Comment on An 82-year-old YouTuber grandma was raided by police and SWATs during her live stream last night where she plays Minecraft to raise money for her grandsons cancer. Authorities brought 20 police cars

• madasi@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Because they have the equipment and are always looking for an excuse to use it to justify the cost and training. And because the more they use it, the sooner they can get more of it.

  It makes zero sense to a normal person, nor does their justification for needing the equipment in the first place, but once they have it they’ll use it any chance they get.

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• rtxn@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  someone called the swat team on her?

  some anonymous tip

  That’s not what happened. Someone called 911 and described a situation that involved a shooter who has already shot someone. The 911 operator then had to relay that to the responders (in this case, LE). The responding officers might have only received an address, that there was a barricaded active shooter, and that there was at least one shooting victim.

  It’s not up to the police to debate the veracity of a report. Imagine being in a hostage situation, you manage to call 911, and they respond with “sounds fake, not coming”.

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  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Okay, but surely upon arriving to said address with a huge swat team and discovering nothing amiss, no panicked people, no gunfire, no anything, their first reaction is to raid the house? The US sure is a strange place.

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    • rtxn@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      You know that shooters have the ability to stay quiet, right? A calm atmosphere doesn’t mean there isn’t someone who is in imminent danger. Back to the thought exercise: you’re a hostage, you call 911, police arrive. Then they wait five minutes and fuck off because nobody’s firing at them or shouting threats. Do you think that’s reasonable?

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    • Triasha@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Gunfire would not necessarily panic people in the vicinity. If you are in a suburban setting, surrounded by 6 foot fences separating 2 story houses, a few shots could be mistaken for hammering, some kind of construction project. If I did think there was gunfire, I would go inside, and take shelter, not hang around to talk to cops.

      I would never run toward cops period. They might shoot me.

      I have fired guns and been around guns as they were fired, and I am not confident I would know the difference easily. Plenty of Americans have less experience with firearms than I do.

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    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      What do you think it would look like from the outside if someone had you at gunpoint in your bedroom?

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  • merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    It’s not up to the police to debate the veracity of a report

    Why not?

    and they respond with “sounds fake, not coming”.

    Why wouldn’t they just respond with “we’ll have to verify this”.

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• Brewchin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Ever seen Stripes, the '80s action comedy film with Bill Murray and other notables?

  There’s a scene in it that I think of every time this kind of story crops up, where you have over-equipped and under-educated people who are trained to think that everyone’s the enemy, and so prioritise their blood thirst and fear over everything else:

  “All I know is I finally get to kill somebody!”

  Their actions aren’t about right/wrong or just/unjust, but that they were let off the leash to do what they have been conditioned to do.

  So you get people calling in hoaxes to police forces who send militarised forces to raid grannies, young children, whomever. It’s about the drama and lulz. Objectively horrifying.

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• dustyData@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  The US has lived in a state where any measure to squash terrorism would never be enough, for a long time. All you have to know is an address and say to the police that you heard a group of Arab looking middle aged men speaking of blowing up a place and a small army would be raised ready raze that domicile to the ground if necessary.

  That’s what happens when a group of people is armed beyond reason and in constant paranoia.

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• SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  It’s America, just say a black man has a gun and they send a batallion.

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