Okay, step out of the car. Yeah, okay, yeah. No, you're okay. Hey, man. >> You do not have a warrant. You do not have probable cause. >> You don't YOU DON'T HAVE PROBABLE CAUSE BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE CALL IS FAKE. >> Welcome to we're all stuck on stupid. Hi, I'm with the Milwaukee Police Department. We get a call, so we're allowed to do anything we want. This video is about swatting raids in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in case you don't know what swatting is, it's criminal harassment and really attempted murder, where somebody makes a false urgent emergency report to 911 in order to send large amounts of stupid armed cops to your address. The cops arrive expecting a life-threatening situation unfolding before their eyes, and you get your Fourth Amendment rights trampled and your life jeopardized. The malicious caller says something like, "The guy who owns this house has gone crazy and he's holding this family at gunpoint." Or they say, "There bodies all over the place, and the homeowner intends to take out more people. You better get there quick." Imagine getting swatted four times a year. You'd think that after the first two times the command staff at the police department or anybody with a fifth-grade education would start acting with some level of intelligence. You know, like put the home on a list and attach contact numbers and inform every dispatcher and police officer that there's a high likelihood that this is a swatting call raid, and we better call the property owner before we deploy all these heavily armed uniform street thugs. But imagine getting swatted four times in a single day or 55 times in a single year. Believe it or not, that's what happened to Patrick Tomlinson and Nikki Robinson. Let's take a look at this ridiculous video and make some comments along the way. >> Did you ever fear for your life? >> Every time. You can't not fear for your life to some degree when you have a shotgun racked and loaded pointed directly at your face. >> Open the door. Is she coming down? >> Imagine finding this at your front door for a 911 call you never made, not once, but dozens of times. Court records show that is what happened to a Milwaukee couple. They were victims of relentless swatting calls. >> Last month, according to court records, the city of Milwaukee and Patrick Tomlinson and Nikki Robinson paid them $575,000 to settle a federal lawsuit weeks before it was scheduled for trial. >> TMJ4's lighthouse investigator reporter Ben Jordan walks us through exclusive body camera >> Look at this right here. They got a sign on the door for medical services for cops, for EMTs. Hey, this house has been swatted dozens of times. Put your guns away. >> video and shares what the couple believes could prevent this from happening to future swatting victims. >> Swatting is a dangerous and increasingly common crime. That's when someone falsely reports a crime at a specific address triggering a heavy police response. Court records show it happened to a Milwaukee couple 55 times in a single year. >> No matter how many times Milwaukee police officers showed up to this home >> Milwaukee police, 4613, come to the door. >> carrying long guns and shields. >> So, we just got a phone call from a man. Is there a guy outside? >> Milwaukee police? >> Yeah, we're Milwaukee police. >> Okay, your address should be in your file. >> We know We know your address should be in the file, but we thought we'd go ahead and load up the paddy wagon with all these guys with guns anyway and violate your Fourth Amendment rights again. >> Hey, well, nothing is going on. >> Patrick Tomlinson and Nikki Robinson knew the call was fake. >> This is the sixth time this has happened. >> And body camera video shows on several occasions so did MPD. >> What is saying about this address? This guy keeps getting swatted. >> But despite officers showing up >> Milwaukee police >> time and time again from 2022 to 2023. This office >> A known swatting location. We know, we know. Yeah, they're subject to swatting. The cops who are arriving, the responding officers, actually know that this house shows conclusively that they're subject to swatting, heavy amounts of swatting. But they respond, knock on the door, and draw their guns anyway. That is the danger of just being an order follower. Yeah, I see all the evidence before my eyes, but we're going to continue making our way toward that address anyway. >> This officer pointed a gun at the door. On their fourth response in the same day. >> Why are you here? >> We called you for a shooting. >> Okay. You This will be fourth time today. >> I understand. >> Okay, no I get >> We still have to come here and do our job, don't we? I understand that we've been out here four times today, but we still have to do our job, ma'am. >> I look at the camera, and there are there's a ballistic shield, there's like I don't know how many guys behind it. They're yelling, they're screaming, whatever, there's guns, and I um I came downstairs with my hands up, and then they pulled me outside, and they searched the entire house. >> After dozens of swatting responses >> have a warrant. You do not have probable cause. >> Look at the clear sign on the door. I'll tell you what. Here's how you can stop these swatting raids at this address right here. Just hang a sign on the door, another sign, that says Robb Elementary School, Uvalde, Texas. This pretty much guarantees that when the cops show up, they'll just stand around outside your door and do nothing. You can even leave your doors unlocked. Even if 376 officers from five different agencies show up, they'll be too scared to even try the doorknob. >> After dozens of swatting responses >> not have a warrant. You do not have probable cause. >> You don't YOU DON'T HAVE PROBABLE CAUSE BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE CALL IS FAKE. >> Cell phone video shows tensions boiled over into a confrontation that left Patrick surrounded by officers. >> Put your hands behind your back. >> A police memo written by an MPD sergeant and obtained by TMJ4 says, "I explained to Patrick that we have to respond to calls we are sent and he was not happy with that response." >> At what point did you reach out to MPD and say, "Enough is enough?" >> Immediately. >> And constantly. Well, and you can say that we begged. I mean, we begged them to stop. We went so many times. We emailed everybody. We talked to sergeants and lieutenants and everything and nothing changed. The only thing that actually changed anything was us um bringing a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee. >> Which I The guy goes, "No, we have to respond to calls." It's like they're just robots. We have to respond to calls. We are programmed to respond to calls. We must respond to calls even if it's 55 times swatting the same house in a single year. >> Only thing that actually changed anything was us um bringing a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee. >> Which I will say was our last last step. We tried to work with MPD every step of the way. >> Nikki and Patrick's lawyers say the federal civil lawsuit alleged violations of the Fourth Amendment for several unlawful searches and seizures. >> One of the unique things about this case is that we had claims against the individual officers for violating uh Fourth Amendment and the judge concluded that the individual officers violated our client's Fourth Amendment numerous times. >> We got another call that uh we believe your wife was shot. >> Full records show the police chief was alerted of the issue in an email from the late Alderman Jonathan Brostoff >> saying The cops said, "We got another call. Another one." >> "This is horrible and needs to be stopped." Patrick and Nikki's lawsuit alleged, quote, "Any rational police force would have implemented some sort of policy to avoid becoming a tool of terror >> against rational police response. Isn't that an oxymoron like military intelligence, airline food, tight slacks, and jumbo shrimp? >> Any rational police force would have implemented some sort of policy to avoid becoming a tool of terror against the very citizens they are sworn to protect. >> From a legal perspective, what should our viewers take away from this story? >> Well, I think they should take away from this story that the Fourth Amendment is still strong, I suppose, as long as you are willing to fight for it, that the police can't harass you in your home without reason. >> TMJ4 reached out to the Milwaukee Police Department for a response to these allegations. The police chief declined an interview, but provided their standard operating procedure for swatting. Quote, "The member assigned to handle a swatting incident shall file the incident report and send an email to alert the fusion division of the incident. The fusion division shall then file a suspicious activity report." >> So, let me get this straight. A person gets assigned to the swatting, and then they file a report, and email another person to have them notify a group that they will then write up another report. Did I get that right? >> Quote, "The member assigned to handle a swatting incident shall file the incident report and send an email to alert the fusion division of the incident. The fusion division shall then file a suspicious activity report." The city attorney also denied my interview request, but stated in court documents that the city denies that there were no policies implemented, and denied the police force has become a tool of terror. >> What are you calling on the Milwaukee Police Department to do moving forward? >> To listen to our recommendations on how to recognize swatting calls, how to approach situations non-violently, without a huge response, without the big guns pulled out, to be able to recognize patterns. >> Patrick and Nikki believe calling known swatting victims before responding would avoid dangerous encounters like this. >> Milwaukee police! >> And costly settlements paid by Milwaukee taxpayers. >> This is the sixth time the police have done this. >> People have died this way. And it's something that they don't really have to spend much money on. >> Reporting in Milwaukee, Ben Jordan, TMJ4 News. >> So, a person gets to weaponize police as they leverage the department's stupidity and the criminal, the real criminal in this case, the caller, is never apprehended and brought to justice. Did you notice in this entire news report not one word about what will happen to the real guilty party? And even after a $575,000 settlement, these Milwaukee police officers are just going to keep following orders and they're going to keep showing up to this address. Nothing's going to change because it didn't cost any of these cops anything out of their own pocket. Leave your thoughts about this in the comment section below. If you like these videos, like this video, share this video, subscribe to the channel, hit the bell notification icon, and I will see you in the next video. >> [bell]