In a northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., several months ago, police from two departments rushed to a school full of students after receiving a 911 call from a person who said they were feeling “homicidal.”
The call was a false alarm. But there was little they could do, officials said.
The call was ultimately traced to an IP address located outside the country, said Eddie L. Reyes, director of Public Safety Communications for Prince William County, as he addressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“In Prince William County, it’s difficult to find legitimate callers—people who are calling 911 because they can’t breathe or they’re having a robbery in progress—let alone, the swatters,” Reyes said, referring to the harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service into sending a police and emergency service response team to another person’s address.
He was testifying in support of an anti-swatting act which would create stiffer criminal penalties against those who purposely transmit false caller ID information in order to trigger an emergency response to a false location.
Swatting has become a growing issue around the country—including an attack against Parkland High School shooting survivor turned anti-gun activist David Hogg, when police knocked down the door of his family’s home after receiving a “swatting call” to his address—experts testified during a hearing on possible legislation to improve public safety communications.
In some cases, swatting incidents have turned deadly, as with the ongoing case against a California man charged with making a fake emergency call that turned deadly for a Kansas man in December.
“Most states and municipalities do not have laws that address these types of incidents, so at best, those who are identified and arrested often only face misdemeanor charges,” Reyes said in testimony submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Swatting has proven not only costly for 9-1-1 centers and field responders, but also extremely difficult to combat. Thus, enhancing the penalties for swatting and providing reimbursement to public safety agencies will be very helpful.”
Lawmakers were also considering legislation that would block state and local government from diverting funds designated for emergency communications for other purposes. Reyes and other experts testifying before lawmakers said that funding putting additional resources into fending off cyber attacks. “Our networks are constantly being attacked, the threats are growing stronger on a regular basis but, unfortunately at the local municipal level, we don’t have the resources in both funding and personnel to address or tackle those types of constant threats. We’re not in a proactive mode. We’re more in a reactive mode,” Reyes said referring to the additional threat of denial of service attacks.
James Curry, the communications division head in Hunterdon County, which is part of the New Jersey Department of Public Safety, testified in support of the fee integrity act after New Jersey officials reportedly diverted 911 funding for other parts of the state’s budget. He said having the funding available to update to next-generation 911 technology could help fight threats to the 911 system.
Curry was referring to internet protocol (IP)-based 911 systems which allow 911 to collect digital messages including voice, photos, videos, text messages.
While NPR reported earlier this year that it further raises concerns about swatting threats, Curry said the technology would help his department more easily track down callers.
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