Federal Officials, Congressman Crack Down On 'Swatting' By Tracking Phones

Responding to pressure from U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, and U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from Cold Spring, the Federal Communications Commission granted a waiver to the Middletown Enlarged City School District allowing identification of the phone numbers used for “swatting.” Swatting is a fairly recent criminal act in which a fake emergency is called in anonymously in order to prompt a massive police response to a specific address.

Multiple police agencies have had to respond to "swatting" incidents, prompting the Federal Communications Commission to grant a waiver to the Middletown School District to trace maliciouis calls.
Photo Credit: *Twitter user David Avritt*

Jon Craig

04/15/2016 3:10 p.m.

Last year in Westchester County, swatting incidents in Rye and Eastchester prompted calls for harsher penalties and perpetrators.

In March, after reports of more than 13 swatting incidents at Middletown's school district, Gillibrand and Maloney called on the FCC to immediately grant Middletown’s waiver request. In many instances, the pranksters use technology designed to mask their phone number, making it difficult to identify the culprit. This FCC waiver will immediately permit telecommunications carriers to transmit restricted calling party numbers of anyone calling the Middletown School District in order to trace such calls, Gillibrand and Maloney said in a news statement.

“Our children and their families should not be subjected to these pranks and false emergencies,” Gillibrand said. “Swatting perpetrators put public safety at risk."

“Students, parents and families in Middletown have been terrorized for months by swatters targeting our kids, and this waiver will give police the tools they need to stop them in their tracks,” Maloney said. “But we should also call these criminals what they are – domestic terrorists."

Earlier this year, Maloney announced federal steps to combat “swatting” in schools. Maloney’s Stop Swatting in Our Schools (SSOS) Act would designate “swatting” as a form of domestic terrorism and create an FBI task force to combat swatting that would coordinate directly with Joint Terrorism Task Forces. Instances of “swatting” have become more widespread over the past several years with the FBI estimating about 400 such attacks occurring every year in the U.S.

While the FBI has been able to provide technical assistance to local law enforcement agencies that are under siege from swatting attacks, the creation of a task force focused specifically on investigating and prosecuting individuals engaged in this dangerous activity will help communities who are being terrorized, Maloney said.

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