Counter-Strike Player's Twitch Stream Captures His Own SWATting... And Some Questionable Police Behavior
from the LOUD-NOISES dept
One of the more unfortunate side effects of police militarization isn't directly the fault of law enforcement agencies or their enablers at the Pentagon. But it is related. Thanks to the Drug War, nearly every town in the US has a SWAT team or one minutes away, whether they need one or not. This has led to the rise of SWATting -- calling in a false report in order to send a charged-up SWAT team to raid someone's home.
This has been used by scam artists against security bloggers and by trolls against celebrities, but has especially seen an increase as a form of harassment within the gaming community. A recent incident is not only notable for dragging schools into the mix, but also for being caught on tape.
Jordan "Kootra" Mathewson, who streams his sessions on Twitch, was streaming from an office near a Littleton, CO school (which was put on lockdown) when the SWAT came "knocking."
What's interesting about this (beyond the lengths griefers will go to make someone miserable) is some of the actions caught on video.
At the beginning, the SWAT team does the usual cop thing of everyone yelling at the same time because that apparently works better than having a point person designated to deliver concise, well-enunciated instructions. (Note: it does work better than other situations where officers have yelled contradictory instructions over each other ["Stand up!! Lay on the ground!!].) Bonus points for swearing because no one takes guys with assault rifles and Kevlar vests seriously unless they use variations of the word "fuck."
About two minutes in, after Mathewson has been searched and cuffed (and held on the ground by SWAT boots, just in case), an officer asks where his phone is. He picks it up and casually starts looking through it. First off, the new rules say get a warrant, although I'd imagine an active shooter situation (even if fake) falls under exigent circumstances. But there doesn't seem to be any hesitation on the officer's part. He just asks where Mathewson's cell phone is… and then takes it. He continues looking through it for the next couple of minutes while asking questions occasionally.
Also of note: around the 4:30 mark, Mathewson explains to the cops that he's streaming. Once he explains that people are watching, the attention shifts from Mathewson to the camera -- which the cops then disable. They have no reason to and they certainly don't have the right to, but they just go ahead and do with a notable lack of hesitation. (The same cop who casually started looking through Mathewson's phone leads the way.)
As the camera is gracelessly dismounted, you can hear the other SWAT member ask: "If you heard us yelling, why didn't you move?" Mathewson answers that he had earphones on, but the better answer would have been, "Because I didn't want to get shot." I can think of no earthly reason why someone being raided by a SWAT team would make any movements that he or she hasn't been directed to make. At the point that Mathewson realizes what's happening, the SWAT team is still clearing rooms. Had he decided to make a surprise appearance in the hall, there's a good chance he would have-- at minimum -- been subjected to even rougher treatment. There's also a rather healthy (ha!) chance that someone might have fired off a round or two, given that these officers were looking for an active shooter and not, say, a serial parking law violator.
Mathewson has to walk them through the whole process of killing the stream (audio can still be heard for another minute or so), leaving the rest of the narrative to be captured in police reports. Fortunately, nothing went "wrong" in this raid, so no one was wounded or subjected to excessive amounts of force. It's also rather fortunate that Mathewson was using headphones, because one can only imagine what might have happened if the steady stream of Counter-Strike gunfire had been audible.
There have been several SWATings in recent months, but none of them have given us a look at one in progress. The SWAT team did nothing wrong by taking the threat seriously, although one officer's actions definitely approach the outer edges of what's acceptable/Constitutional and he did so with a practiced ease.
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Filed Under: counter strike, jordan mathewson, kootra, law enforcement, phones, recording, search, swatting, warrant
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If I were the guy I wouldn't tell them that things were being streamed just in case things went wrong.
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The cops aren't so much concerned if it is "needed" as if they can just find some excuse for it.
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Always remember
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The point is to dominate the room the instant they enter. One person asking you to please stand up (from the chair) and lay down on the ground is (they're not contradictory orders, you just have to execute them sequentially) is much less overpowering than 5 guys yelling and swearing at you.
Looking through the guy's phone is only logical, to see if he made any calls or whatever relating to the hypothetic bombing/hostage situation.
You can rightfully criticize the turning off of the stream, but the rest is pretty much as it should be.
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There are better ways to handle a situation.
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I agree. Whoever said they were giving cmds to be followed sequentially is full of shit.
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BULLSHIT. Dominating the room does nothing. If this is a shooter then he will open fire regardless of what the cops are doing. The only thing all five of them screaming does is to give the cops a nice adrenaline rush at the same time it increases the chance of the suspect doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing and subsequently get shot.
In this situation one person giving concise, clear messages is absolutely preferable to five cops shouting at you.
Not to mention that looking through his phone is a blatant violation of his rights. What are they going to do with the info on his phone? Are they going to start calling people to check what they are doing?
"Hi, this is the police. Your friend shot up a school, what are you doing at this time? Not killing anyone I hope"
This kind of behavior from the police is what crates a lot of dangerous situations where innocent people are liable to get hurt. It won't be long before one of these SWAT-ings ends with some poor gamer shot dead because he had a replica chainsaw gun next to him and appeared to be reaching for it.
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Logical? May depend on your viewpoint.
But legal? Absolutely not: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140625/10272227684/supreme-court-says-law-enforcement-cant-searc h-mobile-phones-without-warrant.shtml
You can rightfully criticize the turning off of the stream, but the rest is pretty much as it should be.
Except, well, looking at the phone, which the Supreme Court just declared a violation of the 4th amendment...
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And you would be wrong in your thinking there. In Riley v. California SCOTUS specifically rejected the suggestion that the police can look through call logs:
The ruling makes it fairly clear - the police can inspect a phone to make sure it isn't concealing a weapon and that's it:
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And people are supposed to know this how? They're two orders being issued simultaneously specifying mutually exclusive actions. In a situation like that, I would be trying to do exactly what the police are demanding without imposing my interpretation.
"You can rightfully criticize the turning off of the stream, but the rest is pretty much as it should be."
I think the point was the abuse of the SWAT team by other players. The criticism is not how the SWAT team behaved once called, but that they were there at all.
Personally, I think the fact that it is even possible for a citizen to make a single phone call and deploy a SWAT team is inherently flawed. SWAT should never be the first responder in situations like that. You send a regular cop to assess the situation first.
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A few things:
1) it's possible for a non-citizen to deploy a SWAT team by spoofing the phone number. Citizens making the call -- not so big a deal, as they're ultimately accountable for the results. But in this day and age, someone in Mumbai can call a SWAT team down on a CS player's house in Sacramento (or in Austin, which would probably go much worse).
2) The idea of a SWAT team is to deploy quickly in situations where regular policing could do more harm than good. By the time normal procedures are followed, someone could be dead. That's pretty much the point of SWAT teams - having the element of surprise backed up by undefeatable force.
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The existence of SWAT is not inherently a problem. The problem is the willingness to use it in contexts where it does more harm than good, coupled with a systematic and absolute immunity for the officers involved even when they reasonably should have known they were doing something wrong.
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Yes, I understand that -- however, it's impossible for the police to know if something is one of those situations until they've taken a look for themselves. And it shouldn't be the SWAT team taking the look.
This is why normal police officers should respond first. If that's not done, then we'll forever have problems with SWAT being misused like this. Aside from resulting in innocent people being killed, it will also continue to increase resentment against the police in general and SWAT teams specifically.
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The phrase you're looking for is "capture shock"
When Khalid El-Masri was kidnapped by the CIA, he was stripped, hooded, shackled, and sodomized – in CIA parlance, subjected to "capture shock" – as Macedonian officials stood by." (Those officials later testified about this in court, after El-Masri was drugged, shipped to another country, tortured for months, and when they realized that they had the wrong person, released on a back road at night in the third country with no money or ID.)
Just in case you're wondering where this trend is going. Kudos to the SWAT team in this gamer case for sticking to "variations on the *word* fuck."
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I call BS
WTF?
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And also not noisily clearly each room (the streamer said "hey, I think we've been SWATted") to let everyone in all the other rooms not yet searched that they're there.
In truth, if they were actually encountering an active shooter this would be a *very bad approach*. But these days they rarely are.
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When called to the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, police first established a perimeter around the building rather than storming in with no information. They were heavily criticized, because in the few minutes that took, several more women were killed.
This led to a "prompt intervention" policy, which is credited for saving lives in the Dawson College shooting in 2006.
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1) Being called to the reported sight of a shooting, and not hearing any gunshots or finding any witnesses at the scene or running from the scene;
and,
2) Turning up to a scene, hearing repeated gunshots, screaming, people fleeing who say they heard gunshots and others who saw gunmen shooting and people being shot and blood and corpses and cats and dogs living together.
Yes, I can see how the 2 situations are absolutely identical and require the same handling.
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*Not my actual PIN.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
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Yes, which is a criticism of the police, not of the equipment.
"that you don't give them the tools without the proper training"
Well, yes, they would need the proper training -- however, training does not address the fundamental problem at all. The trust issue isn't that we don't trust they've been properly trained. It's that we don't trust that they will only use the equipment when it is called for (this very story is an example of them using the equipment inappropriately). That's a matter of culture, not training.
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A lack of communication is a serious issue to be sure, but the root cause of the mistrust is the behavior of the police.
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The fact that most of the wealthy elite are white is all it takes to for the poor black communities to blame racism for their plight which is understandable given their history. However the seeds racism are fertilized by the wealthy elite that actively encourage poor white people to blame other races for the plight by getting them to believe that the reason they are poor is immigrant people of other races are taking their jobs. This distracts the poor of all races into blaming and fighting each other instead of banding together to fight those that are abusing them all.
The corporate criminals on Wall Street are doing this purposely to divide and conquer the masses for their own personal gain and the lack of communication between the various groups is allowing them to continue to get away with it.
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Also contrast Ferguson with the situation in Austin in 1966. The police in Austin did not have the appropriate weaponry to effectively handle the situation. So what happened? Citizens assisted the police with their own personal hunting rifles which were more effective than the revolvers and shotguns that the police had. That does not happen without the respect and trust of the community.
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And the spotter(s) to look through them. In that sort of situation, the sniper keeps his weapon pointed in a safe direction unless and until a spotter tells him where to point it, and what his target looks like.
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Also, the gunner position on these vehicles were initially designed for a machine gunner rather than a sniper. In the domestic setting a machine gunner would be virtually worthless so they were adapted to place a more deliberate shooter instead.
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Yup, because the guy didn't get up and start trying to hide, or reach under a cushion for something, or otherwise get all up in the cops faces and act all tough, ready for a confrontation.
Perfect example, thanks for posting it!
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You actually thank the fascist bastards who ignore the rule of law when it suits them, but are more than happy to fuck over someone else?
Just fuck off. Please. Then the rest of us non-psychopaths can actually be shocked by the callous nature of the cops involved here.
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I find it kind of sad how people are focused on the cops rather than the sociopath who called in a gun threat because they thought having armed officers bursting into a guy's room expecting that the streamer was armed and dangerous would be funny.
That's not to excuse the police for looking through the guy's cell phone without a warrant, but it's hardly the most concerning facet of the situation.
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the problem is that SWAT teams now have hair-triggers and a single phone call with absolutely zero corroboration can put many innocent people into a situation where there is a significant risk of being injured or killed. that's why we're so pissed off about things like this. it doesn't have to do with hating on the police, it is hating what they do because they do without applying even a hint of logic.
we've trained these guys to be door-kicking ass-ramming life-taking thugs who don't go 'hey, wait a minute' no matter what the circumstances are. this is as much our society's fault as the individual cops', since we've approved by silence these policies, procedures, and practices. now that we're no longer content to be silent doesn't instantly mean we hate cops, just the way they're acting.
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The point is that there shouldn't have been a raid without some form of verification of a genuine SWAT-worthy threat. That's what was callous.
"I find it kind of sad how people are focused on the cops rather than the sociopath who called in a gun threat..."
What's to focus on? I'm sure most commenters here are appalled at this idiot's actions and would love to see him face justice, but we have zero info to work with. Other than condemnation, which has been provided, what else can be said at this point?
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1 - you can bitch, complain, fight, make quick moves towards what might be a hiding area for yourself or for weapons, you can call them names, you can take aggressive action, or
2 - you can get down on the ground and assume the position and wait for the initial entry to finish. Once done, you can start to ask what is going on (and yes, they will explain it to you).
Only one of those two choices leads to potential problems and even death.
Say, would you like to reveal which anti-police / anti-authority / anarchist group you are front for, BTW? You are a little bit obvious.
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1 - you can bitch, complain, fight, make quick moves towards what might be a hiding area for yourself or for weapons, you can call them names, you can take aggressive action, or
2 - you can get down on the ground and assume the position and wait for the initial entry to finish. Once done, you can start to ask what is going on (and yes, they will explain it to you).
Only one of those two choices leads to potential problems and even death.
Say, would you like to reveal which anti-police / anti-authority / anarchist group you are front for, BTW? You are a little bit obvious.
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You don't have to 'get up all in the cops faces' in a situation like this to be hurt or killed. All it takes is the wrong interpretation of a body movement.
It would be very interesting to hear what you would say if this actually happened to you, but I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
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Good to hear that mentally unbalanced people have no right for due process.
Also: http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/
Read about "self defense" and how it actually works. First aggravating someone and then shooting him when he actually reacts aggravated (which is totally natural" is not self defense.
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My Guess
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And they were making enough noise that he could guess what was happening. If you're expecting armored men with machine guns in hand to burst in and restrain all the innocent bystanders in the room, you're going to be a lot calmer when it happens than if you are than if they come as a surprise.
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Humans wouldn't have survived very long if going into a catatonic or psychotic state during high stress situations was incredibly common.
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Either way, you're fucked if you're the hostage.
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So then what is excessive force?
Did you read the earlier part of the article you wrote? How is breaking in without even cursory surveillance and then standing on a handcuffed non-threat not excessive force? You could try to claim that the police department will insist it is not excessive force. I would counter that such claims are meaningless because police departments routinely justify excessive force.
Is it only excessive force if the victim requires hospitalization after the cops let him go? Is it only excessive force if the victim does not survive the cop's investigation?
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Re: So then what is excessive force?
They clearly operate in an adrenaline rush, making it easier for them to overreact. The procedure of having a person pushed down is psychological domination more than anything physical and if done right it will make it easier for the suspect to act according to orders (as in not stand up before they have secured the room and handcuffed him). If you look at the way it is done I am not even sure a civil person would get in trouble for the physical handling of the arrest.
As for cursory surveillance that is a point for the courts. The arrest seemed more or less by the book for drug- or gun- related crimes. If it was needed is a completely separate issue. As the cop mentioned, he did not come out to them with his hands upon his head when asked to, making him more of a potential suspect (possibly disposing of evidence or preparing for confrontation).
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People do things like shower, shit, have sex, listen to headphones, cook, sleep, and other things which get in the way of immediately opening the front door.
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No, it's not. It's a point of what proper police procedure should be, not what it legally permissible.
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Which is why it is all the more important that they be trained properly and thoroughly so they do not overreact. This guy is incredibly lucky he did not have a dog he cared about.
I'm pretty sure that if I, as a civil person, roughed someone up as described in the article, I'd be brought up on assault charges and rightfully so. If that's not what you mean, I have no idea what you're trying to defend here.
What illegal guns did he have? The Techdirt piece makes no mention of any contraband. I'm advocating at least cursory surveillance for the benefit of both officer and citizen safety. Rushing into unknown situations is a great way to ensure somebody gets hurt, whether it's an officer who does something stupid or a citizen who gets shot in the name of "officer safety."
The courts have already ruled cops have no particular duty to protect anyone, so rushing into an active shooter situation blind because it might save one more person may sound good on the news, but it's neither legally required nor particularly wise tactically.
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swatting the SWAT defenders
Hey, it worked with waterboarding defenders.
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Re: swatting the SWAT defenders
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Lawsuit?
Lawsuits seem to be the only way to get anything to change these days.
Paging ALCU!
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Oh wait, that's right, they are looking for the all powerful iPhone Gun.
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Why not verify before storming in?
Someone called the SWAT team to say a gamer was shooting people in an office in real life.
Obviously the SWAT team has to take all threats seriously, so I don't blame them for surrounding the office building, but...
The SWAT team gets to the building and there's no sound of gunfire, no people panicking, and nothing out of order.
The SWAT team then goes into the hallways and there's no sound of gunfire, no people panicking, and nothing out of order.
By now, they should have found at least one victim asking for help so they should realize something odd is going on since there's no evidence of a shooter.
Yet they still storm the office like there's someone shooting up the place.
And like the previous poster said, wouldn't the police and 911 receive tons of calls from panicked people?
Like I said, I think the SWAT team should definitely storm into dangerous situations to stop the danger to people, but they also need to make sure the situation is dangerous in the first place. Does the SWAT team make it a habit of storming places when they receive only 1 phone call? This wasn't an anonymous bomb threat- it was someone claiming to be shooting up an office.
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Auto-swatting
In 1990, or thereabouts, police came to my house saying someone had called from my number and complained about being abused. They wanted to look around and pressed me to give them permission to enter (I was more naive then, so I did).
I've since reached the conclusion that this was a made-up excuse for a Fourth Amendment violation; if there was a call, they made it themselves. (Which I have since seen described as a standard police trick to justify an illegal search.)
So, on the possibility of auto-swatting: Could the police have initiated this SWAT themselves, pretending there is a caller, so that they could detain Mr. Mathewson and search his phone?
It'll be interesting to see if anyone is actually arrested for the swatting. If it was an auto-swatting, I would expect to see no arrest.
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Re: Auto-swatting
Policemen are under a great deal of pressure to find drugs, and will naturally be trying out creative ways make make people agree to a "voluntary" search that they know they'd have a hard time getting a warrant for. Of course, they won't ever say "Do you mind if we conduct a search of your house for drugs or anything else we might find?" -- it will be spun as inviting them in to 'talk' or whatever else. And if they happen to see or smell something suspicious, a search warrant is just a radio-call away.
Unlike "casual" police searches, I can't imagine that a SWAT raid would be anything other than having complete (and legitimate) documentation. That doesn't mean that they can't follow the "slippery slope" rule. Like in the massive raid on the Fundamentalist Mormon headquarters in Texas, even when it was known to authorities that the phone call that precipitated the raid was a prank call (which they apparently never bothered to notice that it originated from another state) the operation remained "full steam ahead" by finding other excuses to use as justification.
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