Many people first heard about the crime of “SWATing” — sending the police to someone’s home with a false emergency call — after a string of four swattings were perpetrated on conservative bloggers over a 14-month span.
Even though last night’s swatting incident involving singer/actress Miley Cyrus is likely unrelated to the political swattings, it will still raise the profile of the crime itself. It also could act as leverage to get the Obama administration to heed Congress’s call and begin taking the crimes seriously.
The LAPD confirmed to Breitbart News that police received a 911 call shortly before 7 p.m. last night reporting a kidnapping and shots fired at Cyrus’s Studio City home. It took over a half hour to determine that nobody was at the residence and that no incident had occurred.
A police department spokesperson said, “We take any threat like this seriously. There’s no hesitation on our part to respond with full force.”
The LAPD stated that while swatting incidents are rare, they are considered serious not just because of the needless drain on police resources but also because of the danger to both the police and the public.
The story made news on celebrity gossip site TMZ and it used the term “swatting,” another indication that the crime itself is starting to become something more and more people are aware of.
The LAPD responded immediately … sending a chopper, and officers with high powered weapons, who immediately set up a perimeter around the home … with guns drawn.
But the cops quickly determined the house was quiet, no one was home … and there was no sign of a crime — it was a false alarm.
Law enforcement tells TMZ … officials now believe the caller is a “911 abuser.”
The call seems to fall in line with a prank called “Swatting” — in which a caller tries to trick emergency responders into dispatching law enforcement (like the SWAT team) to a home by making up a serious crime.
This is the second high profile swatting since 85 congressmen sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in June. Blogger Aaron Walker was swatted at his home in Virginia after winning a court victory against Brett Kimberlin, the high-profile felon turned Soros-funded left-wing activist.
Several weeks ago, Senator Saxby Chambliss renewed the message to AG Holder to take action, but so far, there has been no apparent movement.
Obviously, the Cyrus swatting is unlikely to share the apparent political motivations behind the swattings of Red State’s Eric Erickson, Patrick “Patterico” Frey, Aaron Walker and Mike Stack. Given the nature of our celebrity obsessed culture, the news could be the wedge to help motivate more action.