Yeah he sounds like an idiot from the short bit I could stand. Why does he keep saying the cops were swatted? The prank is obviously on this guy, not the cops. He’s lucky he’s not dead, though I’m assuming he’s white so that would help.
That call was really frustrating to listen to, and very interesting. The police in his city clearly have not had swatting risk become part of their training yet (I bet this call two years from now would be handled differently by the same department.) I don’t believe them when they claimed to have been aware of the possibility before arriving. They need to somehow learn that their operating procedures are being exploited to hurt and kill people.
The streamer mentioning taxes and “just send one officer out” was dumb. SWAT response is never financially efficient; that’s not the point. The what-ifs about bodies were dumb. He and the cops were both pretty wound up, though; it must be hard to talk straight in a situation like that.
I am glad, though, that even though the police wouldn’t admit it, they seemed to realize it wasn’t a dangerous situation once they got there. So glad they didn’t shoot the dogs, too.
I think he should talk to his city council and someone from the police about coming up with a registry for streamers and the possibility for SWAT training to include admitting swatting is real after sweeping a house and seeing signs of streaming equipment.
I think both sides were wrong. The officers have a duty to investigate but the main officer you hear escalated the situation. “Are you hearing me right now because you’re NOT” and “You need to take this seriously” are not deescalating phrases. This officer does not seem to know how to react to being pranked and it annoyed the hell out of Carey. The second guy who was talking to Carey did a much, much better job of explaining the situation but by then the damage was done.
Carey also comes across as an ass. He almost certainly had loaded firearms pointed in his direction, his privacy was invaded and he is justifiably angry so it is understandable. But since this is just another day in his line of work he should know that the officers have to investigate and stopped the stupid stuff like asking for an apology. Saying that all 911 calls should be verified is idiotic. Then again, sending 15 squad cars and a helicopter to an unverified 911 call is also significant overkill. It must have been a slow day.
Both were placed in a stressful situation. Both should have reacted better. I hope they find whoever made this call and throw them in prison with all of the accompanying pleasantries that entails.
I wonder if this new “STIR/SHAKEN” technology that the telecom carriers are rolling out will help 911 operators identify spoofed caller-id’s and reduce this swatting?
Good deal. I hope more carriers enact this as well. The FCC should have made it mandatory years ago.
One would hope. If someone from New Jersey is calling 911 in Wisconsin… the cops should know that and act accordingly imo. Or if the call originates from some internet system.
Another winner.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/us/ohio-teen-arrested-swatting/index.html
The 17-year-old, who is accused of making “swatting” calls, was charged with 40 felony and 33 misdemeanor delinquency charges in Mahoning County, Ohio.
The boy is accused of calling police on August 11 and saying he had shot his wife, had an AR-15 rifle and was holding his son hostage at a home in Kent, New York, the Putnam County Sheriff’s office said.
…
Investigators later determined the calls were made from Mahoning County and the phone number had been linked to similar incidents around the country.
I hope he spends a good long time in the federal clink.
As much as I hope this guy and others who are guilty of SWATTING goes to prison for a long time, I fear that it won’t actually act as a deterrent. These kids are such huge idiots that I doubt they’re thinking about the consequences in the first place.
I’m just glad to see that there are actual resources being spent to track these jackholes down and get justice.
That’s true of pretty much every crime, ever.
Punishment is rarely a deterrent. They don’t think they will get caught.
This is serious though, so they need to treat the behavior like it is the danger it is.
Teen brains aren’t mature yet, leading to more stupid decisions, etc. It’s just how they are. If they would think before they act then there would be a lot fewer swattings just from that, much less any deterrent from harsh penalties.
Terrified militarized police on a hair trigger are not a factor in this problem? What a sick, sick culture.
At least those officers in Kansas got home safely to their families.
True, but in the case of Swatting until very recently, they weren’t.
Agreed. Regardless of deterrence, it’s fucking attempted murder imo. You can’t just let that shit slide.
I don’t actually want to restart the debate, but I am really dismayed that swatting could be considered attempted murder (and I largely agree with you) and yet the police behaviour that actually causes the deaths is met with shrugs and watta-ya-gonna-dos.
Edit after @KevinC commented below:
I didn’t intend this to be aimed at you, it was more an old man yelling at clouds sort of post.
This isn’t representative of any thread I’ve read on the topic.
I don’t mean here; you’re right. I don’t even really mean on the internet in general. I do think it’s true in America in general, if for no other reason than police behaviour isn’t changing to any significant degree.
That’s because certain invested parties treat greater police accountability as an attack on police.
Treating this seriously and investing resources to improve policing is, sadly, partisan. Which means fuck all will happen to fix it while the GOP has executive power.
I think bad actors on both sides of the aisle worked very hard to turn it into a partisan issue, but I don’t know that that actually matters in practice.
Police forces are, in theory, overseen by their local civil governments, not the national government. In my city, democrats have an overwhelming majority of the government offices and yet the police are still just as badly behaved as elsewhere.