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It's distressingly too easy to "swat" someone. We need to do an audit on why this is.
^It used to be where they would start with a policeman coming to the door to investigate the issue. They can usually sense if there is a problem or not and then take the appropriate action.
I think we need to fix the system so some dumb kid cannot just easily swat whomever they want.
I'm genuinely curious, how is this possible? Is all that it takes to swat someone is to call in, claim a violent situation with firearms is unfolding, and give an address? Because, that should never happen. To me that seems a violation of our constitutional rights.
I blame the procedures if this is the case. I just watched a video where people in this neighborhood were hearing what sounded like a woman screaming from this one particular house going "LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT" and someone called the cops. A couple of police cruisers came to the house and the officers simply came to the nearest person at the residents, guns still holstered, to ask for an explanation and the guy complied by going into the house and then come back out with a parrot that was making all the noise. This should be standard procedure to all of these calls. Start with a simple welfare check. Only cases where a swat is needed is when it's at a bank and the manager is pushing the silent alarm system. But even then, it's not even a real swat, but a true investigation in case there is a hostage crisis. So, like I said, the system needs a rehaul.
I blame the procedures if this is the case. I just watched a video where people in this neighborhood were hearing what sounded like a woman screaming from this one particular house going "LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT" and someone called the cops. A couple of police cruisers came to the house and the officers simply came to the nearest person at the residents, guns still holstered, to ask for an explanation and the guy complied by going into the house and then come back out with a parrot that was making all the noise. This should be standard procedure to all of these calls. Start with a simple welfare check. Only cases where a swat is needed is when it's at a bank and the manager is pushing the silent alarm system. But even then, it's not even a real swat, but a true investigation in case there is a hostage crisis. So, like I said, the system needs a rehaul.
Aside from your parrot video thought (I have seen the same video), you clearly have no idea what danger LEO's potentially face on a day to day basis.
When a call comes in to 911 saying an armed person is about to kill people at XYZ location, no officer is going to approach the situation like you envision.
Furthermore, if it is a big enough city to have an active SWAT unit on call 24/7/365, they are going to be deployed to help minimize danger to fellow officers, citizens in the general area, and most important, those who might be subjected to harm from an armed suspect.
That is what these sickos are hoping for, that possibly a fake scenario they create via a call/text/social media post accomplishes someone being killed.
All because of hatred toward the person at a particular address.
Don't the dispatchers know where you're calling from? That would eliminate some of this. Someone calling saying they were at that estate and had ______ emergency, and you see they're calling from out of state - as happened with the Rome NY call to Rome GA in the case of MTG, it seems that would raise immediate alarms of a hoax.
If I know your phone number and where you live, I could be anywhere in the world and make a call to anyone else as you, from your own phone number and location.
It's just technology. If you know how it works, you can manipulate it to do what you want.
If the people behind these things know anything at all about this stuff, and I'm sure they do, there's about zero chance that they're going to get caught. The only way to solve the swatting problem is to fundamentally change how the system works. This is something I've thought a fair amount about and there's no solution which doesn't cost lives. The whole system relies on people being honest when they call. If they're not, it falls apart. The resources in play are scarce and expensive.
This is kids stuff and pretty pathetic.... this is something that a 12 year old would do with prank phone calls and shows you where our society has gone to.
Not always no, you’ve got burner phones, spoofers or folks who moved around and never switched the number over but now live in the jurisdiction. For example, I never switched my number to a local area code, if I call LE right now, the call would show as coming from New York City (my original home) even though I’m in SoCal.
Emergency calls made from cellphones include the phone's GPS location. They'll know where you are.
Not all swatting is bad, Here in Maine we have hundreds of illegal marijuana growing operations being run by Chinese nationals. They pay no taxes and sell the pot on the black market, undermining legal marijuana growers.
A local investigative reporter has a list of many of these operations, and has offered it to many different law enforcement agencies here, with no takers for some reason.
So some locals are taking matters into there own hands and have now started swatting the locations, forcing our corrupt AG, State Police, sheriff's to finally do there jobs.
This is kids stuff and pretty pathetic.... this is something that a 12 year old would do with prank phone calls and shows you where our society has gone to.
Pathetic, yes. Kid's stuff? NO. It's extraordinarily serious. It's intentionally tying up critical municipal resources and puts the lives of everyone involved at risk. THEY KNOW THIS. It's why they do it.
Nothing about "swatting" is a prank. It's a deadly serious attack against the target and the police department.
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