ST. GEORGE — With an increase in swatting incidents nationwide, state administrators are looking at stricter punishment to stem the tide of such threats.
And local authorities are applauding the initiative.
Swatting involves someone calling in threats of bombing, shooting or acts of violence, but the acts threatened are never performed and found to be hoaxes. Snow Canyon High School was the target of such an incident on Sept. 27. On Sunday, a similar incident at the Red Cliffs Mall in St. George was reported.
At Snow Canyon High School, St. George Police Public Information Officer Tiffany Mitchell said the result was a day of increased police presence there and other schools with a “secured” lockdown status.
The swatting phone number was traced to a Google Voice phone number. These are created easily and allow people to make calls from their web browsers or mobile devices, Mitchell said.
“We always take all threats seriously, especially against places where children are,” she said.
The new state school security task force, created due to the enactment of H.B. 61, began in August in preparation of the worldwide negative phenomenon.
During a meeting of task force team members and security consultants, it was announced that the task force would push for a change in the criminal code to achieve stricter punishment and criminal charges.
Currently, according to the Utah Criminal Code 76-9-105: Making a false alarm, a person making a false alarm can be charged with one of three classifications of crimes based on varying factors.
In August, Rep. Ryan Wilcox, the chair of the task force, announced an initiative to recommend that anyone found guilty of a swatting incident would be charged with a second-degree felony no matter what.
Mitchell told St. George News that swatting incidents are increasing locally.
Utah had multiple incidents reported on March 29, which resulted in the mass use of federal, state and local resources. Nearby states Nevada and Arizona faced similar fates on February 16.
“Anything stricter that reduces the waste of public resources, taxpayer money and emergency service’s efforts is warranted,” Mitchell said.
She added besides the waste, there is the emotional distress it causes parents, students and those living near the schools.
“If we could punish those who do those kinds of things and that means a felony that would help decrease that, then we support that,” she said.
FBI – Salt Lake City Public Affairs Specialist Sandra Yi Barker said most police departments do not track swatting incidents, however, the FBI started a database in May.
The official statement from the FBI was emailed to St. George News.
“In response to the national call on swatting, the FBI initiated the Virtual Command Center known as the National Common Operation Picture,” the statement read. “The NCOP-VCC is a collaborative effort between the FBI and law enforcement partners to track and create a real-time picture of swatting incidents. Established in May 2023, this initiative is open to any law enforcement agencies and fusion centers who wish to participate in tracking and sharing swatting information in respective jurisdictions.”
Mitchell said the St. George Police Department participates in the national database and it was through this that they discovered the recent Snow Canyon incident was found to be a hoax.
Washington County School District Director of Communications Steve Dunham said they are grateful for how well the response from the staff, the parents and the students in remaining calm on the day of the recent incident.
“The best thing is for everyone to stay calm, that includes our students, and if we want our students to do that we need parents to emulate that as well,” he said.
Dunham said when parents show up at the school in a panic, it makes things worse.
“This means please don’t come to the buildings during drills or real instances,” he said. “Please stay away until you are instructed to come. It is that calmness, it’s that procedure following that will make this work faster and better for everybody.”
He was grateful towards the police and emergency services who took the time and effort to ensure the safety of the students and staff.
Dunham also supported stricter penalties for swatting.
“Stricter penalties are necessary in an instant like this where you are threatening and putting children in a situation that might increase stress and anxiety, where you are putting thousands if not tens of thousands of resources at play for your own amusement,” he said. “Very strict penalties are appropriate and should be put in place for people who do that on a public institution, a school, a hospital, anything of that nature.”
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