Context? Of course. A quick note, however, that this free bit of legal advice is VERY good advice for people in the U.S. when dealing with any sort of Law Enforcement. Do not volunteer any information. Also, this may not technically be the case, but I do consider Animal Control to be Law Enforcement. My evening was a lot more interesting than I care for.

Came home and saw that the sheriff and municipal police were out at my family's house. I almost noped right out of that, truth be told. Got out of my car and asked "Well, what's going on this time?" So, as it turns out, there has been an issue with two of the neighbors. One of the neighbors has some dogs who either keep getting out of their back yard, or they're keeping them properly secure in the yard to begin with. One of those dogs jumped at and bit my brother's stepson while my dad was on the porch. My dad grabbed his shotgun and chased the dog off of the property...the neighbor across the street (not the dog's owner) saw the shotgun and flipped his shit, even after my dad said "It's for the dog, not you!" There was an exchange, but my dad fortunately had the presence of mind to not escalate things.

A local LEO came over along with the Sheriff because we live JUST outside the city limits, so we're in a bit of a gray area as far as who can handle what. They were soon joined by Animal Control who took all the dogs that were running loose. The neighbors across the street (again, not dog's owners) tried to turn the narrative into that my dad approached them aggressively with a firearm in hand, which my dad responded by telling the officer "Here's the video of the entire incident." because fucking technology is wonderful and has made getting home surveillance more accessible than ever, the doorbell camera showed enough for the sheriff to determine the neighbor's version of events was...off. There was no problem on my family's end with that, as it was clear the shotgun was brought out for the animal attack, not for the neighbors.

So, to give a quick recap on Part One of the advice, if someone says something against you that you know to be false and have evidence of being false, don't give your side, just provide the evidence and say "Here, this shows that is not what happened." Also get home surveillance of some kind.

Now the other part of this whole issue were the dogs' owners. When the Sheriff and local LEO came, they maintained the narrative that they believed the dog was playing and got too rough. But the bottom line was that Animal Control had to at least take the dog that was the subject of the whole mess. However, since they confirmed that all the dogs were out, Animal Control had to take all of them in and fine the owners. This is where Part Two of "shut the fuck up" comes into play (though admittedly this oops works in favor of my family and those associated with again) : the dogs' owners were cooperative, but on the phone the guy said he was worried about not having the big one (the problem dog) because he was used as a guard dog.

Language and terminology is incredibly important. Also Animal Control is, as far as I'm concerned, Law Enforcement. The AC officer's response to the "guard dog" comment was pretty much "Bruh." They had to inform my brother's wife that he said that and that they had the call recorded in case she chooses to pursue legal action, and they informed the other LEOs who responded to the incident. That one slip up from the neighbors changed the entire nature of the incident.