Swatting is probably one of the worst trends that’s arisen in the past few years, and Seattle Police Department has had enough.
If you weren’t aware, swatting is the very not-funny “joke” of trying to get armed police to show up at an address by giving false information that suggests someone in the property is in danger.
Sadly, it’s recently become something that’s happened to livestreamers, particularly those whose location is known, and swatting is now commonly associated with the gaming industry as a whole.
However, Seattle’s police forces have come up with an ingenious way to combat the problem, by launching a new opt-in registry [via TheGamer].
In a blog post, Seattle Police Department aims to raise awareness about swatting, and invites people to opt-in to their registry.
Opting in to the programme, called Rave Facility, means that the police will be notified that you live in an address that’s at risk of swatting.
On its blog, the Seattle police goes into more detail.
“Rave Facility is a solution that is designed as a SMART 911 counterpart for commercial properties. For the purpose of registering swatting concerns, it works,” says the website.
“Here’s how. A 911 call taker receives a report of a critical incident. While ensuring first responders are dispatched to that call for service as quickly as possible, the call taker will simultaneously check for whether or not swatting concerns have been registered at that address.
“If swatting concerns have been registered, this information will be shared with responding officers, who will still proceed to the call. If no location profile exists, officers will still continue to the call.
“Nothing about this solution is designed to minimize or slow emergency services. At the same time, if information is available, it is more useful for responding officers to have it than to not.”
Rave Facility is the first deterrent for swatting to be introduced. Whether or not it’ll make a difference remains to be seen.
What do you think about the idea?
Featured Image Credit: Pixabay