Weaponizing law enforcement is not funny, and it’s now starting to happen in our state.
Over the past five years, the number of swatting cases (a false claim intended to trigger an immediate and widespread emergency service response to a specific location), have risen across the country. The majority of cases, especially with civilian addresses involved, have led to law enforcement responding to an unknown and fictitious scenario on the other end of the call. People have died in some of those instances because of the hoaxes described to law enforcement and the response they have to said situation described on the ground.
Schools in Iowa are not the first victims. They probably will not be the last.
As superintendents Autumn Pino and Greg Batenhorst noted in a letter sent to members in both communities – “Our school districts and emergency service work in a collaborative manner to ensure that school safety plans are current, staff is trained and prepared to respond if needed, and emergency responders and school staff are prepared to manage and mitigate situations as occurred. We remain committed to ensuring a safe learning environment for our staff and students.”
Each incident like this needs to be taken seriously by first responders. What if it was a significant threat on the other end of that line? What if that was an emergency that was legit and they didn’t respond?
But the practice is also a huge time drain on first responder resources, as well as putting them and others potentially in danger.
Perpetrators of these swatting incidents should be punished to the full extent of the law.
It’s not a harmless prank. In this time, where incidents involving threats to schools happen daily, it’s the nightmare for many parent that a call to schools for incidents like these are the real deal.
Sun Editorial: Swatting is no prank, deserves to be punished to full extent of law
March 30, 2023