Originally published at: French gamer gets sentenced to three years of community service for swatting | Boing Boing
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So my first thought is: Would he have gotten punished if this attack hadn’t been made on a major corporation?
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wtf? you get community service for attempted murder in france?
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I mean, three years is a lot.
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If you really want someone who has done something wrong to repay their debt to society then having them sit in a jail cell doesn’t make sense, since keeping someone incarcerated costs society a shit-ton of money. We barely even consider this cost in the United States because we live in one of the most carcerial societies in history so we’ve been conditioned to think of it as normal.
When implemented well, community service does actually provide a benefit to society. Plus this asshole sounds like he could use more time outdoors and away from a computer screen.
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The aspect of swatting that (IMHO) doesn’t get enough press is that it wouldn’t work if so many countries weren’t thinly veiled police states. It should require a lot more than one phone call from an angsty teenager (who is surely a bad liar/actor) to trigger a large team of armed and armoured men to kick in your door and storm the building. Why is this tool of state violence on such a hair trigger?
So yes swatting is bad and I’m glad this guy got charged for it, but the real problem is that swatting shouldn’t work.
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My sympathy goes to the poor therapist who has to counsel this whiny baby who got kicked off for being a cheat.
Not disagreeing with you, but isn’t swatting a mostly North American thing? I’m struggling to find many incidents that have occurred outside of US or Canada. Maybe my google-fu is off today.
Police should respond to a threat call, but that doesn’t mean charging in, guns blazing.
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Well this one was in France. If you’re not familiar, the French police are pretty notoriously brutal. They roll around in packs in central Paris beating up skateboarders, and drive around the ‘burbs harassing Black people. That they’d respond to a swatting call is not at all surprising.
It’s not a big thing in Canada either because every podunk town doesn’t have a goddam SWAT team like America does. It’s certainly the biggest problem in America for all the reasons I listed above. America is the worst at all of them in terms of being over-policed. However clearly it happens elsewhere, just to lesser degrees. I know of at least one time it happened in Toronto, but it’s not common by any means.
But like, if I call the RCMP right now and tell them my neighbour is building bombs, they are not going to kick his door in guns blazing with eight storm troopers who rolled up hot in an armoured personal carrier. They’re going to send a car around to see what’s up. They’ll talk to me in person, ask why I think my neighbour is building bombs, then go talk to him, see what they think, etc. It’ll be a calm measured response to a tip. You know, actual police work.
I lived in California for many years, and literally did have a SWAT team try to storm my house. Why? Because they got a tip that a burglar was in my backyard. They didn’t see anyone in my yard so they assumed he was in the house. I was home and saw them lining up at my door, preparing to storm. There were six of them with AR-15s and body armour. They had blocked off all the streets. I opened the door when I saw it was MY house they were gonna storm and they demanded to be let inside to “clear the building”. I assured them I was home alone and all my windows were closed. If someone broke into the house, I’d know. But you don’t argue with six armoured men pointing assault rifles at you.
Just another day in America. And people ask me why I left.
And no, there was never anyone in my yard. I can see it from my window.
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The “caller” was in France, the swatting response was in Montreal, Canada.
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Sure, but it happens in France too. That doesn’t negate any of my points above. It happens lots of places, just mostly in America (and not North America, thank you very much. Do not lump us in with that budding fascist police state).
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Thanks, and yes, you will get no disagreement from me about French Police behavour, especially with minority groups. They can also be out of control and need systemic change.
We have a very hierarchical police system. Why? Would it not be better if, when I called 911, all my neighbors within a quarter of a mile got a text message and an invitation to come and help? I’d like my police democratized, and for my sheriff to deputize anyone competent willing to volunteer. We already have a police state, why not make it better?
Why have a police state at all?
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He used a computer at his parents’ home to make the calls through servers located in Russia.
I’m impressed that they tracked him down. Kind of like those people who thought that buying drugs or kiddie porn off the dark web with Bitcoin and thought it was safe and anonymous. Surprise!
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There’s an assumption that everyone is safe from all their neighbors that could use some consideration. And that I would want them knowing my private business. There are many I wouldn’t want near me if I were vulnerable.
Additionally- within a quarter mile of me? That’s about 25 square block - tens of thousands of people likely.
Also - I’m pretty sure the Proud Boys would love to be deputized. Along with garden variety criminals.
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Because police work requires extensive training, discipline, and organization. It’s hierarchical for the same reason companies, churches, clubs, charities, governments, militaries, and most other large human organizations are. It’s efficient and allows large groups of messy individuals to apply resources to a problem in an organized and efficient way, while (and this part is important) maintaining accountability. With a hierarchy, you can always figure out who to hold to account for the actions of the organization.
This sounds like utter chaos. The last thing I’d want is a bunch of untrained yahoos with low information swarming the area and trying to “help”. I want a few well trained professionals with access to resources to show up.
I don’t. I want them trained, organized, efficient, and accountable.
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No that’s the opposite of better.
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I love it! I can’t wait to get constant messages by every panicky or obnoxious person in the surrounding 50 blocks, but still have to sort through whatever nonsense they thought was important on the off chance someone is genuinely in trouble and this is the only way they have to get help. Or, if like, some racist says “I saw a suspicious black person”, because if only the other racists react to that one then there will be someone who needs help. That’s definitely how I want to spend my life!
It’s too bad there’s no way to have people trained and dedicated to helping others, just ones trained to hurt or the mob, but I guess such is life for reasons.
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