In late February, the Douglas County Sheriff’s office responded to a call which claimed that a man had shot his mother and intended on killing his sister at a house off 187th and Honeysuckle Street.
The man had allegedly barricaded himself inside and had plans to fire at anyone who attempted to enter the house. Assisted by members of the Omaha Police Department, the sheriff’s office utilized a PA speaker to usher the shooter out of the house and apprehend the violent criminal… except this never actually happened.
An anonymous report was made and the police did remove people from that house, but, instead of a murderous shooter, an innocent man was escorted out of his house on an otherwise calm Saturday afternoon.
This unfortunate situation is actually a lot more common than one might think and it is known as “swatting.” Swatting is defined as the practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address.Some may say that this is just a silly made up word used to describe something that rarely happens, but this definition comes directly from Oxford Dictionaries, the world’s leading dictionary publisher.
“Stuff like this has been a growing trend in the past 2-3 years,” school resource officer Deputy Adam Weaver said.
SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) is a team of men and women tasked with being able to respond at a moment’s notice to the most dangerous of situations such as active shootings, high risk search warrants, or barricaded persons. The truth is that SWAT teams have to assume that every call they receive has real and present danger that requires immediate reaction. This saves lives on a daily basis, but it can also be seen that more and more people are using this for twisted pranks that could seriously scare people.
“The officers will most likely be instructing you from outside the door and request for you to exit with your hands in the air, said Weaver, “They will probably detain you until they eventually realize ‘Hey this guy didn’t do anything.'”
On Dec. 6, 2024, five calls were made to five separate schools in Omaha with a very threatening message. This prompted higher security at the schools, although the day went by without any violence unfolding. To my knowledge nobody has been found guilty for creating this hoax.
“There have been several at area high schools in Omaha. Somebody will call and say, ‘Hey there’s a shooting happening’ which will prompt SWAT and other public safety officials to arrive,” Weaver said.
Swatting is considered a felony, under federal law and can result in up to five years in prison, or even up to 20 if harm is caused during the SWAT raid. Thanks to the anonymity that technology allows for, it can be incredibly difficult to find the perpetrators of these actions.
“There is typically a terrorist type threats criminal charge that comes with it,” said Weaver, “And obviously that is pretty serious.”
The protection that our law enforcement provides should never be taken for granted or taken advantage of for a stupid prank.
