People who make a prank call to the police department could face more serious punishment. Cases such as the fake bomb threat last week at the John Mulroy Civic Center would be regarded as a new federal crime.
New York Senator Charles Schumer in Syracuse Monday describes that kind of prank call as a “swatting”, which means a fake threat in order to have police SWAT teams respond to an unsuspecting location. Schumer says, “swatting” calls terrify residents, put first responders at risk, and cost law enforcement time and resources.
“What are our police, what are our sheriffs supposed to do, say ‘maybe it’s a prank’ and god forbid it isn’t? But it’s not just one police car or one sheriff’s deputy who comes over. You have to bring a bomb squad if it’s a bomb; you have to bring a hostage rescue squad if it’s a hostage rescue. And because it’s an emergency situation, all the squad cars that are anywhere in the area rush to the situation. Obviously that is dangerous.”
To crack down on such attacks, Schumer is proposing a new legislation to make “swatting” a federal crime. People convicted would face up to 8 years in prison. Calling online to disguise their caller ID would also be illegal, and they’d be responsible for costs.
“We make the swatting perpetrator pay restitution. If the costs sheriff and police department $40 thousand to respond, they’re going to have to pay it back," Schumer said. "And a lien will be placed on their bank accounts, their homes, once it’s proven they’ve done this.”
Onondaga County Sheriff Gene Conway explains, the real purpose of the legislation is deterrence.
“We’re not looking to put more people in jail, but we’re looking to make people aware and deter people from continuing this kind of behavior, whether it’s for kicks, whether it’s out of anger, it doesn’t matter.”
There have been at least three swatting attacks in Syracuse in recent years. Schumer recounted one in North Syracuse this past March, in which a call was made about a stabbing. When authorities arrived, there had been no stabbing; the call was made by someone playing video games on line trying to prank someone else with the unexpected police raid. Conway hopes this legislation can reduce these crimes in the future.
