http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-s-playing-online-thing-captured-webcam.html so for those who don't know Kootra, he is a youtube lets player. he was streaming a game online when the SWAT came in and arrested Kootra because an online person made a threat call. If you are a Kootra fan, #FreeKootra2014
The article says he was released so I'm not sure why people would be concerned about 'freeing him'. Regardless, this is a pretty repulsive "joke" people are playing. A disgusting waste of everyone's time... can't believe people are immature enough to find this **** funny. Hope they get arrested.
Not only is this immature, but also pretty damn low and revolting. How low does a person have to go to the point where they need to place a call on a person so serious that they need a SWAT team to break into their domain? What I'm really afraid of now is that this might become a trend and what that means is that police will be more hesitant to respond to threats like this. And people wonder why the police are slow on their jobs. It's because of crap like this.
Oh the words I could say to this. I guess the first and foremost: What sad, pathetic person actually came up with the bright idea to call in on a person just because they didn't like the person beating them in a game? And now it's actually become a thing at this point? The problem is police don't take those things lightly, and like they say, someone is going to get shot at some point. Good thing that guy knew to put his hands in the air beforehand and get down. Though it is interesting actually seeing a video of SWAT people yelling at the guy. I know it's their job and all that, but seeing it from a video in real life makes you feel like you're watching a movie...at least it did to me. If someone was yelling at me like that I probably wouldn't help but crack a grin.
It's not just a waste of time. It's a waste of resources and money. Resources in that the SWAT Team could be using their time better than responding to what is in effect a prank call. But they don't know there isn't a threat until they respond to it. For all they know there was a bomb at the residence. And damages are caused. Kicking in doors. I believe a guy's dad was shot at one of these. Non-fatally though. But it could have easily been fatal. It stops being funny when people get hurt.
Oh yeah definitely, totally agreed. By time I meant the SWAT team's time as well as the streamer's, but we can't forget that the SWAT team could be responding to actual threats in that time and that taxpayers have to incur the costs of this "practical joke." And you're absolutely right about the possibility of injuries.
And wait, get this : Spoiler I have to wonder though, given the fact that this is far from being the first time to happen, why would they bother paying that sort of "alarm" any attention ? Have any of those calls led them to an actual threat ? I suspect the cops would just laugh in my face and hung the phone if i was to try and pull something like this here. And even if it does lead to actual threats sometimes, their reasoning is clearly questionable : Spoiler
I agree with the disgust in the first video, naturally -- the police reaction to a narcotics situations was completely over the top violent. Even if an officer has probable cause to search without a warrant I can't believe it would be legal to use that amount of force, and certainly not legal to throw a grenade without first assessing the situation. The second video is also a gross overreaction that could have been easily solved by school officials simply talking to the kid. That's sort of the problem with arresting someone for "disorderly conduct," it's vague enough to turn into "we don't actually have a reason to arrest you so we're just going to say disorderly conduct." That said, I don't think these situations are comparable to the SWAT teams we're talking about here. SWAT teams are being sent in because, from my understand, the calls people are making to the police often claim that someone has a gun and has shot people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting In these cases it's understandable that they're sending in a heavy duty force like SWAT teams rather than the regular officers who should have been dispatched in the case of the first video you posted, as they believe that violent crimes have already been committed and someone will most likely need to be stopped with force. In these types of situations it would be difficult to conduct an investigation first (as they should have in the videos you posted) because there's a strong possibility that more people will be killed -- it's an immediate, pressing situation. They have to respond to these calls regardless of whether they believe they are legitimate or not, so it's really the responsibility of people to not be *******s and not call in fake emergencies. Apparently it's some sort of contest when swatting to try to get the most heavy duty police force sent out (like you get bonus points for getting helicopters, that kind of thing) so the cases seem to be reports of particularly violent crimes, hence why such force is being used. Legitimate police calls are made everyday and the best way to deal is to investigate everything with the appropriate amount of force.
Oh, okay. Makes more sense now. The swatting incidents I heard about before were more along the lines of "I heard X say he was going to kill someone on a video game chat", said the clearly juvenile caller. You know, teenagers being teenagers, which I would dismiss immediately. Don' t they automatically trace each caller though ? In this NSA day and age surely they can check whether the caller is where he says he is indeed.
One call that I read about was made through Skype and they were attempting to track down the caller. Spoofing your caller ID information and generally fiddling with telephone technology I guess lets some people get around being traced, but I'm fairly confident that if the government wants to find the person, they'll find them... at least eventually. I imagine many of the callers are minors though so that would interfere with them being punished for it.
From what I've seen/heard through various sources the caller hides behind a VPN so it is almost impossible for the police to actually find out who put in the call. Which leads to the person getting no punishment whatsoever. This is unfortunately one of the prices of "fame" if you will. You don't see this kind of stuff happening to the average Joe. At least I don't. I am not saying it is any less wrong just because it is done to someone with a following, its just the odds of this happening is increased significantly. I can recall this happening to Phantoml0rd (a popular league of legends streamer) earlier this year as well as Whiteboy7thst (popular youtuber in the COD scene) who actually got busted for having a significant amount of weed in his possession which nobody would have found if he didn't get swatted. Heh a bit unlucky with that one.
