Posted on 10/10/2023 5:44:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Grand Rapids police are investigating recent swatting incidents in which 911 callers falsely report a serious crime at a specific place.
The incidents happened at Holiday Inn Grand Rapids Downtown and a restaurant, police said.
It is uncertain if the calls were related.
“Swatting, or calling 911 to falsely report a serious crime occurring at a specific address, ties up police and other emergency responders, creates confusion and concern in and around the reported location, leads to rumors and misinformation being spread online and in the community, and generally causes chaos,” police said in a statement Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Such incidents can lead to copycats.
Businesses should take calls seriously until proven false, police said.
Staff at the Holiday Inn was commended for providing accurate information to first responders as well as their guests to ease fears and return the business to normal once the call was determined to be false.
Police said businesses should prepare or review emergency-response plans, including response to false calls.
Those who hear about critical incidents occurring should check local media. Residents can also sign up for the city’s emergency alert system.
“Don’t spread unsubstantiated rumors, especially those that could cause panic and/or lead to unsafe behavior,” police said.
Police asked anyone with information in the recent swatting calls to contact detectives at 616-456-3380 or anonymously through Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or www.silentobserver.org
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Folks can die from swatting
It’s messed up.
NSA could get them as a class exercise for their newest trainees. Maybe they already have. But that would surely be classified if it ever happened. It would probably also violate a number of laws, so it must have never happened.
Maybe the perpetrators will brag about what they did, and some friends of friends who listened to their story will call that phone number.
Gee. Could be people checking response time in planning something.
they actually die from no knock night time raids by the police, which is why I believe Judges should be swatted regularly as a matter of POLICY
That’s what I meant. If you are asleep at home at night. SWAT team knocks on door, homeowner is more than 50% likely to end up dead. Why should a homeowner believe someone at the door ‘claiming’ to be the police. More often than not, that’s NOT the police, but a perp.
“...Judges should be swatted regularly as a matter of POLICY”
Why yes, gotta make sure the system works. Like the a-hole feds did last week on all our cell phones, I must have got six or so of these annoying texts in the middle of chainsaw work and two of them in a foreign language (that shall not be named) that were sent using my tax dollars.
Whitmer involved?
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