Simon Cowell was swatted yesterday, via L.A. Weekly:
Simon Cowell is the latest victim of a “swatting” prank, according to reports and authorities.
Someone called Beverly Hills cops and said someone “had been tied up with duct tape and needed assistance” at the local home of the X Factor creator and judge, according to a police statement….
It all happened Sunday about 12:56 p.m., according to cops, though they only reported the event late last night.
Other recent swatees — the prank is to get cops to swarm a celeb’s house, Punk’d-style — include Ashton Kutcher, the punk himself, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.
We all know about swatting from the experience of Patrick Frey (Patterico) and others.
Via Patterico, The L.A. Times has a well-done front-page story about the problem:
Using Simon Cowell’s recent SWATting as a news peg, Chris Lee and Richard Winton have a front-page story at the L.A. Times about the phenomenon of SWATting. The story focuses on the recent rash of celebrity SWATtings in Los Angeles, rather than the politically motivated SWATtings of four people (including myself) between June 2011 and June 2012. Hey, the news biz is all about eyeballs! However, the article does mentions the SWATtings of myself and Aaron Walker.
If you’re looking for a typical Patterico polemic on the atrocities of the L.A. Times, you’re going to be disappointed. I spoke to reporter Chris Lee for the story a few weeks ago, and he pretty much gets it right….
I think the editors should have explained that Aaron [Worthing] had been my guest blogger, and knew it had already happened to me and two other conservatives who had written about related topics. That information would have helped readers understand how Aaron knew he had been SWATted. And I would have liked to have seen more discussion of the political SWATtings and potentially related harassment — including the details of the SWATtings of Erick Erickson and Mike Stack, and the curious way in which we and our writings have been the particular obsession of a dangerous group of online lunatics.
It’s deadly serious, but not all the Hollywood media takes it seriously. The L.A. Weekly post linked above says it’s all a yawn:
In any case, get your swatting straight, people. Not only are you wasting officers’ time, but you’re making us yawn.
Yup, until someone gets hurt.
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And we thought we were edgy back in the 70s when we called and falsely ordered a taxi as a prank…
Its attempted murder, and should be prosecuted as such.
What will be interesting is when someone *does* get shot/killed, and then LAPD gets sued for not putting effort into finding the SWATers, and (given that they obviously know about SWATing) putting procedural changes in place to prevent it.
If you want to get Law Enforcement’s attention, sue them for willful negligence after they shoot someone. Then all the other prior victims jump on with their lawsuits for emotional distress, and you can probably get something else going for political bias and reverse-racism (over the top, yes. But also it’s LA – where over-the-top is normal).
From the account the other day, the LEOs ARE aware.
This attempt was so lame, a sharp dispatcher was said to have poo-pooed it, seeing it for what it was.
Yeah, but wait until some sharp dispatcher poo-poos as lame a real call, and you have a dead child or woman. Having worked in law enforcement for over two decades I can assure you that official policy will then be maximum response without discretion.
SWAT teams should never be directly dispatched. Policy should be that only other officers…on-scene or commanders…can call them in.
I would think that with the GPS technology we have today that the 911 tech should be able to verify the exact location of the caller and the caller’s ID. If the call is not generated from within the alleged crime site then it should be dismissed. Or, the 911 tech should simply follow up with a phone call to the person’s house. But don’t send the gear guys out until you have the facts. And certainly prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who phones in this type of bullying “hate crime.”
Good start, but the verification should be done while the crew is in route. If SWAT teams are actually used.
I think they should be disbanded, personally. One was used to serve a fishing citation for an undersized striped bass back east, another for overdue books, just stupid stuff.
“Oh, the officers need it for safety”? Let them get a safer job then, like lumber or com fish or garbage collection (all far more dangerous than law enforcement, BTW).
Police need to dial the SWAT response down about five notches. I am not saying it is not justified sometimes, but way more often than not it is not necessary.
As for these SWATters, they need to be found and prosecuted. It is assault.
Well, thankfully for Cowell, the SWAT team did not move on to the next round.
“The L.A. Times has a well-done front-page story”
Air traffic controllers, beware of porcine interference!
Haven’t these people ever heard of reconnaissance? Send some flat foot out to prowl the house before sending in the ninja wannabes. F*ck sake!