Three months after she introduced the Internet Swatting Hoax Act in US Congress, Representative Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) found herself at the end of an apparent swatting attempt on Sunday night.
Melrose, Massachusetts police press spokesperson John Guilfoil confirmed to Ars Technica that the department received a phone call from "a computerized voice, not a natural voice" alleging "shots fired" and an "active shooter" at the address of Clark's home. The resulting police report confirmed an incident time of 9:57pm for a "life alert alarm" and "automated call reporting shooter."
This type of police report—using a disguised voice to allege false threats at a residence—is known as "swatting," due to the likelihood that police departments will react by sending SWAT teams to respond to serious-sounding threats. In the case of the Sunday night call, however, Guilfoil confirmed that Melrose police followed "established protocols" to choose a de-escalated response of normal police officers, though the officers in question blocked traffic on both ends of Clark's street with patrol cars. Guilfoil was unable to clarify whether weapons were drawn at the scene, and he did not answer our other questions about the incident, particularly those about the nature of the phone call received, "due to the ongoing nature of the investigation."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday February 04 2016, @11:54PM
Mhmm. They also have some choice words for trans men along similar lines. The mistake I made was not listening to you and others who have been telling me this for years. Turns out pretty much everybody in Michigan is insane and has latched on to extremist views of one nature or another. TERF, militia movement, white supremacism (closely related to militia) are the ones that stand out the most. Hop over to the big city, and everything is different.
Being this site, I have to nitpick your analogy. I'd say TERF:feminism::Christian Identity [wikipedia.org]:Christianity. The Westboro church is just a bunch of lawyers being assholes.