A few days ago, in Columbia, South Carolina, Trump's campaign opponent, Nikki Haley, was holding a campaign event. Suddenly, a woman tries to rush onto the stage. When Haley's personal security personnel found out, they immediately stopped her.
This is not the first time Haley has encountered such an incident. Recently, there has been a spike in such "threats" against her, and she applied for U.S. Secret Service protection on Feb. 5. Haley's campaign did not disclose what specific threats were used to petition the Secret Service.
Haley poses with her private security team at a South Carolina campaign. ）
** tried to rush onto the stage
Haley, 52, is an Indian-American who served as ambassador to the United Nations during Trump's tenure. She is Trump's final rival for the nomination.
Haley has been attacking Trump on the campaign trail, pointing out that he is too old and not mentally fit enough, and has revealed that despite several primary defeats, he will continue to work hard. "When you do this kind of thing [campaigning], you're threatened, that's the reality," Haley said. We had multiple issues and that didn't stop me from doing what I needed to do. ”
Late last week, a woman in Columbia City was attacked by Haley's private security guards as she tried to storm the stage. In recent days, Haley's election campaign has seen some ** people express dissatisfaction with her support for Ukraine and Israel.
On Feb. 1, Haley was in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, during a Haley campaign campaign, as security guards dissuaded Trump supporters. ）
Suffered two pranks in one month**
Late last week, at a press conference, Haley was asked if the event in South Carolina would require a higher level of security. Haley said it was necessary to "add some people around us." Her campaign won't be affected, though, "Eventually, we'll go out and touch every hand, answer every question, make sure we're on the scene and do everything we need to do." ”
Within a month, Haley experienced two "false police reports" incidents.
The most recent occurred in early January, when an unnamed woman called the police and said, "Haley killed her daughter at her home on Kiwa Island, and she was lying in a pool of blood, and Haley claimed to be suicidal." A deputy sheriff came to Haley's house, spoke to a woman at the door, and quickly realized that it was a false police report.
Haley is with her 25-year-old daughter, Lina. ）
The previous time, on December 30 last year, a man called the police and said, "At Haley's home, my girlfriend was shot dead by Haley, and she also threatened to hurt myself." ”
Haley's habeas corpus petition has now been filed with the federal **, and her campaign is considering more effective security measures.
Inventory: The recent "false alarm" incident in the United States
Since January 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, there have been at least 232 politically motivated acts of violence in the United States, the most protracted wave of political violence in the United States since 1970. These incidents range from riots to brawls to beatings and **.
And between November and January, at least 27 false police incidents involving politicians, prosecutors, elections** and judges, ranging from the Republican state of Georgia** to the prank on the Biden White House this month.
In some cases, the beaters call themselves "Jamal" and say he killed his wife. In one incident, on December 26 last year, a man calling himself "Jamal" reported to the Zolwell Police Department that he had shot his wife and demanded $10,000 or he would shoot himself. The next day, in another incident, the self-proclaimed "Jamal" claimed that he had shot his wife with an AR-15 rifle. According to the analysis of audio recordings, in both incidents, the person who hit ** was male and spoke with a similar accent.
On Jan. 11, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a staunch Trump supporter, was also targeted. The person who hit ** told the police that he had called ** from Ashcroft's address, said he had shot his wife, added that "he was going to kill himself", and hung up **. On the same day, Gabriel Sterling, a senior in the Georgia Secretary of State's office, said 14 police cars, a fire engine and an ambulance had arrived at his home after calling 911 and falsely claiming that there had been an incident at his home in the suburbs of Atlanta. "Now, I lock the door every night. "That's the reality I'm living in right now. ”
In the aftermath, Scott and his Alabama counterpart, Tommy Tuberville, introduced a bill to amend the federal Criminal Fraud Act, creating strict penalties for false police reporting. The bill, known as the "Maintaining Safe Communities Act by Ending False Police Reporting," could expose the person who made the false police report to prison for up to 20 years if the prank resulted in serious harm. "This is happening across the country, not just for the elected**, but for hundreds of institutions. "It's disgusting, it's dangerous, and we have to stop it." ”
Since the beginning of 2010, celebrities such as Selena Gomez, Tom Cruise, Miley Cyrus, Ashton Kutcher and others have been targeted for false police reports.
False police reporting has become a "digital terrorism" in the United States
In the United States, false police reporting is a dangerous criminal prank that involves sending false emergency situations to ** in order to direct them to a target location, usually with the aim of causing a heavily armed police force to come out.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of false police reports as a form of harassment, often targeting celebrities, politicians, and live broadcasts on the Internet. False police reporting has been a concern for the F.B.I. for nearly 20 years, and after targeting celebrities since 2010, the phenomenon has become a big problem.
In 2008, false police reporting was being studied as a "new phenomenon," and FBI researchers said the motivation was "flaunting power and conceit," not making money. But these motivations have changed over time.
Some of the people who reported false police are now dissatisfied with personal or political matters and want to disrupt the normal operation of schools, businesses, etc. Others have tried to divert law enforcement resources away from other crimes, or have come up with a way to make money using pranks.
Kevin Coffey, a retired police detective and security adviser at the Los Angeles Police Department, said false police reporting has become a modern disaster that amounts to "digital terrorism."
These digital hoaxes are upending other people's lives, and in some cases even killing people. Coffey said. "For some people, false police reporting is a way to resolve disagreements in the context of heated debates about some social issues. They want to take revenge on politicians, people, celebrities, and even journalists and community activists, and law enforcement agencies must respond with all their might. Coffey added.
It is true that false police reports have fatal consequences. Because when law enforcement officers show up at the door of the house where the police are called, they are usually on high alert and their fingers are on the trigger. For example, in December 2017, Wichita** shot 28-year-old Andrew Finch in front of his door.
Another tragedy occurred in April 2020, when Mark Herring, 60, died of a severe heart attack after being surrounded by police at his home in Sumner County, Tennessee. His Twitter account, "@tennessee (Tennessee)", was considered valuable by minors in the United States and the United Kingdom, so they reported false police that the old man had killed a woman.
At the same time, the Education School Safety Network warns that large-scale "false alarms" have become the most common problem facing schools in the United States. According to statistics, there were 446 such false reports in the 2022-2023 school year, more than a five-fold increase from 69 such incidents in the 2018-2019 school year.
Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said: "It's clear that the number of 'false police reports' is increasing. "Politicians should support the Republican draft bill that would put ** in jail for decades.
Compiled by Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Peng Xinyu.