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Every swatting incident I've read about over the years happened in the US. Are police in other countries also vulnerable to being tricked in this way, or is it

Every swatting incident I've read about over the years happened in the US. Are police in other countries also vulnerable to being tricked in this way, or is it just police departments in the US?

jolmg 3y ago
https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/83980/why-is-swatting-a-thing-only-in-north-america/83997#83997 https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/83980/why-is-sw...
defrost 3y ago
"Yes" but considerably less often and to date with less drama and no fatalities. Most famously https://globalnews.ca/news/9097654/twitch-streamer-and-transgender-activist-doxxed-in-northern-ireland/ https://globalnews.ca/news/9097654/twitch-streamer-and-trans... the same person was targeted in both London, England, and again in Northern Ireland. The police visited to make further enquiries .. which was a little different to a fully battlefield ready para military unit detaching a door and storming a location. Perhaps the US SWAT response could dial initial contact down to an 11 from its current over 9000?
- smnrchrds 3y ago
  > London, England According to the article, it was London, Ontario, Canada.
  - defrost 3y ago
    Good catch - poor recollection on my part, I first heard of the Northern Ireland event when it happened and got the wrong London when skim reading earlier :(
nitwit005 3y ago
These people are trying to maximize harm, and that varies somewhat. In US that means claiming a shooting or hostage situation, trying to provoke an armed police response. Elsewhere it tends to be things like bomb threats.
- beaeglebeached 3y ago
  He could have gotten away with it for a lot longer and done just as much damage through anonymous false CPS child abuse accusations. By law his name couldn't be revealed, plus they basically have no mechanism to track reporters across jurisdictions for patterns. If I were one of these psychopaths I'd just have peoples kids removed knowing I'd always be behind the cloak of anonymity unable to be faced by an accuser.
AndrewKemendo 3y ago
Having both a standing armed breaching force (SWAT) and a centralized emergency routing system are prerequisite so generally no it’s almost uniquely an American thing
- beaeglebeached 3y ago
  You could call it, a military posse comitatus executing the laws of the US.
foxyv 3y ago
The problem is guns. If someone claims to have one it's a lot more credible in the United States. Also we have a LOT more gun violence so the fake calls are outnumbered by the real ones. There are over 50k SWAT deployments in the USA per year. Most teams are deployed at least once a week.

Every swatting incident I've read about over the years happened in the US. Are police in other countries also vulnerable to being tricked in this way, or is it just police departments in the US?

jolmg 3y ago

https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/83980/why-is-swatting-a-thing-only-in-north-america/83997#83997 https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/83980/why-is-sw...

defrost 3y ago

"Yes" but considerably less often and to date with less drama and no fatalities. Most famously https://globalnews.ca/news/9097654/twitch-streamer-and-transgender-activist-doxxed-in-northern-ireland/ https://globalnews.ca/news/9097654/twitch-streamer-and-trans... the same person was targeted in both London, England, and again in Northern Ireland. The police visited to make further enquiries .. which was a little different to a fully battlefield ready para military unit detaching a door and storming a location. Perhaps the US SWAT response could dial initial contact down to an 11 from its current over 9000?

smnrchrds 3y ago
> London, England According to the article, it was London, Ontario, Canada.
- defrost 3y ago
  Good catch - poor recollection on my part, I first heard of the Northern Ireland event when it happened and got the wrong London when skim reading earlier :(

nitwit005 3y ago

These people are trying to maximize harm, and that varies somewhat. In US that means claiming a shooting or hostage situation, trying to provoke an armed police response. Elsewhere it tends to be things like bomb threats.

beaeglebeached 3y ago
He could have gotten away with it for a lot longer and done just as much damage through anonymous false CPS child abuse accusations. By law his name couldn't be revealed, plus they basically have no mechanism to track reporters across jurisdictions for patterns. If I were one of these psychopaths I'd just have peoples kids removed knowing I'd always be behind the cloak of anonymity unable to be faced by an accuser.

AndrewKemendo 3y ago

Having both a standing armed breaching force (SWAT) and a centralized emergency routing system are prerequisite so generally no it’s almost uniquely an American thing

beaeglebeached 3y ago
You could call it, a military posse comitatus executing the laws of the US.

foxyv 3y ago

The problem is guns. If someone claims to have one it's a lot more credible in the United States. Also we have a LOT more gun violence so the fake calls are outnumbered by the real ones. There are over 50k SWAT deployments in the USA per year. Most teams are deployed at least once a week.