For nearly two years, police have been tracking down the culprit behind a wave of hoax threats. A digital trail took them to the door of a 17-year-old in California.
There was a story posted a day or so ago about a teen getting arrested for multiple Swatting attacks. This story from Wired explains how the authorities tracked him down and pieced everything together.
as always, the real real story is, why the fuck, after all these years of SWAT teams being misused this way, do they still respond in full force to anonymous calls without checking the “target” first?
Job security? I would imagine the “shoot first, ask questions later” favors issues where there are no survivors.
Because of the huge threat that is faked, SWAT Teams MUST respond.
These assholes usually tell police that the victim’s location has a terrorist threat or someone is planning to assassinate politicians via anonymous call systems that were put in place to protect witnesses to actual crimes. It wastes police resources, makes actual threats seem fake, and puts the lives of everyone involved in a raid in danger.
Its like a twisted form of the Boy Who Cried “Wolf!” But the boy calls the someone else a wolf and the villagers who show up have guns and a history of shooting everybody’s dog
I’m not sure that passes the sniff test. SWAT teams aren’t just sitting in a room fully kitted out waiting for the phone to ring. Even if they were, there are likely regular PD closer to wherever the report is than the SWAT team. Why isn’t a car with two guys sent to the scene first to qualify the threat?
The swat team usually consists of sheriff’s deputies in my neck of the woods. They’re exactly the same distance away roughly speaking. Maybe in a city where the swat building is separated from the PD that’s the case. I do know they’ll call out other county sheriff’s deputies from nearby cities if they need a big enough response too. That’s why there were a billion cops (who did nothing) at Uvalde most likely. All types of agencies responding.
Even if its the same people, doesn’t it at least take time to get all kitted up in SWAT gear? They’re not wearing it all the time. If the threat is imminent, as the argument goes, why are they taking time to get all the gear on and groups of people in place before going to the threat?
At the North Hollywood Bank Shootout (or North Hollywood Bank Robbery) SWAT showed up with tactical gear and short shorts because two guys with AKs and bullet proof armor opened fire at a Bank of America. SWAT dropped what they were doing (I think they were exercising?), grabbed their tactical gear and guns and showed up for a fight.
Its not the same as somebody alleging that there is a terrorist bombing threat or a planned assassination, but they have to maintain that readiness just in case that it IS real.
I have no problem with readiness, but I’m talking about the FIRST cops that should be on the scene. I’m betting that North Hollywood incident didn’t have the shorts wearing SWAT officers as the first ones arriving, right? I have no problem with a large tactical response…when its qualified that that is what the situation requires. So many times we’re see the SWAT team kick in the door as the very first step of assessing a situation. That’s the problem I’m calling out.
I think I’ve been desensitized to the point of not being surprised when police use inappropriate force and too little reason in the course of their jobs.
That one episode of Darknet Diaries on swatting made me think they’re not the best idea.
Did your ever read the Boy Who Cried Wolf?
in that story, the townsfolk eventually stop coming when they realize that the boy is lying for attention. so, the question should be: has anyone working SWAT ever read that story?
of course, there are alternative interpretations…
They stop coming when an actual tragedy is occurring. The point I was trying to make is that you don’t want paramedics, firefighters, or police officers deciding for themselves if it’s a real emergency or not. They should treat them all like real emergencies.
these aren’t SWAT teams, though, and in the time between the call and the deployment, certainly someone can pick up a phone and/or google to check out the target to see if it’s legit.
I didn’t think I would have to clarify that I was including SWAT in police.
lol, ok, fair, but I tend to separate SWAT from police because it’s not what most would consider a typical police response/service (when grouped with fire/EMT as you did). at least in the context of this conversation.
anyway, the point that I’m trying to make is that, after decades of SWAT teams’ response system being abused horribly this way - especially against public figures, etc - one would think there should and would be steps taken to put safeguards in place to prevent such misuse.