10/10/2012

11 Responses to “Justin Bieber House Site of Attempted SWATting”

1. Is there anything from a technological standpoint that can be done to combat this? I know that you have most been focused on raising awareness (I hate that term, but it is probably appropriate here) of the problem and encouraging law enforcement to be on the lookout for it. Do you have any ideas of steps that can be taken to protect potential victims, other than hoping that whoever comes to the door shows restraint? This sounds like one of those awful problems that we can’t do much about.

   JVW (f5695c) — 10/10/2012 @ 7:23 pm

   
   

2. Am I a paranoid small “l” libertarian wingnut if I sometimes wonder that these SWATTing calls are manufactured by police who want to loot a house? Not that the police would do anything like that.

   I liked the part of the story where Bieber’s security team gave the police permission to enter the house. But we cannot all afford security teams.

   nk (875f57) — 10/10/2012 @ 7:25 pm

   
   

3. What we really need to do is defund SWAT teams, and start hiring real police officers. Men.

   nk (875f57) — 10/10/2012 @ 7:28 pm

   
   

4. SWAT is one letter away from a word you might have heard or even said in middle school.

   nk (875f57) — 10/10/2012 @ 7:30 pm

   
   

5. This sounds like one of those awful problems that we can’t do much about.

   It’s a double edged sword. If police become too lax when they respond to calls like the Erickson swatting, where they were told another shooting was coming, then eventually they are going to have a false negative and a victim in need or a police officer is going to get killed.

   And if they treat all these hoaxes like they are real wife murders, eventually one of the false positive SWATting targets is going to get shot.

   The only thing that would help is for the feds to use the resources they have, and the leads they have, and solve these crimes. Make a lesson out of as many as they can catch.

   But that didn’t happen, because of a lack of willpower.

   I sometimes wonder that these SWATTing calls are manufactured by police who want to loot a house?

   Sigh.

   Dustin (73fead) — 10/10/2012 @ 7:41 pm

   
   

6. I have seen it, Dustin. Doors jimmied, drawers ransacked. Even if there is a warrant, if nobody’s arrested or killed, there’s no record because it’s sealed. Fake affidavits, made-up informants.

   nk (875f57) — 10/10/2012 @ 9:54 pm

   
   

7. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that talking with “Weird” Al was the closest Patterico will ever come to being in with the in-crowd?

   Icy (a4b2f2) — 10/10/2012 @ 10:15 pm

   
   

8. I was just coming here to tell you this.

   Luckily for Bieber, he lives in a high security area with an on-site security staff (both neighborhood and personal). The police were probably a little dubious about the call from the very beginning.

   MayBee (c4effe) — 10/11/2012 @ 6:08 am

   
   

9. Something definitely has gone wrong with the culture if being “swatted” could ever be conceived as “Cool”.
   Then, we look at the pop-culture, and our worse fears are confirmed.

   AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92) — 10/11/2012 @ 8:41 am

   
   

10. I have two theories about this. The first theory is that the more this happens — especially to celebrities — the more people will notice SWATting and the more likely there will be copycats. The second theory is that the more this happens, the more the public and law enforcement will push back against this deplorable tactic.

    DRJ (a83b8b) — 10/11/2012 @ 9:54 am

    
    

11. You’ll be retro-Cool.

    SPQR (768505) — 10/11/2012 @ 5:48 pm