There are many jokes about Italian carabinieri, but this bizarre situation with the Italian police actually happened.
In a strange but true story, the mother of four-year-old Marco was concerned that her son, still using his dummy, should grow up and wean himself of the habit.
Telling him that he needed to stop using the dummy, Marco did what any other self-respecting four-year-old would do, and phoned the police, asking them to come and collect his dummies because he was too old for them.
The police, perhaps still in the Christmas spirit of things, dubbed it “operation dummy” and, speaking to mother, decided to go to the house, and collect the dummies.
Marco is apparently a huge fan of the police, and would accept this act as closure in breaking the dummy habit.
The police arrived at Marco’s house on his birthday, before the cake cutting had begun, and asked if he was ready to hand over his dummies.
Marco calmly gave them four dummies in a little bag in exchange for a police hat, and then the children had photos with the police.
So far it seems that Marco is sleeping well and may have broken the habit.
The police probably have more important things to do, but sometimes a little community spirit can go a long way.