Swatting can be extremely dangerous. In 2017, a man died at the hands of police when someone made a 911 call with false confessions of crimes that led police to his door. To pranksters, the reaction may be unforeseen. However, a person makes false reports to authorities; it causes a number of problems. According to the Denver Post, a swatting prank may result in felony charges, especially if a person dies as a result.
The first issue at play is that it can put the life of another person in danger. When you call authorities to a scene where they believe there might be a weapon involved, they will be on edge and prepared to protect civilians and themselves against a threat. The officers have no way of knowing that the person has no weapons or that the person is innocent.
Swatting refers to calling 911 and initiating a mass police response. The main intent behind most prankers who involve themselves in swatting is to involve the SWAT team. In addition to becoming a danger for others, this also wastes police resources. Instead of paying any attention to the real crimes that may occur at the same time, they release more resources to handling a false claim.
In 2015, there were more than 4,000 convictions when it comes to false reporting. Swatting is serious and dangerous. However, there are also questions of how to deal with those who are mentally ill and may make a false police report. However, for these people, they would have had to know they were making a false police report.
