swatting

Among other incidents, elections officials have been sent white powder in the post, and have been subjected to “swatting” – anonymous emergency calls about fictional crimes, designed to draw armed police into people’s homes.

Since the 1990s, Nosil and colleagues have been going into the mountains near Santa Barbara, California, swatting plants and netting the dislodged insects to count the numbers of morphs.

She said the judge refused to allow the introduction of evidence showing that she was the victim of other swatting calls, including on the day after she announced her lawsuit against the city.

Mankey, Darling said, had made remarks about similar swatting incidents targeting the owners of mansions in wealthy enclaves “up north” of Los Angeles, yet he wouldn’t order his officers to stand down.

The end result is similar to two people swatting a ball with their paddles so often that, despite its massive size, it becomes disfigured.