Don't they have a Public Relations office that you could find the contact number for and ask? I'd be surprised to learn they don't have somebody on site to answer random questions from the public about various regulations, laws, procedures and stuff. The stuff that is public knowledge, but not necessarily easily obtained knowledge.BinDipper said:Interesting, thanks for the additional info.
Reading those articles I can't see any mention of them actually entering the property, perhaps the ARS makes some on-site attempts to confirm the report before breeching the property?
Would be cool if I knew someone in the ARS to ask.
You have to provide valid ID (driver's license) when buying a mobile phone. Cops check the number that made the call, run it back to the provider, then to the store where it was bought and then they have the troll's real name and home address.Flames66 said:Nobody is saying they are untraceable. What they are saying is you get a cheap, disposable phone and SIM card and make the call from somewhere other than where you live. Once you are done dispose of the phone and SIM and you're done. How do you intend to trace that call?
But if you ask me, ignoring the problem will still allow it to spread around. Do you really think the people doing this aren't bragging to their friends? They aren't bragging in private forums? It'll become a fad whether the general public brings attention to it or waits til every other house and school are being swatted cause bored teen boys think it's funny.michael87cn said:I feel like spreading around these stories is going to increase the people who want to do it to others...
right now you can read a ton of posts that basically say "what is wrong with people?" but right now im sure several people are grinning to themselves and thinking they can't wait to do this to someone.
simply put, there are people out there that are evil.
Unless this is a brand new law (within the past 6 months) or is only a local law that effects your state/county/city (do you live in Puerto Rico? They passed an ID law for prepaided cellphones.) then I am going to call bullshit. Upon googling I can only come up with two news articles from 2010 about Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Sen. John Cornyn trying to create a bill requiring an ID but none of them have a name or number for the bill. This leads me to believe it was either voted down or never even came to a vote.008Zulu said:Well, when you pay for a phone, even with cash, you are required to provide a valid ID; driver's license, etc before they sell it to you.SexyGarfield said:Pray tell how does one trace a freshly activated cellphone that was bought with cash? I am not saying you're wrong I just don't see a way. I have bought one and used it for a while when I lost my phone and I never had to use any identifying information.
This is my point about putting more into the backend. It's exactly the idea of making it less likely that SWAT would be pranked simply because of the greater likelihood of severe repercussions for the prankster. Pranksters pull pranks only when they know they can get away with it without the prank turning back on them. If there is a greater likelihood that they'll get caught and suffer severely for it, then they're more likely to think twice about pulling such a stunt.BinDipper said:There's a big difference between treating a single report seriously and taking a single report as gospel. I'm not blaming the SWAT teams per-se, obviously the ultimate responsibility lays at the feet of the prankster. But for the SWAT teams to put themselves in a position where they are so easily pranked just seems silly to me.
Like if I wanted to rob a bank, I could just call in a fake murder/hostage confession and boom, I've got a couple of hours to rob said bank without having to worry about SWAT teams showing up.
I agree a thousand times over but this loophole has been around for a long time and unless you feel like starting up a PAC then I doubt it will change.Flames66 said:That leaves the whole system open to abuse and is a hole that needs to be plugged.SexyGarfield said:From what I understand, as long as the officer has a legal right to be in a place where he can detect contraband it is all good to press charges. Responding to a possible threat gives them the right as terrible as that is.
The Plain Sight Doctrine said:If a law enforcement officer has a legal right to be in plain sight or can smell parts of illegal contraband, they have the right to seize the contraband or evidence and arrest individuals. However, if an officer finds the items illegally, contraband may be seized, but cannot be used as evidence in criminal courts.
I have never provided ID to buy a telephone and would refuse if asked. I am not from the USA though so I don't understand how things work there. Is that a law or just something that companies do? Can anyone else from America confirm it?008Zulu said:You have to provide valid ID (driver's license) when buying a mobile phone. Cops check the number that made the call, run it back to the provider, then to the store where it was bought and then they have the troll's real name and home address.Flames66 said:Nobody is saying they are untraceable. What they are saying is you get a cheap, disposable phone and SIM card and make the call from somewhere other than where you live. Once you are done dispose of the phone and SIM and you're done. How do you intend to trace that call?
He was living alone in UK and was doxxed while playing heartstone. there may or many not be somone he was talking to at the time that police didnt turn off but im not sure if im not mixing it with something else.BinDipper said:If I could find it on google I wouldn't be asking you.Strazdas said:Sadly no, i dont stockpile links of every news story i read and im sure your as good at google as i am.
Any identifying details you remember from said story?
Sorry, I missed your example. However, I don't think a typical prankster has in mind to pull a prank and then rob a bank. That combination just doesn't generally happen, as far as I know. Generally, I would expect someone who's decided they're going to rob a bank to be of a more stern or desperate mentality that just wouldn't be given to taking time to pull a prank before engaging their primary goal of robbing the bank. Maybe you know examples that I don't of such persons, though.BinDipper said:[
But in the example I gave I'm already going to rob a bank so a couple of extra years jail-time on my already potential life sentence isn't going to bother me.
You can put more accountability into the back end, that's fine. But the SWAT teams are still in a position where they can be easily hoaxed and criminals can still take advantage of that.