What, from the police's perspective, is the alternative?
If they get a credible report of a dangerous situation, they have to take it seriously. The clock starts running the moment their phone rings, so they have limited time for countermeasures.
I surely hope they're doing their best to prevent obvious fakes from getting through. They have the incentive; getting pranked by a 16-year-old makes them look like idiots. And I really hope that their procedures and training mean that they're well prepared for situations where they caller was lying, confused, panicked, or just mistaken.
But I think mere anonymity shouldn't discourage them much. For a lot of people, calling the police is a complex calculus of risk. Are they safe from the police? Are they safe from retribution from criminals? Are they inviting too much trouble for others? [1] People being anonymous may not be a great sign of a false report.
For one you'd think that the point of termination of the call would have to be near the place where the crime is supposedly taking place. If that's not the case then the default should not be to go in with guns blazing but to use the time in flight to further verify the veracity of the report.
After all, what are the chances of someone reporting a hostage situation from a point of termination in another country, state, county or even town from where the hostage situation is taking place? Such information should be treated as hearsay at best.
Why do you think they can tell? I doubt they can tell the difference between Ooma users, let alone the difference between an Asterisk user on that block versus anywhere else.
Also, I hope they don't go in guns blazing regardless of the report. A troublemaker could just as well be on the block as elsewhere.
It's tricky, right? What percentage of anonymous calls are swattings vs. actual hostage situations? It's a dangerously easy tactic, but I still would guess that it's rare relative to actual calls that require a quick response.
Certainly, law enforcement needs to be thinking hard about how they response. But it's not obvious to me, as an outsider, how to handle this.
If they get a credible report of a dangerous situation, they have to take it seriously. The clock starts running the moment their phone rings, so they have limited time for countermeasures.
I surely hope they're doing their best to prevent obvious fakes from getting through. They have the incentive; getting pranked by a 16-year-old makes them look like idiots. And I really hope that their procedures and training mean that they're well prepared for situations where they caller was lying, confused, panicked, or just mistaken.
But I think mere anonymity shouldn't discourage them much. For a lot of people, calling the police is a complex calculus of risk. Are they safe from the police? Are they safe from retribution from criminals? Are they inviting too much trouble for others? [1] People being anonymous may not be a great sign of a false report.
[1] E.g.: http://tressiemc.com/2014/05/02/calling-the-white-mans-polic...