Cornelloffret utsatt för ”swatting” – polis riktade vapen mot hennes familj

Swatting is a form of criminal harassment that involves deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police or emergency response team to another person's location. This is achieved by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a hostage situation, bomb threat, active shooter, or domestic violence incident, or of a mental health crisis, such as an armed person presenting as suicidal or homicidal. The term is derived from the law enforcement unit SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), a police tactical unit originated in the United States. It is not related to the verb "to swat". SWAT teams are equipped with tactical gear and weapons that differ from patrol units, and are called to situations that are deemed high-risk. A threat may result in evacuations of schools and businesses, property damage, widespread panic, and the potential for copycat callers. Advocates have called for swatting to be considered terrorism due to its use to intimidate and create the risk of injury or death. Making false reports to emergency services is a criminal offense in many jurisdictions, often punishable by fine or imprisonment. In March 2019, a California man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for carrying out a fatal 2017 swatting. Swatting carries a high risk of violence, and causes resources of about US$10,000 per incident to be wasted by a city or county that responds to a false report of a serious law enforcement emergency, as well as police or municipal liability in cases of violence or use of force. In California, swatters bear the "full cost" of the response, which can lead to fines of up to $10,000 if great bodily injury or death occur as a result of the swatting.