The police continue to put their resources to good use by cracking down on hard crime. Earlier this month, a Stockton-on-Tees father, Paul Dawson, was visited by the boys in blue after making a lighthearted Facebook post about accidentally feeding his newborn son hot sauce.

The post in question read “Apparently five-day-old babies don’t like it when their dads put their fingers in their mouths after eating hot wings. Unintentionally by the way. Lol.” This was enough to warrant the police visiting the home of Mr. Dawson to accuse him of feeding his son hot sauce.

When greeted by the police, Mr. Dawson responded by asking “are you taking the piss, mate?”.

Mr. Dawson has since detailed the incident that spurred the Facebook status, sharing:

“Lorencia was breast-feeding Ben and I was eating hot wings. She was wanting to eat her food so asked if I could hold him while she ate. I’d wiped my hands on a napkin, as you do, and was holding him. He wasn’t too happy at not feeding anymore so I put my knuckle in his mouth to try and pacify him – completely forgetting about what I’d eaten. Ben made a funny face and that was that.”

Mr. Dawson was justifiably upset about how the situation played out, in a report published on The Mirror, he shared:

“I was actually quite tearful that someone had called the police. My girlfriend then asked the officers if they’d even read the Facebook post. They hadn’t, so they were shown it and they just looked embarrassed. They apologised and admitted that they shouldn’t have been called and then left. I can’t believe, with our stretched police force, they were sent out without looking into it properly. It was absolutely disgusting, it just tarnished the whole Christmas season.”

A spokesperson for the Cleveland Police shared:

“Police received a call from a member of the public regarding concern for the welfare of a baby on Tuesday 8 January. As a result, two officers were deployed to an address in Stockton to speak with the parents of the baby to understand the circumstances of the report. Officers were satisfied that the baby was safe and well and there were no further enquiries carried out.”

What’s the big deal about feeding your kids hot sauce anyway? My brother and I spent our childhood having Tabasco drinking competitions and we’re both well-adjusted adults. The cops and the snitch who shared the status are probably the kind of people that complain about their Guzman Y Gomez burrito being “too spicy” because the pico de gallo dressing contains a hint of coriander.