Massachusetts police ask people to hold off on committing crimes until heat wave is over

If you're going to commit a crime, at least wait until it cools down some.

That's what police in Braintree, Mass., told residents over the weekend, as a dangerous heat wave struck large parts of the U.S.

The town's police department made the request Friday via its Facebook page, asking people to kindly hold off on criminal activity until after temperatures cooled down.

"Due to the extreme heat, we are asking anyone thinking of doing criminal activity to hold off until Monday," the post said. "It is straight up hot as soccer balls out there."

The post went on to suggest some alternative weekend plans.

"Stay home, blast the AC, binge Stranger Things season 3, play with the face app, practice karate in your basement," the department's page said. "We will all meet again on Monday when it's cooler."

The post quickly went viral, and has been shared more than 132,000 times since Friday evening.

It's unclear whether or not any criminals respected the request, but the heat wave was definitely as severe as promised. There were 157 million people under a heat warning or advisory on Saturday, and 95 million under similar advisories on Sunday.

At least six deaths were tied to extreme temperatures over the weekend, according to CBS News.