Transcript
THOMAS REGAN: I’m either here monitoring cameras…or I’m walking throughout the building checking doors…just being present in the building.
MICHAEL VILLEGAS: With the unfortunate rise of active shootings, school resource officer’s like, Thomas Regan, are now more prevalent in schools across the country. These threats also reintroduce a dangerous trend, known as swatting, to New York. Central Square Superintendent, Tom Colabufo, breaks down exactly what it is.
TOM COLABUFO: Swatting is usually a computer generated false phone call or email that comes in to the school district and basically is saying that there is somebody in the school with a weapon. It forces all of the law enforcement agencies to quickly converge on that school.
VILLEGAS: Chief of Campus Safety at Syracuse University, Craig Stone, describes the strain it puts on law enforcement.
CRAIG STONE: Well, it creates a drain on our resources. You know, your first responders, your dispatch staff, it takes us away from a real problem.
VILLEGAS: While this is happening nation wide, it’s also impacting Central New York high schools.
COLABUFO: West Hill it happened and it happened in eight other school districts in New York State. Six of them happened the same day.
VILLEGAS: And the reason this is possible, can be attributed to one simple answer.
COLABUFO: Well, I think part of it, too, is technology. So, I think it’s easier for people to be able to make these false reports and just cause disruption. So, I was reading actually an On Board. It’s the publication that showed that the swatting calls that came in regarding Westhill actually originated in Canada. So, it wasn’t even in the United States.
VILLEGAS: With the advancement of bots and artificial intelligence, swatting has now evolved and created new concerns for school districts.
COLABUFO: So the scary thing is if that’s done repeatedly to the same schools, same districts, eventually those districts are going to just believe, well, this is just another one of those things. So it’s like the boy, they cried wolf.
VILLEGAS: De-sensitizing the public to these threats may be an unintentional side effect, but Chief Stone identifies what he believes are the real intentions.
STONE: These anonymous callers are actually creating fear by calling in a false active shooter call.
VILLEGAS: High school used to be about walking the halls, going to your locker and grabbing your book and heading to class. But now, with swatting, sweeping the nation, this threat on everyone’s mind. How does that affect your mental health?
MOLLY TARSEL: It’s one more thing to have to worry about.
VILLEGAS: Molly Tarsel, in her third year as Cazenovia High School Psychologist, says this impacts more than just students.
TARSEL: With the high school level, with the teenage mind, there’s already enough going on for them. So I feel like kind of adding this on and adding that on for teachers and staff to it’s a lot. Knowing that, you know, coming to a school building where kids are educated could also be a dangerous place to and that something could happen. So I think that affects people, you know, and that kind of takes a toll.VILLEGAS: On the law enforcement side, Chief Stone has a message to those behind swatting threats.
STONE: Don’t do it. Do not do it. You know, you’re creating the drain on public safety resources. You’re taking us away from where a real crime could be happening. You’re taking this away from doing proactive preventive control, and you’re creating chaos.
VILLEGAS: And in order to prevent chaos, Officer Regan must always stay one step ahead.
REGAN: Constant movement. Don’t want to pattern yourself. You know, you don’t want anybody to have a beat on you. Don’t want to be in one location. You know? Just always changing, because you never know who’s watching.
VILLEGAS: In Syracuse, Michael Villegas, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – School shootings are occurring more frequently in today’s society but now they have inspired a familiar trend to return. “Swatting” as it’s called, is the act of contacting schools or law enforcement with a false threat of an active shooter or bomb threat. The intentions can vary from a prank, to attempting to receive and ransom or the malicious intent to invoke fear into the public.
What ever the intentions may be, the reactions are always the same. A public frenzy that raises fear and anxiety. This dangerous trend puts more pressure on schools and law enforcement to sift through what is a real threat and what is a hoax. For schools, this can take away from the original purpose and job of educating students. Now, the top priority has been protecting them. This has become increasingly challenging with the advancement in technology like BOTs and artificial intelligence, or A.I. These allow threats to come in at random, with no reason to the location or school. It also allows for these threats to occur at an alarming high rate.
Right her in Central New York, six swatting calls were received in one day to schools across the state. According to OnBoard, a New York State School Board newspaper, these calls could be traced back to their origin, as far as Canada.
As Superintendent of the Central Square School District, Thomas Colabufo must always take each threat seriously, saying,
“The whole fact that why swatting becomes such a problem for us is that people can just initiate this without ever being in the area.” Says Colabufo,”And there’s not a principal or superintendent out there that would just be disregarded it, because what if somebody was in the building that made the call that originated all of this? So that’s where the problem really begins.”
This isn’t the only concern for schools, according to Colabufo.
“This changes the game because when it’s not actually directed towards the district, it’s just randomly whichever building that it comes up. That case happened in Westhill. It could have easily been West Gennessee or it could have been Central Square and then those calls come in. If I received that call from the trooper saying, ‘we just received this call’, we obviously have to go into lockdown. So the scary thing is, if that’s done repeatedly to the same schools, same districts, eventually those districts are going to just believe, ‘well, this is just another one of those things.’ So it’s like the boy who cried wolf.”
As for law enforcement agencies, these false claims waste their time and could distract them from protecting against real dangers or crimes. Chief of Campus Safety at Syracuse University, Craig A. Stone, reaffirms this saying,
“Well, it creates a drain on our resources.” Stone says, “You know, your first responders, your dispatch staff, it takes us away from a real problem.”
Then there’s the mental health aspect to consider whenever these calls are made. Molly Tarsel has been a psychologist at Cazenovia High School for three years. She explains what impact this can have on not only students, but faculty as well.
“It’s one more thing to have to worry about.” Tarsel says. “With the high school level, with the teenage mind, there’s already enough going on for them. So, I feel like kind of adding this on and adding that on for teachers and staff to it’s a lot. Knowing that coming to a school building, where kids are educated could also be a dangerous place too and that something could happen. So, I think that affects people, and that kind of takes a toll.”
With all the dangers and side effects surrounding swatting, one thing is for sure. Our society must continue to be hyper-vigilant. For schools and law enforcement, they will continue to adapt to these threat in order to keep the community safe.