A lot of people here seem to think that execution, permanent or long term incarceration, or some form of vengeance will be a worthwhile activity in response to this.
I don't agree.
I don't agree, because none of that undoes what has happened. A person has died, and ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, NOTHING, CAN UNDO THAT.
Putting this jackass in jail does not magically resurrect the person who died. Executing him doesn't either.
Long term incarceration, execution, or some form of other harsh punishment will only make you feel better about yourself, but not actually solve the problem.
But what is the problem, at this point? The problem at this point is, what the fuck do we do with this person now.
Clearly, what was done is wrong, for so many reasons. But giving this jackass 25 years will not be any different from giving this person something in the realm of 3-4 years of rehabilitation. If this jackass is not to be executed, we as a society still need to take responsibility for what the fuck to do with him. Permanent incarceration is not the solution because you're now wasting tax dollars on keeping someone in prison, when they most likely could instead be a productive member of society (after rehabilitation), who instead of COSTING TAX DOLLARS can now PAY TAX DOLLARS.
If this jackass can be rehabilitated (and I am not qualified in the slightest to determine this), then the LOGICAL thing to do, is to incarcerate them and send them through GENUINE REHABILITATION. And I'm not talking this bullshit maximum security prison crap that we somehow think is solving problems (SPOILER: IT'S ACTUALLY CAUSING MORE PROBLEMS THAN IT'S SOLVING).
I'm talking about something in the realm of low to medium security prison (based on their escape assessment), in which this jackass can be taught why the fuck it was not okay, and be retrained how to reintegrate with society. So when they get out of jail, they can get a job, and get back to contributing to society, and know the consequences of what they did.
I think the problem is that people can be swatted in the first place.
There seems to be a real lack of safeguards against fake reports.
Some other potential problem areas
- One person can, somehow, call into 911 multiple times for swatting and fake bomb calls
- Police being too trigger happy
- The fact that swatting is popular form of harassment at all
- Rehab does nothing for sociopaths (IMO)
One big problem is when the punishment for the crime is better than the life the person is living already. If you give someone a nice place to stay, and they figure out all they have to do is act like they have learned their lesson then they will gladly serve a little time, enjoy the vacation, and then return to what they were doing in the first place. When the punishment is severe enough that the person never wants to go through it again and will do everything they can to prevent having to experience it again such as not committing the crime again, then it is successful. Just like some children can't stand to be isolated and not allowed to pursue an activity, therefore a "time out" is enough to deter them from repeating an unwanted action, there are those children such as I was, that sitting me in the corner I would have just daydreamed a new adventure and it would have taught me nothing. A good swat on the rear was more of a deterrent to me, so that is what worked.
I also don't understand how some people think that all people can be reasoned with and will see the value of proper behavior and change their ways, instead of needing to undergo some type of harsh punishment.
Swatting is a popular form of harassment because most of the time the only person who suffers is the target, not the instigator. If there is no fear of reprisal, then an act such as swatting becomes very attractive to people seeking revenge or who are just bullies at heart.
I think the term trigger happy is not quite accurate for the vast majority of police. Most would rather never need to use their weapon in the line of duty. How many of these officers have ever been in a shootout situation before? Some may serve 20 years and never face such a situation, then all of a sudden they are dropped right in the middle of what could be a very volatile and dangerous hostage situation. There is no real way to prepare for that until you actually go through it. Everyone I have ever met that went through something like that either as police or in the military will tell you that practice and training are totally different to what you experience in a real life and death situation when it finally arrives. Did the police make a mistake, yes, did the 911 make a mistake, yes. But if there may be mere minutes to react to the situation, should the police wait maybe an hour while the call is researched to see if it is accurate? How long would it take to make the proper trace and research to see where the call originated and who made it? I have personally gotten marketing calls by people who are obviously not from the US but the phone number was a local number, and out here in the middle of nowhere there are very few Indian or Asian people living to be making calls trying to sell me something. Obviously the number is spoofed, and if he spoofed a number to call in the swatting call, how long would it take to verify it was not real? Would it be fast enough to verify and then still send in the police in time to save a life if it finally proved to be legit? Are there things that can be done to help prevent what happened, possible, but what is that solution? Why hasn't someone here already sent that information to law enforcement so that this can be prevented in the future?