To that end, we should all have a cop assigned to us. One cop per citizen, with a gun pointed at our head at all times. Imagine a scenario happens where someone does something and that cop wasn't there? Better to be safe.

Maybe we should move beyond binary thinking here. Yeah, it's worth sending someone to investigate but also making some effort to verify who the call is coming from - to get their identity, and to ask them something simple like to describe the house (in this example) so the arriving cops will know they go to the right address. Now of course you can get a description of the house with Google Street Maps, but 911 dispatchers can solicit some information like what color car is currently parked outside or suchlike. They could also look up who occupies the house and make a phone call while cops are on the way.

Everyone knows swatting is a real thing that happens and that it's problematic, so why don't police departments have procedures in place which include that possibility? Who benefits from hyped-up police responses to false claims of criminal activity?

Cops don't have a duty to protect people, so "cops ignored our pleas for help and did nothing" is a-ok, no liability (thank you, qualified immunity). They very much do not treat all scenarios as real; they go gung-ho when they want to and hang back for a few hours "assessing the situation" when they don't.

I'm a paramedic, who has personally attended a swatting call where every single detail was so egregiously wrong, but police still went in, no-knock, causing thousands of dollars damage, that, to be clear, they have absolutely zero liability for, but thankfully no injuries.

"I can see them in the upstairs window" - of a single story home.

"The house is red brick" - it was dark grey wood.

"No cars in the driveway" - there was two.

Cops still said "hmm, still could be legit" and battered down the front door, deployed flashbangs.

There are more options here than "do nothing" and "go in guns blazing".

Establishing the probable trustworthiness of the report isn't black magic. Ask the reportee for details, question the neighbours, look in through the windows, just send two plain clothed officers pretending to be salesmen to knock on the door first? Continously adjust the approach as new information comes in. This isn't rocket science, ffs.