> A man who came outside to face police, however, had done nothing wrong and did not know about the swatting call. As he stepped onto the porch, police told him to put up his hands. When he unexpectedly dropped his hands, he was shot and killed.<p>The number of times I've read an account of this kind of scenario playing out in the past few years is absolutely mind-boggling and depressing. The fact that in the US you can so easily be shot to bits by police just by accidentally making a small incorrect movement is just insane to me. I understand that police face real threats and need to take precautions to protect their own lives, but <i>surely</i> there must a better system to accomplish this other than requiring someone to immediately perform a sequence of body movements without making a single mistake or else you kill them.
The man who pled guilty was calling in a swatting or a bomb threat every two to three days for the three months before he was caught. It took someone dying to actually get a serious investigation.<p>- Initial charges (including twitter logs, 911 call transcript) <a href="https://regmedia.co.uk/2018/05/24/barrissindictment.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://regmedia.co.uk/2018/05/24/barrissindictment.pdf</a><p>- 46 additional charges for bomb threats and other swattings.
<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5019352/Barriss-Information-10-24-18.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5019352/Barriss-I...</a>
What about this: A device that uses a camera and laser galvo to temporarily blind people by scanning a laser in their face. If someone is blind then they can't aim a gun. This could be useful for both police wanting protection from citizens and visa versa.