Swatting

This article is about the act of fraudulently calling emergency services to another person's address. For the killing of houseflies, see Fly-killing device § Flyswatter.

An FBI SWAT team during training

Swatting is a criminal harassment act of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage situation, or a false report of a mental health emergency, such as reporting that a person is suicidal or homicidal and may be armed, among other things.[1]

The term is derived from the law enforcement unit SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), a specialized type of police unit in the United States. It is not related to the verb "to swat".[2] SWAT teams are equipped with tactical gear and weapons that differ from patrol units, and are called to situations that are deemed high-risk. A threat may result in the evacuations of schools and businesses. Advocates have called for swatting to be considered terrorism due to its use to intimidate and create the risk of injury or death.[3][4]

Making false reports to emergency services is a criminal offense in many jurisdictions, often punishable by fine or imprisonment.[5] In March 2019, a California man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for carrying out a fatal 2017 swatting.[6] Swatting carries a high risk of violence, and causes resources of about US$10,000 per incident to be wasted by a city or county that responds to a false report of a serious law enforcement emergency, as well as liability if things go wrong.[7]: 1 [8][9][10] In California, swatters bear the "full cost" of the response, which can lead to fines of up to $10,000 if great bodily injury or death occur as a result of the swatting.[11][12]

  1. ^ Wipond, Rob (December 2013). "An Overabundance of Caution" (PDF). Focusonline.ca. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 3, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  2. ^ "Definition of SWAT". May 9, 2024.
  3. ^ Enzweiler, Matthew James (2015). "Swatting Political Discourse: A Domestic Terrorism Threat". Notre Dame L. Rev. 90 (5). Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  4. ^ Belanger, Ashley (June 30, 2023). "FBI finally tracks "swatting" incidents as attacks increase nationwide". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  5. ^ Healy, Patrick (November 7, 2013). "Online Gamer Sentenced in Ventura County "Swatting" Hoax". NBC Los Angeles. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  6. ^ Madani, Doha (March 29, 2019). "Serial 'swatter' sentenced to 20 years for death of Kansas man shot by police". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference NBC_Solon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Mulvaney, Nicole (June 18, 2015). "Recent wave of swatting nationwide fits definition of terrorism, Princeton police chief says". NJ.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  9. ^ Liebl, Lance (October 28, 2014). "The dangers and ramifications of doxxing and swatting". Gamezone. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference NBC_2023-06-29 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Black, Jeff (September 11, 2013). "California governor signs bill to crack down on celebrity 'swatting'". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  12. ^ "California Penal Code § 148.3(b)". California Office of Legislative Counsel. September 9, 2013. Retrieved February 19, 2022.