VANCOUVER -- Vancouver police had a different kind of stand-off to deal with when a mother duck and her nine ducklings tried to bust out of police headquarters.

According to the VPD, a concerned citizen called wildlife rescue Sunday afternoon after spotting the duck family on the ledge of the third-floor patio at the Cambie Street station.

“Officers determined that the eggs were likely laid in the area of the rooftop vegetable garden and remained hidden under the watchful eye of their mother until it was time for them to fly the coop,” the cops said in a news release.

Three officers coming off their dayshift helped wildlife rescue gather up the ducklings into a box.

“The rescuers took the ducklings down to street level, where the plan was to entice the mother duck off the patio,” the news release said. The plan worked: The mother duck flew down and followed the box containing her ducklings toward False Creek.

Policing isn't what it's quacked up to be http://t.co/1AUfxkVhKZ Ducklings bust out of #VPD HQ pic.twitter.com/3sK5SRrtn8 — Vancouver Police (@VancouverPD) April 27, 2015

The “parade” made its way down the street, the ducks’ human handlers “stopped traffic, cyclists and the odd dog before the mother and her ducklings were reunited at the water’s edge where they were safely released.”