[mtempleton]

Police brutalize and bloody a man in process of ejecting him from plane: outcome > corporation to blame

Police shoot, mutilate and nearly kill man sleeping at home during hoax: outcome > citizen to blame

I'm sure I could go on for a while. The point is, are we not allowed to hold government accountable for illegitimate use of violence? Isn't that... a really big problem?

[infodroid]

The article does a good job of deflecting blame away from the British hoaxer, which seems to be its goal. So I'm not surprised if anybody initially feels a sense of injustice here, but in this case I think it's misplaced.

[dsmithatx]

While he should be held accountable, you do realize he essentially made a prank call from a foreign country right? Is the prank call the problem or, are the police responding to a prank cal, breaking the bones (in a guy playing video games face) the problem? Seriously, who is more guilty here? I say put them all in prison for a long time.

[infodroid]

Swatting is not the moral equivalent of a prank call. The psychological effects on the victim put it closer to terrorism, and the very real risk of injury, even to competent emergency responders, put it closer to assault.

There isn't any information in the article to judge whether the police response was appropriate. For example: was the victim acting suspiciously, or being violent and uncooperative during the incident? The notion that the police overreacted in this case is not a conclusion that is supported by any known facts.

The article also doesn't make the slightest attempt to examine the accusations of police incompetence that it presents, which further fuels the unwarranted sense of outrage.

Why wouldn't you have reason to ignore the warnings from people claiming to be "family" members in a hostage scenario, given they might be criminal accomplices?

Why is it bad to take reports of serious crime at face value, instead of assuming it might be a prank and risking a pattern of ignoring legitimate incidents in future?

Why would you take the expensive and time-consuming step of tracing phone calls before acting, when it risks wasting valuable time that would have saved lives in a real criminal incident?

There are incidents that demonstrate police incompetence and overreaction, or a failed law enforcement system, but this isn't one of them.

[parenthephobia]

You must know that the SWAT team didn't know they were part of a hoax. If there actually had been an armed hostage-taker then I doubt that many people would be saying that shooting him with rubber bullets was illegitimate.

Having said that: 15 of the 17 top-level comments on this thread are explicitly critical of the police in this situation, so I don't know how you you're getting the impression that we aren't allowed to hold them accountable.

[kbart]

"Officers reportedly ignored his father, Tom, and his cousin telling them there was no hostage situation and that the so-called hostage taker was actually asleep."

Of course, it's hard to judge without knowing the whole situation, but this all (military) approach of "shooting first, ask questions later" is not suitable for a local police imho.

[zepto]

The military typically have rules of engagement that are far more careful than this.

[csomar]

You can't really blame the "Police Offier" if he is doing his job correctly (following orders). The one to be blamed should be the one giving the orders.

[Doxin]

> You can't really blame the "Police Officer"

Yes you can. And I feel like we should. Just because you get an order to murder someone doesn't mean you then get to switch off your brain and be absolved of any guilt.

I suggest you have a listen to this video[1]. "Just following orders" is the cause of some of the biggest grief in the world, now and historically.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYR9qGVtBXQ

[lomnakkus]

That's the Nuremberg defense and it doesn't really work. (Of course this isn't exactly war-crime level stuff, but there's at least _some_ culpability on the part of the officers.)

[krapp]

Police officers should be treated, at least, exactly the same as common citizens in cases where common citizens would be arrested for actions the police tend to get away with, such as murder. The position of law enforcement shouldn't give them license to kill - blame them, charge them, jail them if necessary.

Perhaps their willingness to enact violence on behalf of the state should put the police under greater suspicion.

[zwbanks]

Yes, you can. It has been a concept at least since the Nuremberg trials.

Of course the one giving the orders should take an even higher blame.

[dsmithatx]

Breaking the bones in a SLEEPING guy's face (over a prank call from another country FFS) is the officers job????

I guess you don't believe police are there to protect and serve which they are sworn to do. Not protect and serve random callers from other nations by the way!

[pjc50]

Concentration camp guards tried that defence at Nuremberg. It was not successful and they were executed.

[kakarot]

By the same logic, we shouldn't prosecute street thugs and should only target gang leaders.