--- description: People called the police when Facebook went down according to tweets from LA County Sheriff Department Sgt Burton Brink title: People Called the Police Because Facebook Went Down image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # People Apparently Called the Police Because Facebook Went Down  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 1, 2014 7:30 PM CUT  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 1, 2014 7:30 PM CUT If you freaked out about [Facebook going down](http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-down-2014-8 "undefined") earlier today, we hope your next call wasn’t 911\. Sounds obvious, right? Apparently not to everyone, according to these tweets from Sergeant Burton Brink of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: [#Facebook](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Facebook?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") is not a Law Enforcement issue, please don't call us about it being down, we don't know when FB will be back up! — Burton Brink Fighting for California (@LASDBrink) [August 1, 2014](https://twitter.com/LASDBrink/status/495246980075900928?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") [@moneyries](https://twitter.com/moneyries?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") yes, we get calls all the time like this, cable TV, all sorts of things not working, they think we control. — Burton Brink Fighting for California (@LASDBrink) [August 1, 2014](https://twitter.com/LASDBrink/status/495252166869663744?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") [@Brad\_Lovett](https://twitter.com/Brad%5FLovett?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") [@sistertoldjah](https://twitter.com/sistertoldjah?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") Yes, they do. We get it all the time. — Burton Brink Fighting for California (@LASDBrink) [August 1, 2014](https://twitter.com/LASDBrink/status/495252584211308544?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") Add this incident to the list of inappropriate times to call the police – from the British woman [who called](http://time.com/2819288/woman-calls-police-because-not-enough-sprinkles-on-ice-cream/ "undefined") 999 because the ice cream man didn’t put enough sprinkles on her ice cream to the Florida woman [who called](http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/25/florida-woman-calls-911-because-of-raw-waffles/ "undefined") 911 because she claimed a restaurant served her undercooked waffles. **LIST:** [Top 10 Non-Emergency 911 Calls](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1903486,00.html "undefined") **MORE:** [Woman Calls Police Because There Aren’t Enough Sprinkles on Her Ice Cream](http://time.com/2819288/woman-calls-police-because-not-enough-sprinkles-on-ice-cream/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3071049/facebook-down-police/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3071049/facebook-down-police/"},"headline":"People Apparently Called the Police Because Facebook Went Down","datePublished":"2014-08-01T19:30:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:07.323Z","description":"According to amusing tweets from a sergeant with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department","url":"https://time.com/3071049/facebook-down-police/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3071049/facebook-down-police/","name":"People Apparently Called the Police Because Facebook Went Down"}}]}] ```