Miley Swatted

A reported home invasion at the star's home turned out to be the latest use of a popular and nasty cop-luring prank

Cops raced to Miley Cyrus' L.A. house tonight after receiving a report about a possible home invasion … but when they arrived to the scene, it turned out to be a false alarm … and all signs point to a troubling prank known as "Swatting."

Law enforcement sources confirm … the LAPD received a 911 call at 6:50 PM to report a possible home invasion, possible shots fired.

The LAPD responded immediately … sending a chopper, and officers with high powered weapons , who immediately set up a perimeter around the home … with guns drawn.

Comments

[jdgalt]

One hopes that Cyrus will use her celebrity status to draw needed attention to all three of the problems that lead to this type of atrocity.

#1: A serious and ongoing effort MUST be made to arrest and punish persons who commit "SWATting." It should be treated as though the "SWATter" had wielded the guns himself -- plus an enhanced penalty for doing it in the name of police, thus making the public even more reluctant to cooperate with police than we are already. (Which is not to say that police don't commit their own atrocities on a daily basis.)

#2: The police MUST start using common sense before rushing out with guns blazing merely because some unknown caller says an emergency exists. Go out, look, and be prepared for a fight, yes, but don't make assumptions that are going to result in civilians getting killed. The public hires police to take shots for us, not vice versa.

And #3: The practice of police arming themselves more and more heavily, and of every podunk town police force demanding its own SWAT team, must end. Very few incidents ever justify that level of force. Police should not be kicking down doors in the middle of the night to serve warrants for unpaid parking tickets. Indeed, police agencies should be required to start paying full restitution out of their budgets to anyone who is hurt or has his property wrecked by a police search that didn't result in him being convicted of a crime severe enough to justify the force the police used.

[Brian Combs]

+1