Swatting: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?

When swatting takes place, the stakes can be deadly for law enforcement and civilians.

By Martin W.G. King, NCPC Staff

It isn’t just the spike in crime that has law enforcement stretched thin these days. In addition to their regular duties, many officers are involved in good works in their communities, mentoring troubled kids or lending a hand to neighborhood groups. That’s why “swatting” is such a big deal.
 
On top of everything else law enforcement personnel are doing, they need this senseless new phenomenon like a hole in the head. 

That’s why it’s not just a nuisance, but a crime.
  
Swatting is a crime whereby someone calls 911 and reports the kind of crime—a hostage situation, for example, or a bomb that’s about to go off—that calls for a response by a SWAT team. The caller often doesn’t know anyone at the address he provides to the 911 personnel. When the SWAT team arrives, the people at the destination are caught by surprise, to put it mildly, and there’s no telling how they may react. That’s how things get dangerous, fast.
 
According to Shaun Campbell, director of the National Crime Prevention Association at NCPC and a former police officer, “You’re playing with fire when you make a false call to 911. When the SWAT team responds, it’s serious business. Adrenaline runs high on both sides. No matter how disciplined the law enforcement officers, they are prepared for a confrontation and the potential for misunderstanding and confrontation is high. With swatting, there is always the potential for confusion and death.” 
 
Campbell adds that in addition to the criminal penalties enacted against swatting, some swatters may get more than they bargained for. “Some communities will charge them for the emergency response team’s time. When you add up the time for law enforcement, EMT, fire fighting response, and other emergency units, the bill climbs quickly.”

The FBI reports one case that started out with the theft by five swatters of personal details of people who were using online telephone party chat lines. The scheme escalated through several levels, then, by using “spoofing” technology, the swatters were able to make telephone calls to 911 that appeared to come from the victims themselves.  Between 2002 and 2006, the five swatters victimized 100 people with this information and caused $250,000 in losses. But the icing on the cake was still to come: According to the FBI, the swatters called in bomb threats to sporting events, causing the events to be delayed; claimed that hotel guests were armed and dangerous, causing evacuations; and made threats against public parks and officials.
 

The swatters were finally tracked down through the efforts of 40 jurisdictions in a dozen states. All pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
 
According to Kevin Kolbye, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas Office, the swatters weren’t looking for money. They simply committed the crimes because they could. They were after the “bragging rights.”
  
According to Campbell, “this is a particularly dangerous kind of crime. Not only did these reckless criminals jeopardize the lives of the law enforcement officers and civilians they victimized, but they cost a large number of law enforcement and legal jurisdictions a huge amount of money—just to gratify their egos. That time and effort could have gone toward better things.” 

Resources

• Cleburne Times Review, http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/local/local_story_348181522.html
• Crime Time, http://startelegram.typepad.com/crime_time/swatting/index.html
• FBI Headline Archives, http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb08/swatting020408.html
• PC World, http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138591-c,hackers/article.html
• Prevention Works (NCPC), http://ncpc.typepad.com/prevention_works_blog/2007/10/swatting-not-ju.html
• The Register, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/18/latest_swat_incident/