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Thread: MA - Gamer's prank call leads to SWATting of Dennis home.

  1. #1

    Exclamation MA - Gamer's prank call leads to SWATting of Dennis home.

    Prank call leads to armed police outside Dennis home

    http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...WS11/141029872

    DENNIS-- A prank 911 call reporting an active shooter at a Main Street home drew a massive police response and closed a portion of Route 28 for nearly an hour Wednesday night.

    Just after 10 p.m., local and state police responded to 545 Main St. after receiving a call from an untraceable Skype phone that a teenager inside had a gun to his mother's head and another two minutes later reporting he shot his mother, according to Sgt. John Emerson.

    On scene, local and state police surrounded the white house with semi-automatic weapons drawn and aimed at the entrance. They were calling into the house for the suspect who they believed was also armed.

    A perimeter was set up around the property, closing off a portion of Main Street and an ambulance and firetruck sat waiting in the parking lot at the nearby Hess Gas Station.

    Police eventually made contact with the alleged victim, Penelope Pina, and her 17-year-old son and learned that the report was false, police said.

    “It's not funny, but apparently it's something that gamers occasionally do,” Emerson said on the scene Wednesday night.

    When they made entrance into the home, the young man was still playing the video game.

    There was no weapon in the house, and the scene was quickly cleared.

    The hoax, known as “swatting,” is when someone calls in an emergency situation that generates massive police or SWAT team response.

    It is a trend among combat-themed video gamers seeking retaliation against their virtual opponent.

    Dennis officers were assisted by Harwich Police, Massachusetts State Police, and the Dennis Fire Department.

    Similar swatting hoaxes have taken place around the country over the past year.

    In August, a SWAT team burst into an office in Littleton, Colorado, after a call reported that someone had shot two people and was holding several others hostage. That report also turned out to be false, but forced a nearby school to enact security procedures and businesses were evacuated. The SWAT response was captured in the video game and shown on national news broadcasts.
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11



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  3. #2
    I'm not one for new laws, we got enough, but perhaps this one.

    Skype or "anonymous" calls will be taken with a grain of salt by law enforcement agencies. A simple one officer check of the residence will be the prescribed course. Non-anonymous calls resulting in non-factual accusations will be prosecuted under extreme measures doubling that penalty which is accused by the party.

  4. #3
    It seems like due diligence should be implemented prior to swatting anyone.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Schifference View Post
    It seems like due diligence should be implemented prior to swatting anyone.
    Do you mean like sending the militarized police force to the homes of those who have voted to militarize them? Or are you suggesting that the militarized police perform the due diligence?
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  6. #5
    That's the price one pays for a 3rd party "security" force.

    Gulag Chief:
    "Article 58-1a, twenty five years... What did you get it for?"
    Gulag Prisoner: "For nothing at all."
    Gulag Chief: "You're lying... The sentence for nothing at all is 10 years"



  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    I'm not one for new laws, we got enough, but perhaps this one.

    Skype or "anonymous" calls will be taken with a grain of salt by law enforcement agencies. A simple one officer check of the residence will be the prescribed course. Non-anonymous calls resulting in non-factual accusations will be prosecuted under extreme measures doubling that penalty which is accused by the party.
    Well I was thinking, what if someone were to get seriously hurt or killed in one of these "SWATTING" events. I mean, apart from the obvious violation of human and constitutional rights things can go seriously wrong. Is the person making the false call then liable for said injury or death ?

    I think a single, or multiple anonymous calls should NEVER be enough justification to open an investigation. A single person could very easily place multiple false calls. The rights of the innocent are far more important and in any case should be superior to the possibility of catching a criminal. I'm not against people reporting things anonymously but I think an investigation or other procedure needs some actual factual evidence or someone who is willing to put their credibility on the line (non-anonymous call).

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    I'm not one for new laws, we got enough, but perhaps this one.

    Skype or "anonymous" calls will be taken with a grain of salt by law enforcement agencies. A simple one officer check of the residence will be the prescribed course. Non-anonymous calls resulting in non-factual accusations will be prosecuted under extreme measures doubling that penalty which is accused by the party.
    And such calls also shouldn't be grounds for a search warrant or reasonable cause or whatever excuse they use to violate anybody.



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