Nope. Not a photo from Iraq.
Who needs politicians creating a police state when these scumbags are helping create one for us through badly designed 911 services.
Doug Bates and his wife, Stacey, were in bed around 10 p.m., their 2-year-old daughters asleep in a nearby room. Suddenly they were shaken awake by the wail of police sirens and the rumble of a helicopter above their suburban Southern California home. A criminal must be on the loose, they thought.
Doug Bates got up to lock the doors and grabbed a knife. A beam from a flashlight hit him. He peeked into the backyard. A swarm of police, assault rifles drawn, ordered him out of the house. Bates emerged, frightened and with the knife in his hand, as his wife frantically dialed 911. They were handcuffed and ordered to the ground while officers stormed the house.
The scene of mayhem and carnage the officers expected was nowhere to be found. Neither the Bateses nor the officers knew that they were pawns in a dangerous game being played 1,200 miles away by a teenager bent on terrifying a random family of strangers.
They were victims of a new kind of telephone fraud that exploits a weakness in the way the 911 system handles calls from Internet-based phone services. The attacks — called “swatting” because armed police SWAT teams usually respond — are virtually unstoppable, and an Associated Press investigation found that budget-strapped 911 centers are essentially defenseless without an overhaul of their computer systems.
[…]
Swatting calls place an immense strain on responding departments. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department deployed about 30 people to the Bateses’ home, including a SWAT team, a helicopter and K-9 units. It cost the department $14,700.
One guy had it done to him three times! Don’t you think that after the first call the cops would have flagged his number to check before sending SWAT a second AND third time? Cripes! Hopefully they find the swatters and let loose the SWAT team from hell on them!
This is old news. There was supposed to be fixes going in to the system to counter this. I never followed up on it, but do have family in the local police force and they had fixed it at the time. This must have been 2 or 3 years ago.
I agree, it is sick. The person who caused it should be locked up for a little while to teach them a lesson. I am sure a week or two in jail would dissuade them from doing it again.
When a system is abused–you get to see its flaws. This story tells me MORE ABOUT the defective use of SWAT teams than is does about the Swatters.
There “used to be” a well defined system of securing arrest warrants and search warrants that “in some way” has been avoided.
When you point the finger of accusation at the swatters, recognize you have three fingers pointing back at yourself==I think the analogy fits very well here.
Each bad swat call should be thouroughly investigated by the Swat Team if nothing else, local DA for sure, and find out why the normal subpoena process failed.
Probably a product from the criminal Bush regime and their overreaching desire to “protect” us.
This actually happened to my parents in Miami about 3 years ago. This can’t be that uncommon.
My elderly parents are watching TV in the Florida room and next thing, about 8 commando dressed SWAT goons dressed in black appeared. There were four in the back yard and four in the front.
The short of it is they apologized and were polite after they figured out it was hoax but I to think a heart attack or worse, my 75 yr old dad could have fired his gun. Sheesh.
bobbo…have you heard the 911 tapes? These ficktards make up a story about a bloodbath and shooters all over the place.
In part, this is IMO the result of bad ideas like the jerky boys and morning radio scams. Take it up a notch, and here we are.
It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
#3 Dallas and #2 Bobbo both raise very relevant issues.
What if the home owner had defended his home against invaders?
In these cases the police did not take the time to assess the situation. Instead, they reacted like bulls in a China Shop. We don’t know why the police descended upon their homes in force, but I wouldn’t be blaming the home owners.
As I recall, the established law on torts doesn’t absolve the police because their 911 system has a flaw.
Swat some US Senators and this would be fixed.
As usual the ultra-liberals here remove all responsibility from the criminal and blame the police.
#4–olo==I disagree. This is NOT ABOUT the Jerky Boys. It is about the avoidance of the used to protect the public from this sort of stuff SUBPOENA process. The Swat team cannot act without getting a Judge Signed/reviewed court order saying that there is probably cause to arrest/search at a certain address==all based on sworn statements from government employees involved. There should be no person who has misused the subpoena process three times from a 1000 miles away etc.
The probable cause for a drug bust should be way high as the threat to society is way low.
You read all the time how certain investigations take 2-3-4 years of investigation to “work up” but they send the Swat team in based on an anonymous phone call???????
That is a problem with the court system/Swat team==not the Jerky Boys. ((or more accurately–the bigger more important problem is the court subpoena process. Yes, the Jerky Boys should serve time for a false report.))
Anyone who makes a call like that should go to prison. Life is not a video game.
#7–jobs==your departure from the truth is criminal and if there was any justice in the world, your type of stupidity would be worthy of a few weekends of road side trash pickup if not some jail time.
There, hope this ultra-lib has lived up to your high standards.
Troll.
Changing the subject a little. How does it cost $14,000+ for this call? Don’t these people already work for the local governemnt. I can see fuel cost for the chopper. But $14,000??
#4–olo==you asked: “bobbo…have you heard the 911 tapes? These ficktards make up a story about a bloodbath and shooters all over the place.? /// No I haven’t. I see the tougher issue here–not a drug bust but murder and mayhem going on right now?
Well, let me ponder this awhile. My gut reaction is that the police should respond in force sufficient for the claimed emergency. THEN all effort should be expended asap to prosecute false reports. And yes, nailing the Jerky Boys with prison time (say one month) would certainly help avoid this in the future.
I not a police guy. Seems in all the good spy novels, the experts always “scope out” a location before they go in blind? Put a listening device on the door? Do a thermal image of whats going on in the house? Two people in bed dead or alive does not warrant busting down the door regardless of what you were told.
#4, Mr. Baggins,
…have you heard the 911 tapes? These ficktards make up a story about a bloodbath and shooters all over the place.
Irrelevant. The police have a duty to investigate first. When they arrived they heard no shots fired, mostly because there weren’t any. Instead of “scouting out” the situation they charged in blindly.
How was the homeowner to know that it was the police and not some gang bangers storming his house? What if he had fired in the air? Do you really think the police would have calmly said “hey wait a minute there buster, we’re the police?”
No, they would have filled his house with bullets, probably killing the owner and their children. Then they would have filled the house with tear gas.
Don’t get me wrong on this. I support our police. What I don’t support is giving them guns, dressing them in black, not having any identification, and then holding them unaccountable.
from the article
So the $14,000 the police spent on this raid could have equipped three call centers.
These hot dogs will use any excuse to play”army”a simple call back is all that would be required.Would it warn the bad guys maybe but it might also stop a crime in progress.
#5 Mr. Fusion…Exactly.
As a matter of fact, in Florida the police warn people of home invasion and those masquerading as police.
They showed up dressed in black and black face paint with swat gear. It’s not like they look like Sheriff Griffith. Thank goodness my parents spotted a police car along the side of the road, but even then…
Fusion…listen to one of those calls. Once you hear it, the response makes sense. I heard one of them on the TV news this week, and it sounds real…haven’t we been bashing 911 for not responding appropriately? Which way should it go? 🙂
Also…$5k of capital expenses is different than $14 of operating expenses. You’re right that it’s stupid, but most businesses are run the same way.
Here’s another story about this with audio clips:
bobbo,
You are mistakenly assuming that SWAT is only called when there is a subpoena or a warrant. SWAT are used in situations where they do not believe a standard police presence is sufficient. If the 911 call is such that the police think that someone is armed or in the process of being injured they are going to send in enough people to ensure they control the situation; typically at ratio of 3/1 or 4/1 SWAT/assailants. If you call and say five homies are dumping caps into some poor guy and watching him bleed they are not going to send a couple of flatfoots.
Very few agencies have the capability to flag a phone number as a crank caller in their CAD systems. Even those that do, rarely does it popup an alert to a dispatcher so it can easily be overlooked. Furthermore they have to make a ‘boy who cried wolf’ decision on each instance, and it’s much easier for a dispatcher to simply process every call rather than be hauled before a review board to explain why they decided a particular 911 call was a hoax.
#18–thomas==you are stumbling on yourself in order to criticize me. Back up, try again.
What I am correctly assuming is that the government cannot knock down your door without a subpoena. Doesn’t matter if the government people are Swat, Police, Metermaids, or Gas Meter Readers. Doesn’t matter if there is one person or 100.
While responding to your errant thoughts, I am reminded that police are not required to have a subpoena when responding to a report of a “felony in progress” which is what murder and mayhem would be. In such cases, the responding entity has to be “reasonable.” That should give us enough to talk about?
“The person who caused it should be locked up for a little while to teach them a lesson.”
I’ll go a bit further. When they catch these people they should be executed within 24 hours on national television. To those that say this is too harsh, I am not advocating a slow painful execution involving razor blades and salt. A quick shot to the head will do. After all we do live in a civilized society.
In tech news, the NTSC analog shutdown was delayed. Somebody predicted this…….
#21, SteveS,
The person who caused it should be locked up for a little while to teach them a lesson.”
I’ll go a bit further. When they catch these people they should be executed within 24 hours on national television.
Well, there is another one that didn’t bother to read the article before flapping his ignorant jaws.
Is this another pseudonym for Cow-Patty?
#18
From post #8:
“The Swat team cannot act without getting a Judge Signed/reviewed court order saying that there is probably cause to arrest/search at a certain address”
Since in #18 you argued against this point, I’m assuming you no longer believe this statement to be true.
Moving on, the police can knock down someone’s door if they believe a felony is in progress especially if that felony involves bodily harm. Receiving a 911 call from people claiming to be nearby or in the house where a felony is occurring qualifies as reasonable. The best that can be done for people that cry “Wolf” is to attempt to track them down and arrest them. However, most police departments are woefully ill-equipped at conducting thorough investigations and thus “prank” 911 calls get pushed down the list in favor of more serious crimes such as murder and armed robbery.
This was an example from LA?
I was driving down a city street once and saw a guy jump from a car and abduct a lady at knife point. I called 911 on my cell and got transferred twice before finally being given a phone # to call. It was for the desk sergeant at the local PD division. By this time the guy got away. They never found the lady…
#24–thomas==thank you for understanding that I corrected myself. By definition, that means that earlier posts were wrong.
Wrong or right in that I obvious was thinking of a minor drug bust where a subpoena would be required.
When I changed the facts to what was in play at the OP, I changed my opinion. That wasn’t wrong was it?
Bobbo,
In an emergency the police do not need a warrant. This generally would include such as chasing a fleeing felon, hearing shots fired inside a house, or seeing a house on fire.
If the police reasonably believed there was a shooting going down they can enter without a warrant. Now we get into the crux of our (you, Dallas, and I) point. What extra steps should the police take to ensure that there is an actual situation.
NOTE, A subpoena is just an order to appear before a court. You can not be arrested with a subpoena. If you fail to attend court, it may issue a warrant that calls for your arrest.
#23 Mr. Fusion said,
“Well, there is another one that didn’t bother to read the article before flapping his ignorant jaws.”
No its called paying for the consequences of your actions. While I was joking about the public execution, this type of crime will cause a very bad ending one day. The perpetrator needs to have more done to them than just a stern verbal warning.
#28, Steve,
If you read the article you would be aware that the “kid” received five years. Now admittedly, that is a lot less than a bullet, BUT, again, if you had read the article you would have known that.
#27–fusion==thanks. I call brain fart on myself. Warrant not subpoena–you are correct.