Advances in technology allow prank callers to mask their voice, phone number or IP address, or make their false 911 calls sound more credible.
Author Patrick Tomlinson and his wife, business owner Niki Robinson, have been "swatted" at their home in Milwaukee more than 40 times, often resulting in police pointing guns at their heads. Their tormentors have also called in false bomb threats to venues using their names in three states. Yet law enforcement hasn’t been able to stop the prank calls.
The couple’s terror comes as these incidents appear to be on the rise in the U.S., at least on college campuses. In less than a single week in April, universities including Clemson, Florida, Boston, Harvard, Cornell, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Oklahoma, as well as Middlebury College, were targeted by swatters.
To combat the growing problem, the FBI has begun taking formal measures to get a comprehensive picture of the problem on a national level.
Swatting is a huge problem and needs addressing, no argument there. But it's not about disbanding SWAT teams. These units exist for high-risk situations like hostage crises and active shooters - genuine threats.
The focus should be on improving how these incidents are handled and preventing false calls in the first place. We need better training for 911 operators to spot potential swatting calls and more targeted legislation to crack down on these dangerous pranks. Tech companies could also step up their game in addressing online harassment that often leads to swatting.
It's about creating a system that can respond to real threats while safeguarding innocent people from becoming victims of cruel pranks. Not an easy task, but something we should definitely aim for. Let's fight for change where it's needed most.
How many hostage situations have been resolved via murder squad and how many innocent people have been murdered by the squad whose job it is to kill people?
If you ran the numbers, I'm certain you would find society safer with no murder squads—with surplus military gear no less—than with them.
To be clear: I advocate not just the disbanding of SWAT teams, but the abolition of all police.
Counterpoint: hostage takes can get a new hostage after killing the first one without if nobody is present to stop them
Here's the thing though.
In the USA, police kill way, way, way more people than are ever taken hostage.
Police brutality is a much larger problem than hostage-taking and given that context, using the police as a tool against hostage taking doesn't make sense.
1/3rd of all homicides in the USA are committed by police. Police also kill far more Americans than active shooters do.