Every homeowner with firearms in the home may want to pay close attention to this – a new 911 scam that exploits a weakness in the internet telephone system has been sending first responders, usually S.W.A.T. teams, to random phony emergency calls. If this happens to you, be very careful what actions you take.
The scene below takes place after 10 PM in a suburban neighborhood. A homeowner and his family are awakened by loud sirens, footsteps and a helicopter orbiting above.
The family has been SWATTED.
Doug Bates got up to lock the doors and grabbed a knife. A beam from a flashlight hit him. He peeked into the backyard. A swarm of police, assault rifles drawn, ordered him out of the house. Bates emerged, frightened and with the knife in his hand, as his wife frantically dialed 911. They were handcuffed and ordered to the ground while officers stormed the house.
The scene of mayhem and carnage the officers expected was nowhere to be found. Neither the Bateses nor the officers knew that they were pawns in a dangerous game being played 1,200 miles away by a teenager bent on terrifying a random family of strangers.
Bates said that if he had responded with a gun that he feared he would have been shot.
With that in mind, if that ever happens in your neighborhood, keep it cool with the personal armed response. Remember, we keep our guns handy just in case of a 911 emergency where the police can’t respond in time, but NOT if they’ve surrounded your house.
Read the report “New 911 fraud is duping SWAT teams.”