DAYTON, Ohio ( WDTN ) — A popular, wasteful and dangerous trend of swatting is sweeping the country with cases occurring locally too.
Swatting happens when someone dials 911 reporting a shooting, hostage or other dangerous situation going on. This forces a police department’s hand to respond, even if they suspect the call may be fake.
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“It’s incredibly dangerous and there is no sense for this going on,” said Chief Deputy Matt Haines with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Locally, Belmont and Catholic Central High Schools have both been recent victims of swatting.
“We have an active investigation into one that happened not too long ago, where somebody called in and reported that there has been a shooting. That somebody was being held hostage. There have been others that have involved schools, higher learning educations,” said Haines.
According to data by the Educators School Safety Network, during the 2022-23 school year, the highest reported incidents at schools were false reports of an active shooter. This accounted for 63.8% of incidents.