Let's talk about the case of the SWATTING against an innocent man by another gamer....

By now most of you have heard about the case of the SWATTING, the fraudulent calling of police by another individual with a grudge that causes police to react with Special Tactics Units, of an innocent man by a gamer with a bone to pick with him.

We need to talk about this.

I've read several takes on this issue and they usually fall down into one of two camps.

The first is that the Police responding to the incident are wrong and the second is that the gamer is wrong.

I want to deconstruct this thing but be warned.  There are two guilty parties here.  One identified, the other has somehow escaped everyone's notice.

First let's talk about the SWAT Teams response.  Let me tell you straight ahead.  Those guys are golden.  They did nothing wrong.  These guys were told by dispatchers that they were responding to a case of people being held against their will by another family member.

Have you heard the saying that when things are most intense is when you must focus, think clearly and do what is necessary to stay alive?

This poor guy that got SWATTED handled the issue badly.  Following instructions and acting as demanded might have helped to end this differently.

But even if the cops MIGHT have acted in a bad way you have to consider the call they were sent on.  Man with a gun.  Man holding others against their will.

This was as high risk as it gets. 

Obviously the guy that made the call to police is dead wrong.  He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

So if the SWAT Officers are not guilty and the guy making the call is trash that should burned on the side of the road then who is the other party that should be held responsible.

Sorry to them and I know they have a difficult job but dispatchers, the watch commander of that particular sector and whoever held the position as acting chief of police for that watch (to include the chief because he would be called on incidents like this) hold  MUCH of the blame here.

SWAT Officers act on the information given to them.

It is up to the dispatchers to gather preliminary information on the call.  It is up to the sector watch commander to give intel on the area in question.  It is up to the Acting Chief of Police for the watch to ensure that proper intel on the location has been obtained.  And finally its up to the Chief of Police, who would have been informed of the situation, to ensure that his people have gathered all intel, attempted a peaceful resolution of the situation by use of negotiators and safeguarded the neighborhood by evacuating citizens that might be caught in the line of fire (and this depends on the weapons his people use for entry and what weapon the suspect is thought to be using...we could be looking at an evacuation that stretches out to a mile or more before they actually conduct a breach).

So yeah.  Blame the bastard that made the false call.  Blame those that I named in the above paragraph.  But don't blame those that have to make entry on a building, pass thru that fatal funnel and then attempt to put bullets on target without hitting people being held for this tragedy.

Cutting low hanging fruit is easy but is what produces.  Go higher up and slice away the sour, bitter fruit that only passes the blame or ducks and hides when things go bad.