The answer to SWATting is two-pronged, for one the phone industry has to get its act together to prevent number spoofing, and on the other side the police seriously needs to amp up its enforcement of anti-SWATting laws. The first one or two headlines "swatter found out and getting shot by police" should be enough to drive down the occurrences.
Cyberbullying, especially SWATting, has no place in civil society and I'd wish society would finally wake the fuck up.
But while we are waiting for that, the cure for cancer, and faster-than-light travel - fixing up a fair number of local police forces seems like a worthwhile and realistic goal in itself.
For all bullies, I’m more in favor of a “rotten fruit for the townspeople to throw at the criminals kept in stocks by the town square” flavor of punishment, but that’s probably not realistic either. But if we could stream it on Twitch, I wager it would have a meaningful effect.
The issue isn't with responding, it's that cops love shooting and are poorly trained.
Did I mention that the wanna-be action heroes should be eased out?
Even without holding police criminally liable for their actions we could require them to hold “malpractice” insurance so that if they’re found civilly liable enough times they would no longer be able to hold a position of public trust due to either being uninsurable or it just being prohibitively expensive.
This is a real problem, arguably partially caused by police overreaction, but real nonetheless. Getting SWATed creates unnecessary pain and suffering. I don't know if creating a national database is the right answer, but the problem can't be dismissed.
I've also never been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Both are bad. A national database of terminal cancer diagnoses could also do some good - but it would certainly not be a cure.
Notice my phrasing - "Reaction:...should be needed..." etc. Also notice the FBI's phrasing in the article - "...will help combat...by facilitating..." They certainly aren't spinning their DB as anything resembling a cure.
Euphemism of the day. I would have preferred "told to get the fuck out", but boats floating and all that...