[fenomas]

> how do we go about stopping this from happening more frequently?

I suppose there's more to it than just better police procedures, but I'm gobsmacked every time I read about a police force breaking down a door, or even drawing a gun, based on nothing but an anonymous email or phone call. It smacks of a system that's never encountered bad inputs before.

In a way it's surprising that actual criminal gangs didn't catch onto this years ago, and start swatting their rivals.

[DanBC]

> In a way it's surprising that actual criminal gangs didn't catch onto this years ago, and start swatting their rivals.

In England it used to be the case that many reports to "Crimestoppers" (an anonymous tip-off line) were from drug dealers informing on the competitors.

And here's an article from 2000 about informants

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/nov/12/ukcrime.tonythomps...