The most famous case came in 2018, when 25-year-old Tyler Barriss tried to swat a streamer, but instead sent the police to the wrong address. It ended with a father-of-two being shot dead by officers. Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
And the police who murdered the innocent father? How many years did they get?
This is fundamentally the real problem. Submitting false reports to police will always be possible. Anyone can do it. But a false police report should never endanger someone’s life. That’s only possible because of bad policing.
I’ve actually personally made a police report that resulted in our version of a SWAT team being sent. They’re called ETF here in Canada. I saw what looked like a domestic violence incident, with a knife involved. Because there was a weapon, policy said to send ETF.
When they arrived they locked down the entire area, and then they talked to the people inside the apartment. They gave clear and simple instructions, they made them both walk out one at a time, they got everyone’s stories, and they resolved the entire incident without violence.
ETF are trained by JTF-2, one of the best special forces units in the world. These are absolutely terrifying people. If violence had been needed they would have dispensed it with ruthless efficiency. But that training also gives them the confidence to not use violence as a first resort. They’re taught to de-escalate, to resolve situations safely and calmly wherever possible.
This is how policing works all over the developed world. Only in America is “murder by cop” a realistic option, and that’s 100% a problem with American policing.
And, I want to be absolutely clear about this; Canadian policing sucks. We’re not even a good example. So many countries do it better than us. America has set the bar so low that even our middling efforts look amazing in comparison.
Yeah, it’s kind of interesting being depressingly low in absolute terms, and then looking over at the absolute garbage fire of our nearest neighbour and being like, “well, it could be worse…”
And the police who murdered the innocent father? How many years did they get?
This is fundamentally the real problem. Submitting false reports to police will always be possible. Anyone can do it. But a false police report should never endanger someone’s life. That’s only possible because of bad policing.
I’ve actually personally made a police report that resulted in our version of a SWAT team being sent. They’re called ETF here in Canada. I saw what looked like a domestic violence incident, with a knife involved. Because there was a weapon, policy said to send ETF.
When they arrived they locked down the entire area, and then they talked to the people inside the apartment. They gave clear and simple instructions, they made them both walk out one at a time, they got everyone’s stories, and they resolved the entire incident without violence.
ETF are trained by JTF-2, one of the best special forces units in the world. These are absolutely terrifying people. If violence had been needed they would have dispensed it with ruthless efficiency. But that training also gives them the confidence to not use violence as a first resort. They’re taught to de-escalate, to resolve situations safely and calmly wherever possible.
This is how policing works all over the developed world. Only in America is “murder by cop” a realistic option, and that’s 100% a problem with American policing.
And, I want to be absolutely clear about this; Canadian policing sucks. We’re not even a good example. So many countries do it better than us. America has set the bar so low that even our middling efforts look amazing in comparison.
This is true for so many things
Yeah, it’s kind of interesting being depressingly low in absolute terms, and then looking over at the absolute garbage fire of our nearest neighbour and being like, “well, it could be worse…”
USA! USA! USA!
AMERICA FUCK YEAH
Best we can do is paid leave
Mandatory paid vacation.
Immunity