Re :- Swatting
There wad a well reported incident incident in London a few years ago where an innocent citizen who was carrying a wrapped up and repaired table leg was shot to death in the street by the police. It turned out that he had gone into a bar for a drink on his way home and another drinker had taken the wrapped up table leg for a shotgun and phoned the police.
Understandably, the police had turned out an armed response unit who , at the scene, issued the standard challenge - "Armed police ! Put down the weapon !". This obviously creates a problem for someone who knows he is not carrying a weapon. In consequence the police opened fire and he was killed. No evidence was ever brought that the bystander in the bar who phoned the police acted with any malicious intent. The incident went down as a tragic accident.
In the Army I was trained that in the 'Advance to Contact' you did not take cover until you came under 'Effective enemy fire'. While this was never defined to my satisfaction, it is probably quite reasonable to say you should allow the enemy / suspect the first shot before you open fire.
Chris Cosgrove