[slapshot]

But one of the most effective tactics of The Fly was a traditional SWATting based on a false phone call that Kreb's wife had been murdered in the house. 13 police officers showed up, heavily armed, because of the War on What? Murder? Domestic Violence?

All of this long predates any War on ____. Your examples could just as easily be "send tips that so and so plans to rob a bank." There's no "War on Bank Robbers" but it'd be no less effective.

[pyre]

You're missing a couple of points:

- The militarization of local police forces is largely thanks to the War on Drugs.

- The effects of a "SWATing" are amplified by the militarization of the police. If, for example, someone called in a murder in the 1950's, would the police come in guns-blazing shooting anything, and everything in their path, dropping flashbang grenades on sleeping children?

- Had the package of drugs arrived without Krebs being 'in on it,' then he would be in violation of the law because he possessed an illegal substance. The War on Drugs has given us the idea that merely possessing something is enough to get you jail time. This allows malicious actors to arrange for an illegal item to find its way into your possession... The police and prosecution hear "I was set up!" a lot. I'm sure they wouldn't pay much attention to just another cry of innocence (though being a white male in good social standing probably increases the odds).

[slapshot]

> The War on Drugs has given us the idea that merely possessing something is enough to get you jail time.

Except that's not true either. In many places possession of burglary tools is a crime by itself. I'm not saying it's a good law, but it's certainly law. Same for any possession of child pornography, knowing possession of stolen property, any possession of a long list of EPA-banned toxic chemicals, any possession of unregistered firearms, any possession of modified firearms, etc etc etc.

[rdtsc]

> War on What? Murder? Domestic Violence?

Drugs. War of drugs makes SWATing a possibility. Breaking a door and throwing a flash grenade without looking or verifying things is made possible by 3 things (all related to some extent):

* Irrationality of the War On Drugs (remember these are the same officers that are doing that more routinely and the main reason is the believe there are drugs and don't want the perpetrator to throw them down the drain when they hear the knock)

* Militarization of police

* No consequences for actions for police officers

EDIT: see a related post I made this thread that contains some data about this (from an ACLU investigative report published by WAPO)