Heflin, Alabama — Every Halloween season, when the sun sets in the small Alabama town of Heflin, the local students from Cleburne County High School toilet paper a few homes.
But last month, they upped their game, toilet papering just about every business in town, too.
“It’s just fun,” one teen told CBS News.
“And then you don’t get caught and it’s like, this is fantastic,” said another.
It was fantastic until they made the mistake of hitting the headquarters of the Heflin Police Department.
“It was up on the roof, the spare cars we had in the parking lot … We had to do something,” Heflin Police Chief Ross McGlaughn said.
So after the “attack” on his station last month, McGlaughn took to social media to send a message to the perpetrators.
“We think that rolling the police department was a little uncalled for, but as we enter into Halloween season, we dont want to hear any crying when we load up like we are going to serve a search warrant and go full out tactical ninja style old school rolling at your place next month,” McGlaughn wrote. “We know who you are and while you just put the play station controller down for a week, we are children of the 80s and 90s who perfected this craft years ago.”
The Heflin Police Department then got to work on an operation that was supported by officers from multiple jurisdictions, all armed to the teeth with toilet paper.
It was an unusual approach to policing, to say the least. But McGlaughn did get permission from the parents in advance. And he said he has his reasons for encouraging the kids like this.
“As long as they’re doing this, they’re not getting into trouble doing something else,” McGlaughn said. “I haven’t seen any types of drugs or alcohol involved. You know, I think they’re spending all their money on toilet paper.”
The kids have definitely taken to the prank war.
“I just think it’s good clean fun for everyone, and it’s been great for our whole town, the police department and everybody,” one student said.
Heflin’s toilet paper war has so tickled the town that businesses are now offering support by putting out free toilet paper. And the kids are taking care of the ensuing mess in their own unique way, by selling insurance.
“They call it the Toilet Paper Rapid Response Team,” McGlaughn said. “So if you buy their insurance and your yard gets rolled, the youth group will come clean it up for you … So you can buy protection.”
But it’s worth it, McGlaughn said, because this has been fun for everyone, including him.
“I’m just rallying everybody,” McGlaughn said as he prepared to toilet paper another home. “That way we can hit the next house. It looks beautiful from down there.”
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