One thing people have to remember when dealing with the police is:
a) you don't have to be very bright to be a cop, so a lot of them are just-above mentally handicapped
b) they are conditioned to believe that every person they approach is a threat
So when a cop overreacts or appears to be too forceful with a potential suspect, I can understand why. They either automatically assume that the suspect is armed and dangerous (making any resistance on the suspect's part into a potentially life-threatening risk for the cop), or the officer is just too unintelligent to react properly to the situation.
Anyway, in terms of Ignorant People calling the Cops, I always hear 9-1-1 recordings from people who call the emergency line for every little thing. A guy called 911 because Burger King ran out of fries. A girl called 911 to get the personal phone number of a "cute cop" she saw earlier.
Personally, all of the illegal scrapes I've been involved in have been handled without the cops becoming involved, usually with a private agreement with the victim.
For instance, my friend and I used to use a neighbor's property to make a bonfire and cook hotdogs. Eventually his shed wall was damaged by the smoke, so after getting in trouble my friend and I agreed to repaint the wall if the neighbor wouldn't call the police.
