Swatting is a type of hoax where people call in a fake 911 call in order to get a police and emergency response to another person's house. The false reports can be anything from a bomb threat, hostage situation or murder. Gamers are often the culprits, targeting other gamers who stream online. The emergency response is sometimes broadcast live online.
"It seems to be a lot of gamers that think that they're doing something funny when actually they're doing something very dangerous," Officer Tim Broadway, Reno Police Department said.
Swatting is being blamed for the fatal police shooting of unarmed 28-year-old Andrew Finch in Wichita, Kansas on December 28. 25-year-old Tyler Barriss is accused of calling 911 with a false report of a hostage situation, from California, which led to the shooting. Barriss will be extradited to Kansas after signing a waiver of extradition. Broadway says RPD is using that incident as a learning experience.
"It's a very tragic incident," Broadway said. "We're going by the information 911 gives us and taking that as a true, valid incident whether that's an active shooter or a hostage situation and that's how we respond."
911 dispatchers take more than 600,000 calls each day throughout the United States. That makes it difficult to spot fake reports like swatting.
"It's very frustrating to us when we do send all those resources to help someone that actually isn't in need of any help," Broadway said.
RPD has not had any swatting incidents in the last year but Broadway says it has dealt with false reports in the past.
"When there's actual real crimes going on and there's officers responding to a false claim of an incident, that takes our resources away from those other people that are in need," Broadway said.
Broadway says the emergency response can also be dangerous for officers and the community because they have to drive with their lights and sirens on. Calls for SWAT can also be very stressful situations.
"The internal stressers for our officers does go up, which over time does affect our mental and physical health," Broadway said.
False emergency reports are misdemeanors in Nevada, which carries up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. In 2015, Congress passed a bipartisan bill that made swatting a federal crime with increased penalties. In places like California, the prankster can be held liable for the cost of the emergency response, which could cost as much as $10,000.
"Anybody who's out there that's thinking about doing this, please don't," Broadway said. "You use a lot of resources, you endanger a lot of lives, and you can and will be caught and prosecuted."
