Police apologize for using sirens to settle 'woo-woo' vs. 'nee-nah' debate

SWINDON, England, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- British police apologized to neighbors of a school after officers set off sirens to settle a student debate about whether they went "woo-woo" or "nee-nah."

The North Swindon Police posted an apology on Facebook Thursday explaining officers were giving a "People Who Help Us" talk to students at Haydonleigh Primary School in Swindon, England, when staff and students at the school told the officers they had been debating whether police sirens make a "woo-woo" sound or a "nee-nah."

"That's why we ended up setting off the sirens quite a bit," PCSO Emma Harryman of the North Swindon Police told the BBC.

The school put the debate to a vote and pupils overwhelmingly chose "woo-woo" as the closest description of the siren sound.

The police Facebook post read:

"Apologies to anyone in the area who may have been disturbed by our sirens yesterday morning -- the PCSOs were at the Primary School having a very important debate with the new Reception Year children about whether they go nee-nah or woo-woo.

Our thanks to the teachers and pupils from the Robins, Puffins and Duckling classes for being so attentive to our 'People Who Help Us' talk, we were very impressed by your beautiful behavior, thoughtful questions and knowledge about the police. We especially liked the suggestion that we should have police rhinos, and will be looking into the possibility of training them to knock down the 'baddies' front doors."