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- Hacker News
- 176M is not enough for such an atrocity. It needs to be at least 10x more, i.e. 1.76B.by OutOfHere
- The need to find out who did the swatting and give him life in jail.by NotGMan
- That creates the reverse problem, whereby someone can eventually get framed for it.
Just fix the real problem which is the disproportionate police response.
by OutOfHere - Time to start a new company, Swatly.ai, which listens in on 911 calls and warns police if they may be responding to a SWATting attempt. Working on integrating into their firearms so they won't fire unless the AI thinks it's load-bearing.by phendrenad2
- And then on the side they sell "metadata" to insurance companies and anyone else willing to pay...by efnx
- More sensibly, their insurance could just toss a clause in and charge higher premiums to cover for this, while adding some conditions to help prevent it.by argee
- whoa. feel bad for the people of tuscon, because they didn't do anything wrong, but holy shit this case looks absolutely awful for the city and i hope they lose. big.by keeganpoppen
- Don’t feel bad for them. It’s not something to feel bad about. We pay taxes specifically for instances including when something goes wrong.
Feel mad if this is a pattern and the citizens don’t do anything about it.
by kulahan - Police agencies arent the only ones alone to take blame here, the judges who on a whim sign these warrants should face liability or be removed from their position if there are casualties as a result of a false report.
- I don't think judges and warrants are involved in these swatting incidents.
The whole point of swatting is to make up a dangerous scenario where the threat to life is so high and immediate that the police are allowed to forgo many procedures and processes that would prevent accidental injury or death.
by jerlam - SWATing is a very common thing so police depts should be aware there's always a risk of it happening
Take the call seriously, but be prepared it's not what you think it is, especially if you see a shocked gamer sitting at their computer monitor with no apparent hostages
by alex1138 - > Melendez did grab a "legal, registered" gun once he heard the glass shatter, Sethi said, but he ducked behind a partially closed door.
It's horrible what happened to this boy, and the police should be sued/charged, but this is (yet another) reason why you're better off _not_ having a gun in your house. (You're statistically more likely to die from a gun in your own household than someone else's.)
- It really seems like something that could be fixed with proper training and protocol, when police forces the world over don't have this issue.by tokai
- It's a problem elsewhere too, albeit less violent, you just don't hear about it.
https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-dev-swatte...
by seki285 - This happened to me in 2021 minus the being shot part. Called local PD to inform them; still had a full police response, luckily was renovating house but still.by SlowFalcon
- There needs to be insurance for police, just like there is for doctors. Once an individual cop has repeated judgements against them they won’t be insurable, instead of the current result of them moving to a different city.by kaikai
- You mean QUALIFIED IMMUNITY isn’t enough? Give me a break. Their job is literally safer than being a garbage collector. Go ahead, I’ll wait while you look it up.by elonfboy
- I've long promoted this idea as well. They should be insured, backed by the union's pension plan. They have zero skin in the game.
The other thing that would help immensely would be to revisit qualified immunity. Conceptually its perfectly understandable -- failures can happen that are not their fault and they should not be on the hook for that.
But in these times, it's just full immunity. They can do whatever they want and only in the most heinous crimes where they didn't have the opportunity to destroy the evidence they only then do time.
One last thing should be noted: the War on Drugs is designed to create crime and is weaponized against the citizenry. "Dangerous" drugs aren't illegal to protect you, they're there so they can fuck you over.
by pstuart - I think judges are often overlooked, they are the barrier stopping an internet troll from sending a small military on to your property on a whim. Too many false swatting should lead to a judge mandatorily stepping down, especially if there are casualties.
- There should be a national license that can be revoked making officers ineligible to hold any position in law enforcement anywhere in the country.by autoexec
- How about firing them and sending them to jail?by mzhaase
- They need to get sued _hard_ and lose millions, as well as have cops put in jail before real change happens. I feel sorry for this kid but he's doing the right thing.by efnx
- > kid
The man is 24 years old.
by HiPhish - This guy needs to be compensated for his pain and suffering, his economic losses due to his disability, and for the care he'll need for the rest of his life. Jailing the people whose negligence is responsible for his injuries doesn't help him.by wl
- > cops put in jail
Right. The real justice comes from treating this incident like you would if there were no municipal coffers at play, and simply punish criminals for criminal action.
by elevation - Taxpayers will just foot the bill. These cops need their personal funds taken, and before they blow it all on legal bills defending themselves from criminal charges.
Come to think of it, this is America dammit. Cops should be licensed, bonded and insured, and if their training or records aren't up to standards they don't get covered. We have higher standards for plumbers and pest control than we do police.
- I don't understand why more police agencies aren't being super careful with this stuff, especially if they're being sent to a house / location where no other crimes have been reported. It would be one thing if you have a call to a house that's had domestic violence calls, other shootings, etc. Instead, they're just getting a call and thinking, "Oh no! Danger!" and running in, guns blazing. I love the protection from the police but sometimes I'm afraid they don't think intelligently and instead just react.by getstowly
- Some protection!by hamper653
- you had me until "I love the protection from the police"
my whole life police done nothing else than harassed me by their various actions instead of improving my life and making it safer
so I would love some protection from the police, but all I am getting is harassment
by Markoff - They aren't being super careful because there's no cost to being careless.by stavros