Yes, but those are the simpleton middle-class conservatives, as I said, the ones who say, “Welp, I likes security, so cops are good.” That is the beginning and end of their thinking.
I’m talking about the actual academic conservatives - the people in think tanks, the one who use economic theory, etc. The Milton Friedman types. Those are the ones who I would expect to be writing papers about how nasty an incentive we are giving cops.
One of the areas where I would think both academic conservatives and liberals would agree. It just seems like basic logic to me. Do not incentivize people who have the legal power to use force to take things from people for their own benefit.
Is it just me or is one of the cops sniffing like he’s just recently taken some cocaine?
But oh the irony of anti-terrorist/shooting police action going on irl, while a game with terrorists (and presumably police or army of one kind or another in another faction?) is going on in parallel, in a virtual world. (The funniest moment was when some terrorists ran casually in a line past the character holding the gun, like they were unconcerned about him :) )
On the whole I thought the police behaved ok given they believed they would be going into some sort of rl shooter’s den, they were harsh, but seemed to calm down once it was clear the guy wasn’t what they’d been led to believe he was (some nutter).
But the people who hoax these kinds of things are vicious. It’s a very anti-social thing to do, to cheapen the Social Contract by taking advantage of it for yoks.
Interestingly, the statistics for property forfeiture don’t skew as heavily toward the traditionally trod-upon minorities as they do for other police military-actions, at least from what I’ve seen in reports from places like the Institute for Justice. Obviously in Philly things will be a little awkward due to which communities get targeted for drug busts, but in the the case of police car-jackings in AZ/TN, if anything, pulling over minorities is less effective(/profitable), because, hey, these self-same policies mean that they’re unlikely to have $2000 to drive around with!
I realize you also mean that the folks you’re talking about just don’t identify with anyone outside of themselves at all, not specifically racism, but it’s an element of this particular trend I think is interesting. It really can target just about anyone; I’m kinda waiting for them to accidentally bust someone rich and bored enough to turn it into a national scandal.
“I had police point a gun at my little brothers because of you. They could have been shot, they could have died. Because you chose to swat my stream. I don’t give a shit about what you have against me, or what I did to you. For that I am at a loss for words. Your gripe is with me. But do not involve my family in this. They don’t deserve it.”
Those were the tear-streamed words of 27-year-old Joshua Peters, aka Koopatroopa787, moments after he was swatted Thursday at his St. Cloud residence in Minnesota.
Peters earns a living streaming his sessions of Clash of Clans and RuneScape. At about the 5:40 mark of his live Twitch.TV stream, he excuses himself, saying: “Cops are here, one second.” The session continues for about 15 minutes and he returns upset.
First, swatting is really fucked up.
Second, people watch Clash of Clans being streamed?
To the people doing the swatting that is definitely the funny part. Would it ever occur to you to abuse an animal just cuz? If not then you probably can’t get into the swatting headspace.
I was a total cockmunch when I was a kid too. My friends and I used to buy slurpees at the 7-11 on the walk home from middle school, drink half, and toss the other half over the overhang on the major highway aiming at 16 wheelers. Stupid, and potentially homicidal. But I would have been horrified if I actually killed someone, and certainly scarred for life. These guys aren’t psycopathic kitten-torturing serial killers to-be. They’re just normal stupid kids.
This exactly. Cry wolf to manipulate people and you need to get locked away. Same goes for people calling in fake bomb threats and harassing emergency services.
I dunno if it was here or elsewhere but I read that in another “swatter” case a boy’s father got shot by the police during the raid.
Also, it seems to me that there’s something a bit wonky with the police that they’ll swat someplace on the say-so of some kids. Don’t they check these things out before jumping in?
There needs to be some serious penalties for calling the police on someone. That said, who sends in a full no-knock assault on the basis of a phone call?
This is a confluence of bad things. First you have the ignorant jerkwads who send out the swatting raids. Given how trigger happy the police are today they should be tried for attempted manslaughter. They are disgusting terrible human beings, and should therefore be removed from society.
Second is the state of military policing. As the saying goes ‘if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail’. Well all these departments having swat gear is a pretty big hammer, and they need some way to justify it. That it is apparently so easy, through an anonymous phone call, to get a swat team to go charging in? Our police need some serious reform. Because that is messed up.
The police in this county have been lied to by companies trying to sell them tactical gear, assault rifles, armored cars, and the like. I think there is an irrational fear at police stations across the country that there is a whacko with an assault rifle ready to kill behind every door. Every dog is a rabid attack dog. Mostly thisis due to their heightened militarization due to our" War of Drugs.". It doesn’t help that the police forces of the US are now filled with PTSD-riddled veterans who never should have been police officers in the first place. SWAT teams, packed with these jumpy vets, are used way, way too often, just because they are fully funded.
Now in that culture of artificial fear the police are doing things like no knocks warrants and using force every time in every instance. They have completely turned against us. Sorry to say that until the Supreme Court starts shutting down some of these tactics I’ve lost all faith in the police. They are in the business of killing old women and babies in their cribs now (there was a high profile instance recently where a cop threw a flash bang in a baby crib, me timed above).
I personally hope hundreds of police officers are killed by scared, confused homeowners during these kind of cowardly, unthinking raids. Maybe this will make them reconsider their tactics and they will start ringing doorbells with search warrants in hand again.
This situation could have been resolved with a knock on the door (and if they are scared, maybe a bomb disposing robot can do that) or a bull horn and lights outside. I blame the kids for calling in the prank and they should be punished, but the fact is its the culture of artificial fear our police force has that’s turned them against us. Until this stops this kind of insanity will continue.
I used to really admire police officers for doing a difficult job but now I think they are a dangerous, destabilizing paramilitary unit. This has to stop. What’s wrong with knocking on the door exactly?
