Swatting

Disgusting:

The FBI today said today there has been a significant increase in the illegal activity know 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.

Last year, for example, a 19-year-old Washington state man was charged by California authorities after pretending to be calling from the home of a married California couple, saying he had just shot and murdered someone. A local SWAT team arrived on the scene, and the husband, who had been asleep in his home with his wife and two young children, heard something and went outside to investigate—after first stopping in the kitchen to pick up a knife. What he found was a group of SWAT assault rifles aimed directly at him.

In another case a Washington State teenager could get 18 years in prison on charges that he used his PC to access Orange County, California's 911 emergency response system and convinced the sheriff's department into storming an area couple's home with a heavily armed SWAT team.

Why did they do it? Said Kevin Kolbye, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of our Dallas office: "Individuals did it for the bragging rights and ego, versus any monetary gain." Basically, they did it because they could.

Too bad victims can’t return the favor.

A hundred years ago, people who did such things would have found themselves slowly strangling to death at the end of a short rope. While the rest of the townsfolk watched in satisfaction, the criminal's face would turn purple, his extremities would begin to swell, his bowels would release as he lost muscle control, and finally, after several minutes of searing agony, he would die in abject humiliation.

Reinstate that consequence, and I guarantee you "swatting" will stop after the first hanging is televised. We've become too "civilized" for our own good.