Charlotte Shields-Rossi | a&e editor

In recent weeks, dozens of universities across the country have seen an increase in school shooting threats, which were later deemed to be hoaxes.

Pennsylvania colleges were not immune. Both Villanova and the University of Pittsburgh were targeted last week. On Tuesday, Slippery Rock University received a bomb threat which was believed to be a swatting attempt.

“We are aware of recent swatting incidents involving a number of colleges and universities and are working with our law enforcement partners. The FBI is seeing an increase in swatting events across the country, and we take potential hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” said Bradford Arick, Pittsburgh FBI spokesman, in a prepared statement.

There are numerous potential effects of swatting incidents, he said, such as draining law enforcement resources and putting bystanders at risk.

Arick said that the FBI is working closely with law enforcement agencies to determine the credibility of these threats, exchange information and take investigative actions.

“As always, we encourage members of the public to remain vigilant and immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement,” he said.

Chief of Police for Duquesne Eric Holmes said he has been vigilantly monitoring the situation in an effort to keep students safe.

“I get regular updates in real time to include national incidents and incidents around the world,” Holmes said. “We have been in communication with other law enforcement agencies and organizations such as the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators of which Duquesne University Police Department is a member of.”

Although there have been multiple threats that turned out to be hoaxes, there have been real instances of violence in schools such as on Aug. 27, when a gunman opened fire at a Catholic school in Minneapolis killing two children. Law enforcement agencies must decipher between real and fake threats.

“There are clues and indicators that we look for. Our protocols and response would be the same,” Holmes said.

In the event that Duquesne is hit with a similar threat, Holmes said to follow the information provided in DU alerts, and if students see anything suspicious call 412-369-2677. For important safety information you can visit the Duquesne campus safety website.

“My focus is on preparedness, response and recovery here at Duquesne University,” he said.

Effects of swatting

The majority of these violent hoaxes have been falsely alerting law enforcement that there is an active shooter on campus, which is an example of swatting.

Homeland Security defines swatting as making malicious hoax calls to emergency services to falsely report an ongoing violent crime. The purpose is to cause large-scale deployment of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams. The intent of these threats are to disrupt, distract and harass organizations.

In the past few years as swatting incidents have increased, multiple states have enacted anti-swatting legislation. Pennsylvania has yet to enact similar laws.

“There is not currently a single statute that is specifically titled an anti-swatting law,” said John Rago, associate professor of law at Duquesne.

He said that it doesn’t mean that those engaging in swatting go without punishment in Pennsylvania.

Individuals can be charged with false alarms to agencies, terroristic threats, criminal harassment, impersonating a public servant and making a false report to law enforcement. They can also be charged with federal crimes such as threatening interstate communications.

Although Pennsylvania currently has no specific anti-swatting legislation, anti-swatting bills have been proposed.

“Its a dangerous event and for people to think that it’s something you can do and not suffer consequences if you get caught, its absurd, that’s why I’m glad Pennsylvania is thinking about increasing the penalties,” he said.

On top of swatting being dangerous, it is also a massive drain on government resources and time, Rago said.

“To characterize swatting as a hoax dangerously mischaracterizes the dangers that are created when someone engages in that kind of activity,” Rago said. “It’s a criminal act. It’s a criminal event.”

Charlotte Shields-Rossi can be reached at shieldsrossic@duq.edu.