Police at Harvard order four students into hallway at gunpoint over what turned out to be a fake 911 call

By adamg on Tue, 04/04/2023 - 11:16am

The Harvard Crimson reports on a swatting attack that involved four black students being awoken by campus police in riot gear pointing rifles at them and ordering them to raise their hands and walk out of their rooms.

The false report was an apparent example of “swatting” — the act of placing a false emergency call with the intention of harassing a target by provoking a forceful police response.

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Comments

People have died from this

By ChrisF on Tue, 04/04/2023 - 1:03pm.

This is a serious issue for people. People streaming have been swatted while livestreaming. Just keep it civil but people like Tim Pool (that I don't personally watch. I just read about it after the 10th incident) have been repeatedly swatted. The problem is they can use a throwaway number and an automated voice.

People have died from this and the people responsible need to be arrested.

The problem is they can use a

By anon on Tue, 04/04/2023 - 1:57pm.

The problem is they can use a throwaway number and an automated voice.

I would argue that the problem is one phone call can trigger an overwhelming police response.

911 dispatch gets a phone call at 4am on a Monday. Even if the caller claims something-something-guns, that should not be enough to escalate instantly to such a fierce response at an otherwise quiet college dormitory.

These students were not picked at random.

By jmeltzer on Tue, 04/04/2023 - 1:21pm.

Harvard feels it has to say "no immediate threat to House safety existed", but within the dorm is the first place I (and I suspect the police too) would look.

Immediate threat

By perruptor on Tue, 04/04/2023 - 6:12pm.

Given the history of such events, I would say that a SWAT team showing up and rousting Black people constitutes an "immediate threat to house safety". I am glad it didn't go any wronger than it did, but I hope an investigation can find who did this, and that they are charged with a serious crime.

All good fun, until someone

By anon on Wed, 04/05/2023 - 7:59am.

All good fun, until someone gets their eye shot out.

Hmmmm who's the racist that

By anon on Wed, 04/05/2023 - 11:11am.

Hmmmm who's the racist that called this in? These kids could have been killed...