What is ‘swatting’ and why is it a problem?

There are moments in this life that are able to make a reasonable human adult shake their fists at the sky and mutter a guttural, "youths!"

It gives me no satisfaction to say this; surely it is evidence of the aging process. But nowadays, the mind numbing stupidity of youthful indiscretion is enough to make any reformed youngster weep for humanity.

Take the latest social craze making waves online: Swatting.

Urban Dictionary – an online translation service that helps middle-aged people understand what youths are saying – defines swatting as:

But it doesn't necessarily rely on computer hackery. According to Ottawa police, swatting can be as simple as a prank phone call.

Police charged a 16-year-old Ottawa resident with as many as 60 charges last week after the teen allegedly made at least 30 false public shooting reports or bomb threats in cities across North America.

CBC News reports the teen was taking international swatting requests online, through an anonymous Twitter account. The incidents reportedly involve fake bomb threats to schools in Calgary and Milton, Ont.

The charges included public mischief, uttering death threats and conveying false information with intent to alarm.

That last charge seems to hit the issue right on the nose.

“Swatting is a term utilized online to refer to engaging emergency services with false calls to affect revenge on an individual or organization by causing the response of armed Swat Teams to active shooter scenarios or bomb threats,” said Staff Sergeant Rick Baldwin-Ooms in a statement.

In other words, a swatter calls police with a claim police simply can’t ignore and are forced to send their expensive and dangerous tactical units to respond. It’s like that recent spate of teens Tweeting bomb threats to airlines, but essentially cutting out the middle man.

And it has been happening a lot lately.

In recent weeks, teens in Laval, Que., and Milton, Ont., were arrested for swatting incidents that targeted public schools, private homes and a shopping centre.

Last month, a 17-year-old in Long Beach, N.Y., was the target of swatting while he was playing the video game "Call of Duty." Someone called local police claiming to be the teen and claimed to have killed his mother and was considering a shooting spree.

Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney told CBS New York at the time that the point of swatting was to prompt the largest possible reaction. The incident prompted a 60-minute standoff involving more than 60 officers, helicopters and a hostage negotiator.

Last year, a spate of swatting pranks were pulled on the homes of Hollywood celebrities, including Tom Cruise, Miley Cyrus and Charlie Sheen.

I understand that to some, swatting seems like a hilarious prank. Like knock-knock ginger in its own time. The world is a lot smaller now; now you can prank someone you meet playing an online video game, not just the person who lives down the street.

But it's excessively stupid, and dangerous. When you send a mass of armed officers off to stop a "gunman" or find a bomb, accidents can happen. Not to mention the wasted resources and the threat of what might actually happen while the police are distracted.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? It’s a game to see who can be the absolute worst. It’s enough to make you shake your fists in outrage. Damn youths. (Some of them, anyway.)