The last time I talked with a police officer was many years ago in China, when my mobile and wallet was stolen. I never thought I would need to call a police in Australia today--not because I lost my mobile or wallet again, but because of a crazy 'female cow' next door--this name was given by the others to her, not me.

 

It was a lovely day, I got up early because I need to write my 7000 words proposal and send parts of it to my supervisor before our next meeting. I went to to check the mail box of our unit to see whether I could get my parcel --it was sent from China about 1.5 months ago. The 'cow' used to make a lot of  troubles with me and she checks our mail box every morning--I'm watching her everyday from my window, and feel afraid that she will take my mail--I lost a postcard before and she has been threatening me on my personal belongings and even my life. Unfortuantely, I only found one mail, which was sent to the local boy in our unit. I just took his mail back and put it where we put all the mails of the unit. Then I went back to my room and was planning to start my work. About 20mins later, she came out of her room and went out to check the mail box as she usually does everyday, and didn't find any mail in it. So she came back and started knocking at my door very rudely. I didn't not want to answer her because she's mad, but she shouted some dirty words to me and accused me of stealing her mail. I was very angry and told her that she has no rights to shout at me and keep knocking at my door rudely, and she doesn't have the right to check my room either. I told her I could only open the door if there's a third person--either the boy in our unit or a police. But she's crazy and didn't listen to me. I was very angry because I was going to have an interview at 1pm in the city, and I can't keep on arguing with her anymore. I told her that you could call police or I will call them--she only wanted to make trouble with me, and accuse me of stealing her mail--which is a lie, so she didn't dare to call the police. But I really couldn't bare her anymore, since it was not the first time for her to make troubles with me and threatening me. After thinking about it carefully, I decided I need to call the police.

 

The police finally came after one hour of my call. There were two of them, each one 'take care' of one of us. I told the police that the 'cow' keeps shouting at me, accused me of stealing her mail, and threatened me of my life. The police took the records of my statement and suggested that if I don't feel safe, I could apply for an AVO (Apprehended Violence Order)-- It is what I first learnt from our interpreting course when we were talking about legal interpreting, I never thought I will need one. I thanked the police for their coming and I'm thinking about whether I'm going to apply for a AVO from local court.

 

It is not a good experience to call a police for help, but it is very important for all the international students, like me to know how to protect ourselves. Safety is the best policy!

 

Don't be afraid of the police, they're very kind and helpful unless you break the law. :-)