I’ll be honest and to the point: “SWATting” and the majority of other online inspired pranks like it are down right stupid, and they do nothing, but put peoples’ lives at risk. It’s nothing more than a waste of time and resources that can be better used doing something more beneficial to an individual or society in general.

I admit that it does have a certain “cool” and “stupid fun” factor to it, and that is what makes it appealing to people. We have to admit that there is a time and place for doing these activities; however, “swatting” is not one of them. Under no circumstances should it even be considered “fun” or appealing. Nor should it be considered “cool.” It does nothing more than waste police resources that can be better spent elsewhere.

Why? Because “swatting” involves calling the police and tricking them into thinking that their is a crime happening at the moment, which requires police to deploy SWAT teams and armed police officers to the scene to deal with the situation.

As the Urban dictionary put it, “A goal achieved by hacking where the hacker tricks 911 systems into deploying SWAT to an unsuspecting victim’s home under false pretenses.”

Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone read the “deploy SWAT teams and armed police officers to the scene and deal with the situation” part as the police getting to the scene and screwing up the situation because, well, they are the police. Especially with the number of police misconduct cases that have been reported by the mainstream news organizations over the years, with the most recent being the tragic shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Whether it was right or wrong doesn’t matter, but consider this for a moment: What happens when someone pulls another “swatting” attempt and something goes wrong on both ends? Hell, at this point credit is due to the police for responding to each incident and acting professionally, especially notable in the recent cases on Aug. 17 and 27 with YouTube users Alexander Wachs, aka Whiteboy7thst, and Jordan Matthewson, aka Kootra, targeted as victims of a “swatting” prank.

Credit is also due to the victims who themselves were sensible enough to not overreact to the police breaking down their door, again referring to the above situations. Mattewson, according to a interview did with ABC, was aware that he was a victim of “swatting” prank. Now this may not sound like a problem, and clearly Mattewson thinks that it was someone playing a joke on him, but consider for a moment what would have happened if someone in his workplace had overacted? So don’t be a stupid and waste the time of professionals who are trying to do their job. And don’t follow online trends because of peer pressure, just use your brain and say no! it will make things easier for everyone involved if you think for yourself in the long run.