“Swatting” someone refers to getting law enforcement (usually SWAT teams) to another person usually for malice related reasons. It is common for large streamers to face this as people want to capture their reactions on video and sometimes private details.
In the United States, there are three general circumstances in which a warrant isn’t required: Exigent circumstances, plainview, and consent.
Exigent circumstances are situations where context necessitates law enforcement to act quickly. A fire, actively running after a suspect (hot pursuit), a hostage situation, etc.
Plainview is when an illegal act or substance is clearly visible, like drugs in a bag or domestic violence through a window.
Consent is pretty self explanatory; an individual voluntarily allows law enforcement to do what they need to.
With this in mind, how does swatting someone work? How can someone, with no evidence, call law enforcement and get them to break down someone else’s door and why can’t the victim simply refuse on the basis of the above situations not applying?
In: Other
Exigent circumstances; someone calls the police and says “I’m at <address> and there’s a willdy unstable guy here holding people hostage, he’s pointing a gun around and threatened to kill us if we call the police.” If the police take that seriously, then there’s no time for a warrant and you don’t want to knock on the door and announce yourself as police because he might start killing hostages, you send a SWAT team in.
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