Florida Representative Sandy Adams says swatting has become threatening tactic against conservative bloggers
It seems that the scourge known as “swatting” where criminals and pranksters call in a fake 911 in hopes of drawing a response from law enforcement-usually a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team has taken a nasty political turn.
Florida Representative Sandy Adams sent a letter signed by 87 of his fellow Republican congressmen to US Attorney General Eric Holder telling him of the growing threat of swatting and what Adams calls its use as a threatening tactic used against politically conservative bloggers and others.
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The letter goes like this:
“Lately, there have been a string of threats directed at conservative bloggers where individuals call emergency dispatchers under the guise of another person’s name with fraudulent claims. These claims then cause local law enforcement to swarm the home of innocent Americans, and in some instances they have done so with guns drawn. Even more egregious, SWAT-ting is quickly becoming a scare tactic used against political bloggers in an effort to stifle their First Amendment rights.
The majority of these cases utilize voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connections between the suspect’s computer and a distant telephone network, then dialing 911. This technology allows the caller to falsify their identifying information, making it almost impossible for emergency dispatchers to identify or track the origin of the call.
“As a former law enforcement officer, SWAT-ting is of great concern to me. This practice is incredibly dangerous and it is only a matter of time before somebody gets seriously injured. It not only puts the victims in harm’s way, but it endangers the entire community. I urge Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate these cases to determine whether any federal laws have been breached, and to prosecute those crimes accordingly. Nobody should have their lives put at risk for exercising their First Amendment rights.”
One of the most egregious examples of this use of swatting is detailed by the editor of the conservative RedState.com site who details the frightening police response to a fraudulent 911 in May here.
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