Swatting Incidents On The Rise In Schools And Other Public Spaces

Swatting incidents are on the rise in public spaces such as schools, airports and grocery stores. Although hoaxes for crimes such as active shooter alerts have been happening for years, experts point to a rise in such incidents.

What is swatting?

Swatting refers to false reports of crimes such as bomb threats and active shooter alerts in public spaces like schools, grocery stores, office buildings and airports. They spark heavy law enforcement responses and panic among civilians. 

Swatting started as a hoax among gamers in the 2000s, according to the Anti-Defamation League and as reported by USA Today. There’s not one isolated group conducting these types of hoaxes. Instances of swatting have been conducted by as many individual pranksters as online extremists. 

“It used to be someone would pull the fire alarm because they didn’t want to go to school. Now they swat the school,” Carla Hill, a senior director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League, told the news outlet.

Incidents may include false active shooter alerts like the one that occurred at Villanova University on Thursday. Students received instructions to barricade doors due to an active shooter on campus, which sparked mass panic. About 90 minutes after the alert was sent out, the university said it had been a hoax.

Hill also points to a series of swatting incidents in 2023 that targeted at least 25 synagogues in 13 states. The perpetrators were identified after bragging about the exploits online.

Still, according to Hill, “there’s so many ways you can do it without being traceable.”

Swatting incidents have been on the rise in recent years

Although the FBI identified the issue in 2008, the bureau launched a database to report swatting in 2023 as a response to an increase in incidents. Over 800 instances of swatting were recorded at elementary, middle and high schools between January 2023 and June 2024, USA Today reported.

“It’s an enormous problem,” Elizabeth Jaffe, an associate professor at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, said. “One incident is a major problem, so if we’ve got hundreds and thousands, it’s an evolving epidemic.”

Swatting drains law enforcement, fire departments and EMS of their resources as they respond to hoaxes.

“We have to treat each one as real until we know it’s a hoax,” Kelly Smith, a former assistant special agent in charge of the FBI”s Seattle office, said about the issue. “We direct law enforcement resources away from other active investigations, and that causes a significant strain on the resources of both our agency and our local police departments.”

Such incidents also cause harm to civilians who believe their lives are at risk: “It causes trauma for students, parents and communities,” former police chief John DeCarlo told USA Today “While the call itself may be a lie, the panic and trauma it creates are very real.”