PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A bill in the Pennsylvania House aims at cracking down on “swatting” at schools — fake calls to emergency responders that aim to get SWAT teams and other law enforcement to flood a scene.
The calls often falsely claim there is an active shooter or a hostage situation to trigger a large police response.
Montgomery County Democrat and chair of the state House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Tim Briggs, pointed to a recent swatting attempt in his district.
“I represent part of Villanova's campus, and we all saw on national news what happened there,” he said.
Briggs said that the false report during new-student orientation caused widespread panic and chaos, and pulled first responders from other emergencies.
Briggs’ bill would have the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing create a sentencing enhancement for terroristic threats or swatting of a public, private, or charter school, university, or college.
It would also allow a judge to order a defendant to pay back the cost of materials, equipment, and lost wages of employees and first responders.
The legislation heads to the House floor after moving out of his Judiciary Committee on a 25-1 vote.
Swatting calls can be hard to trace, but federal and state officials continue to work on ways to better identify their source.