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You are correct in everything you wrote, except for one thing. > Policemen killing unarmed innocent people is the problem that really needs solving No, police
by jadell 9y ago
You are correct in everything you wrote, except for one thing.
> Policemen killing unarmed innocent people is the problem that really needs solving
No, policemen killing unarmed innocent people is a problem that really needs solving. But it isn't solved yet. Until it is, swatting someone should be considered an act of violence. The person calling in the swat is doing so specifically because of the potential for violence, and they should be punished accordingly.
Stopping the police from shooting unarmed and innocent people is the long term solution. Until that is in place, there needs to be consequences for those who would exploit police violence for their own ends. These are issues that can be worked on in parallel.
- izacus 9y agoI would honestly say (although I'm not from US) that preventing the police from murdering any innocent person is of paramount priority over pretty much anything. Stopping the police violence shouldn't ever be a "long-term solution". Punishing the caller after all won't do anything to save more people - police killings are happening at alarming rate with swatters or without. It'll just satisfy your lust for revenge which doesn't really do anything. Just consider the rising amount of jailed people in US and comparatively low change in crime rate. Use brain to solve problems, not your first emotional response.
- jadell 9y agoAnd not being from the US, I think you're ignoring the reality of how large a problem "preventing the police from murdering any innocent person" actually is here. It shouldn't be, but it is, and we have to work in the world we live in, not the one we wish for. In the current reality in the US, calling the police about a violent crime underway will provoke a violent response. The caller certainly knows this. We should absolutely be working very hard to change that, but until it changes, trying to hand wave it away by saying, "it shouldn't be that way," ignores reality.
- jMyles 9y ago> how large a problem "preventing the police from murdering any innocent person" actually is Are we excluding problems for first-in-line treatment because they are "large?" If so, that's new in the American political experience.
- jadell 9y agoNo. My original comment stated "These are issues that can be worked on in parallel."
- romwell 9y agoI would like to add to your statement that in the criminal justice system, intent plays a big role in determining the punishment for the crime. Given the public knowledge of police violence in the US, especially in responses to potentially violent situations, the intent of swatter in the US is very different from the intent of a prank-caller elsewhere, and should be seen differently. To paraphrase, if you approach a gate, and I open it for you with a remote, that act doesn't make me a bad person (living in a gated community, I often do that without thinking). The same act would be quite different if I knew there's an angry alligator on the loose inside, and I opened the gate to see how fast you'd run from the said alligator (moreso if you didn't even intend to enter). The problem of the free-roaming alligator is not to be neglected, but it will take time and effort to solve. In the meantime, people who open the gate won't be treated too kindly. A counterpoint would be that, as sad as the consequences are, at least more people are aware of the gator as a result - and not just the ones who have to live next to it while the landlord keeps doing nothing for decades.
- brokenmachine 9y agoWhat an oddly specific and tangential metaphor that was...