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242 points LinuxBender | 5 comments | | HN request time: 0.882s | source
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ToucanLoucan ◴[] No.42168777[source]
Okay so like, genuinely not trying to do a "back in my day" fuckin thing here, but also: what the fuck is wrong with kids? Back when I was coming up, pranking at it's absolute worst was like, filling a dudes shoes with yogurt in the locker room, or like, putting plastic bugs in people's desks n shit. Why the fuck are teenagers trying to get each other murdered by cops!?
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mcherm ◴[] No.42168933[source]
Fair question, but I would also like to ask "What the f** is wrong with cops?".

Receiving an anonymous call claiming some not-particularly-plausible threat at a particular location probably DOES deserve a police investigation. I see no reason why it impels police to drag people from their house in chains, threaten to shoot them, or actually shoot them.

If police responses were reasonable and proportionate to the plausibility of the threat then swatters would not be able to use them as a weapon.

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luckylion ◴[] No.42169019[source]
What is the reasonable and proportionate response?

"Swatting" isn't really a thing in Germany, but we've always had other disproportionate responses to single phone calls. One call (or even an email) that threatens to blow up the air port, or some particular air plane, and it's shut down for hours until they've looked in all the places you could hide a serious bomb (presumably, I have no idea what their "okay, I guess it was a hoax" signal is).

But what's the alternative when somebody plausibly describes a situation that indicates someone is in extreme danger? Send out a single cruiser the next day to check out what was up?

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stavros ◴[] No.42169084[source]
What happens in Germany when someone plausibly describes a situation that indicates someone is in extreme danger? Over here (in Greece), police officers will knock on your door, say they had a report and need to check, and then walk in and look around.

I've heard of reports of domestic violence, child molestation, things like that, and it's always the same. They rush to the place, knock on the door, look around, and arrest the people they need to arrest. What they don't do is start shooting.

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1. Ajedi32 ◴[] No.42173013[source]
What if in the call they claim the suspect is armed and threatening to start shooting hostages if the police show up? Do they still just knock on the door?
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2. stavros ◴[] No.42173030[source]
What if in the call they claim the suspect has a nuclear bomb and is threatening to blow up the city? It's kind of a similar scenario, given that I can't remember either of these ever happening. People here don't tend to have guns.
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3. Ajedi32 ◴[] No.42173048[source]
People in the US "don't tend to" take hostages and threaten to shoot them either. "Don't tend to" isn't the same as "it never happens".
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4. ◴[] No.42173157{3}[source]
5. stavros ◴[] No.42173179{3}[source]
Yeah, this never happens here. Even if it did happen once a decade, it wouldn't be a valid reason to worry about once a week, and it wouldn't be a single anonymous person calling in a tip that someone is threatening to shoot hostages.