to just directly answer inquiries like these when possible. Ten second phone call versus hours of paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense to "satisfy a formal inquiry?" They'll spill the beans by phone practically every time.
That's what I mean, I assumed that if you called them to ask about it they would just tell you nothing. I didn't think there was some magical spell that prevented you from simply dialing the phone number.
Ah, understood. But no, generally speaking they won't really stonewall you if you call to ask about such things. For all they know, you're a potential witness, family member, victim, suspect, or otherwise involved in the incident. In fact you can sometimes get faster answers about a given situation (even if you're involved) by calling them than you would waiting for them to contact you after following whatever trail leads to you. Calling and asking "hey have there been any car accidents involving X car with license plate ABC-123?" means they don't have to look up the car's registration, figure out who owns it, find their contact info, etc. if there's been a wreck, or they can quickly say "nope, we've got nuthin'" if there hasn't.
The only time they get really dickish about specific details on calls are for major felonies (they're not going to give details of a murder over the phone) or when officials are involved (cops ventilate somebody, the town mayor gets busted for DUI, active manhunt, etc.).
