Here in the states, such happens far too often. I can not cite examples of this without violating rule #11. Dispatchers are not trained to determine what laws (or what exemptions to a given law, if any), apply.

What you and I might consider common sense, in the handling of such a call... just simply does not apply. But that the call occurs at all, is the problem, and is totally outside of any control the affected party might think they have over the situation.

If you think you can control whether someone else calls, or think you can control what questions a dispatcher would ask the caller, or think you can control the adrenaline level of the responding officer (maybe the call was "HURRY! HE'S GOT A KNIFE!"... not "Yeah, this guy, see... he's got a knife in his kilt sock... and he's just casually sitting down enjoying his ice cream desert, not bothering anyone..."), then perhaps you have a super power. I, as a tourist traveling in a foreign land, would rather do everything possible to minimize or prevent any interaction with law enforcement. Relying upon other people to exercise common sense is not how I'd go about that.