amna: As America continues to
grapple with mass shootings,
another trend has authorities on
high alert.
Across the country, school
districts and universities are
experiencing an increase in
false reports of school
shootings and campus threats.
Stephanie sy has our report on
the growing problem, and what
can be done about it.
Stephanie: It's known as
swatting.
False threats called into police
and 911 that in an age of mass
shootings triggers a cascade of
responses.
Just today, multiple colleges in
Texas were targeted with these
calls.
And yesterday, Illinois state
police said 21 schools had fake
threats reported.
The spike in these incidents is
taking a toll on students and
school communities.
We spoke to three people who
have experienced this firsthand.
>> I'm gabby Hollenbeck.
I go to the university of
Pittsburgh, and my majors are
environmental studies and urban
studies
I got the text that the school
was under lockdown.
And so I immediately ran
basically right to my dorm and
headed up.
And all my friends were in my
room already, and I just sat on
the floor and I basically
started crying.
>> My name is ananya vinay, I'm
from Fresno, California, and I'm
a senior at Clovis north high
school.
We were in our our English class
and there was an announcement on
the loudspeaker that said that
we're going on lockdown and no
one knew what was going on, not
even the teachers.
>> My name is Matilda Larson.
I live in Canton, New York, and
I am the mom of a 14-year-old
boy in the eighth grade and a 16
year old boy in 11th grade.
From my cubicle I heard another
mom who also has children in the
same grade as my youngest son
say, my daughter just texted me.
She said the school is in
lockdown.
>> Then the fire alarms on
campus started saying that we
were under lockdown and that we
should stay inside.
And I remember just like feeling
so scared in that moment.
Then we started hearing that
they couldn't find any shooter
in the school or anything.
So all our minds go to, oh, like
they're out in the open and we
could be like in like next.
>> I received a text from my
youngest son who was using a
friend's phone to say, mom,
we're in lockdown.
And so I wrote back and said,
make sure you stay hidden.
Make sure that the phone that
you're using is on silent.
I then texted my other son and
said, are you in lockdown?
And he wrote, yes.
And I said the same thing.
And this overwhelming sense of
despair and alarm.
It just washed over me.
>> Once it was declared a hoax,
the text went out that
everything was okay.
It went on like any normal day,
and barely anybody talked about
it.
It was just kind of like, okay,
like, whatever.
And I think that's what made me
like the most angry out of
everything that happened, is
just going back and being like,
oh, everything's okay.
Everything's normal.
But like, in reality, like it's
really not.
>> You think it won't happen to
you, but then you get but then
you get a five minute lockdown
and it may just be a false
alarm.
But the false alarm showed you
that it could really happen.
>> This is the second time this
school year that they had gone
into a lockdown.
Earlier in the year during the
winter months.
So being that it happened to be
a second lockdown situation, you
think, how could it be that
another event could come out so
well where no one is hurt and
that it's a situation that gets
resolved very fast?
So the second time you just
think, is this the one?
Stephanie: You heard a range of
reactions there.
Now I want to bring in Amy
Klinger, co-founder of the
educator's school safety network
for a closer look at these
swatting calls and their
impacts.
Thank you so much for joining
the newshour.
Some of us will remember bomb
hoaxes and such being called in
when we were in school, but
these calls are on a different
scale.
What is going on?
Amy: We still have bomb hoaxes
going on as well.
Now you have added another
dimension.
Our worst fears of an active
shooter being weaponized against
us, and causing an incredible
level of trauma and disruption
and incredible consumption of
resources.
And the people you just spoke
with really encapsulated in all.
The fear, anxiety, uncertainty,
the unknowing what is actually
happening.
All of that comes together along
with this incredibly rapid law
enforcement response.
And the need for something to be
done very rapidly while you are
still unsure what is happening.
Stephanie: These are not
necessarily individuals
affiliated with the school.
Again, I have read reports that
this is computer-generated calls
in some cases, that technology
is being leveraged, leveraging
that fear of mass shootings.
Amy: Absolutely.
And it is really not about some
individual or a disgruntled kid
saying something.
These are attacks.
These are coordinated attacks
that tend to occur in clusters.
They tend to happen regionally.
By an actor or entity that is
outside of the school that is
being targeted.
They really are attacks designed
to undermine, create chaos,
fear, anxiety, all of the things
that we see are happening.
And that is why they continue.
Because they are working.
Stephanie: I want to talk about
the response that schools have
to have in response to these
threats, given mass shootings do
happen in this country.
Schools regularly send out text
messages to the students and
parents when there are threats
of an active shooter and a
lockdown.
Almost all of us have gotten a
text like that.
It sounds like that alone can be
very stressful for some of the
people we just heard from.
Are there clear best practices
for how schools should respond
to these threats?
The vast majority of which we
know will end up being hoaxes?
Amy: I think we have to guard
against a couple of things.
Number one, we have to be
proactive.
We have to start talking about
that.
Talking about what is our
protocol?
When are we going to do?
What is helpful, not helpful?
However we going to communicate
as much information as we can?
We have to have that proactive
approach.
We also have to guard against
the complacency, the boy that
cried wolf, where we go, it is
another one of those.
We have to really brush up on
and really coordinate the
training on the front end of
things, so that people are aware
of what to do, what it could be
like, what we are going to do.
Because you have got to also
build back up that trust and
help people to put it in the
proper perspective, that while
these are front of mind, these
horrific events and they are
totally unacceptable, they also
are statistically rare.
But that does not mean that we
should not prepare for them.
The swatting just adds another
complicating layer for schools
to have to deal with.
Stephanie: I read a lot of these
hoax calls are considered
misdemeanors in places.
What can be done to stop them
from a law enforcement
perspective?
I know senator chuck Schumer of
New York, where they have had
hundreds of these threats at
schools, has called on the FBI
to form a task force.
He wants to launch a federal
investigation into where the
calls are coming from.
.
Is that what is needed?
Amy: I think we have to shift
our thinking from -- we use the
word hoax because it was not
true, but we have to shift our
thinking from these as being, it
is just a bad joke, or a threat,
to being, these are attacks.
They truly are attacks.
And we need to treat them as
such in terms of our
investigation, and in terms of
our consequences.
Because they have a really
significant impact on kids and
schools.
We have to treat them as the
serious problem that they truly
are.
Stephanie: What is your biggest
concern if this trend continues?
Amy: I think it is eclipsing the
significant work that needs to
be done in school safety, that
needs to be all hazards, that
needs to be about training and
about mental health and about
violence prevention and
relationship building.
This really complex array of
things that need to happen to
keep kids safe in schools.
It has been boiled down to a
singular discussion of swatting
organs or anti-gun or pro-gun,
whatever it is, and we miss this
larger picture of what we should
be doing to keep kids safe.
And kind of the school safety
movement has been hijacked by
this incredible increase in
these false events.
Stephanie: Amy Klinger, thank
you for joining us.
Amy: Thank you.
♪♪