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Crime & Safety

Swatting Pranksters Will Have to Pay for Their Crimes, City Council Says

The motion from Councilman Paul Koretz also instructs the police department to report back on other ways to deter swatting.

Los Angeles could begin demanding restitution from the perpetrators of swatting pranks, as well as offer cash rewards for the capture and conviction of the pranksters following a unanimous vote by the City Council Friday.

The Council voted 11-0 to instruct the city attorney to write an ordinance requiring the payment of restitution from people who make fake 911 calls, as well as report back on a process for offering reward money, including procedures for having the pranksters foot the bill.

The motion from Councilman Paul Koretz also instructs the police department to report back on other ways to deter swatting.

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Numerous high-profile Los Angeles residents, including celebrities, have been the victims in recent months of false reports of violent crime, prompting SWAT officers to respond to their homes with guns drawn.

"Someone at one point will get seriously hurt or killed. There's no question," Councilman Joe Buscaino said during last Friday's Public Safety Committee meeting.

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Los Angeles police representatives told the committee that 400 swatting incidences have occurred around the country, but "clearly the city of Los Angeles is getting hit the hardest."

Last month, police responded to four bogus incident reports in the span of a week. In those reports, pranksters claimed there had been an assault at a home owned by record producer and rapper Sean Combs, a shooting at singer Rihanna's home, shots fired at the home of Justin Timberlake and a homicide at the home of singer Selena Gomez.

Los Angeles police officials have decided not to publicize swatting incidents on the theory that many of the pranksters are motivated by a search for notoriety, which results from dramatic media accounts of SWAT responses.

In April, state Sen. Ted Lieu, who authored legislation that would jail pranksters who falsely report home invasions or shootings, found his wife ordered out of their home by police with guns drawn in a swatting incident.

"We have to send a message to these knuckleheads that enough is enough," Buscaino said last week.

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