My brother is ALWAYS listening to his police scanner,says cops are too slow,he wants to interfere as superhero

Question

I went to visit him yesterday and he shows me a bulletproof vest, cables, and small metal boomerangs that he got.

He found this dumb police scanner weeks ago, now all he does is listen to it.

He thinks the cops don't respond quickly enough to the calls, and that he could do better.

He is also obsessed with Superheros like Batman and Spiderman.

He's getting really whacked out, and was even more inspired when he saw this story on the news:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2521...

I'm really worried he will put on a mask & take "his tools" to the streets himself any day now.

He's 30 years old, lives a stable life, no history of psychiatric illness, what is going on here?

What should I do?

Answer 1

you're brother is nuts and will be a liability....how do you know that he has no psychiatric problems.....how would you know if he does or does not? are you a psychiatrist? doubt it....the both of you need help

Answer 2

Myth # 1 about mental illness... only the bums on skid row can be mentally ill. It can hit anyone, and sometimes a "stable" person is more at risk, if people blow it off because of outwardly being 'ok'. People with no history of heart attacks can, and do, have heart attacks. Even family members can explain away bizarre things, or the person keeps them hidden just enough so they are not obvious. If you have REASON to believe that he might act on his thoughts (which MIGHT be reaching the stage of delusions), call your local mental health office. If he does something stupid, his problems will be with the police. Someone who is endangering themself or others and is believed mentally ill, should, in most states, be held for a psychiatric evaluation, even if they don't want it. Look more closely for other signs that he is possibly becoming irrational. The definition of grandiosity is an ABNORMAL sense of more power, authority or capability than others. Mood swings? to the point of wildly hyper, doesn't sleep, giddy. Persons experiencing these things will normally deny that it is happening, because they don't see it. Jumping in to police incidents would be a sure sign of irrational.

Answer 3

Surely at 30 years old he is too old to be playing silly superhero games, isn't it time he went out and found himself a real life? If he is so worried about police response time, why does he not become a cop?
If he is lucky, the cops will catch him with the stuff and have a stern word, if he is unlucky he will be caught in a situation that he has no training to handle, and things could well turn nasty....
Time he got straightened out - get him to his doctor and see if he is suffering delusions - good luck!

Answer 4

You should really take him to a psychiatrist. If he did show to a call and somebody got hurt, like a victim, he would be liable in a serious civil lawsuit, if not criminal. If he's not a sworn in officer, he does not have the duty or right to practice law enforcement. Or carry weapons for that matter. Playing superhero was something we did when we were 5 years old. Tell him to grow up. The cops can handle it.

Answer 5

I don't think your brother's behaviour is normal. He seems overly into childish characters and role-playing fantasies.
I would try to discourage him from using the police scanner, as it seems to be influencing him to get involved where he has no business. He needs to be made aware that impersonating a police officer is a criminal offense, and could end up getting him shot.
I'm no doctor, but I get the impression that your brother might have issues that require professional help.

Answer 6

no history of psychotic illness you say? I think you may need a second opinion. If he does this(seriously) he will get hurt or killed or interfere and get someone else killed or hurt and then out come the lawsuits. He needs to think this through to its finality and realize that it is not the way to go about crime fighting.

Answer 7

You've asked this question a number of times. Weren't any of the other answers good enough?

Answer 8

Kind of sounds like that crazy guy in the cartoon movie "The Incredibles",,,but he needs to be careful, he migh get mistaken for a bad guy one day..????

Answer 9

Given the number of times YOU repeat your questions, I'd say you have as much of a problem as he does!

Answer 10

maybe IF you spent more time doing things in your own life rather than butting into his..........exactly how many times are you going to post this question.....................and maybe the psych eval could be done for you both.

regards