Militarization of Police Helps Feed SWAT Call Pranks

“Swatting” has been highlighted
in the press when celebrities have been targeted, but that’s only
part of the story. Tech-savvy pranksters have called the police
claiming to be at a home or building engaged in violence, sometimes
claiming to have shot other people and threatening even more
violence. But it’s a scam, and police send SWAT teams out to
respond in force to peaceful people living their lives and put
everybody at risk.

Though the swatting of celebrities gets much more attention,
they aren’t the only targets. Popular gamers who have YouTube or
Twitch channels have also been targeted. These Internet celebrities
may be unknown to the general populace, but many of them have
thousands—even millions—of fans, and gaming is obviously a popular
recreation for technophiles, even the sinister hacker types.

Furthermore, calling in a SWAT raid on a gamer who streams play
online may result in the raid being captured live on web cam,
something the swatter probably finds even more amusing. That’s
exactly what happened Wednesday to Jordan “Kootra” Mathewson of
Littleton, Colorado. His streamed session of
Counter-Strike at his studio in an office building was
interrupted when a SWAT raid came storming in. Alt weekly
Westword posted the contents of a press release detailing

what the swatter told the police:

Littleton Police received a 911 call at 11:27 am this morning
reporting a shooting and hostages at 1221 W. Mineral Avenue.
Littleton Police, Littleton Fire Rescue and law enforcement from
multiple agencies responded. There were no victims discovered after
the initial search of the building by entry teams. A second search
of the building confirmed that there were no victims and no shots
fired at the location. Police are questioning several employees of
the office building who are cooperating with investigators.

Nearby schools and buildings were all evacuated.

Here’s the video below. Take note of how they treat Mathewson
(and what happens when they discover they’re being streamed live on
the Internet):

I suppose it’s a “training issue” that police officers for some
reason believe “acting like a threatening asshole to any other
human being you encounter” is synonymous with “gaining control of a
situation.” These reactions are exactly the kinds of things
swatters are hoping for. Because the police have developed this
reputation for violent, over-the-top reactions to everything, they
are actually reinforcing the value of using swatting as a way to
torment others.

The defense would be, “What if it were real?” The police can’t
simply ignore these calls. In a sad irony, these are actually the
kinds of calls that SWAT teams were invented to help deal with. But
I suspect that’s one of the reasons that inspire such an explosive,
credulous response from police. Data shows that SWAT raids are
hardly ever
used for actual hostage situations any more. Every real hostage
or violent situation where the police can play the heroes can be
used as a counterargument to calls for police demilitarization.

As much as law enforcement agencies complain about the growth of
hackers instigating unjustified SWAT raids, their own stormtrooper
mentality of responding to every single interaction with the public
certainly doesn’t help matters.