Hospitals have faced a rise in swatting calls over the last decade, and some states, like Wisconsin, have seen a string of swatting calls in the last week.
“Swatting” involves a person making a false report to emergency services or 911 in order to elicit a police or SWAT team response. In the healthcare setting, swatting can also include incidents where a person falsely reports a medical emergency such as an overdose or heart attack, or other dangerous circumstances, International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation wrote in an article on swatting.
In the U.S., swatting is deemed a form of online harassment. Swatting calls are often called in over the phone using ID spoofing or other techniques to hide the caller’s identity. They can also come in via social media.
In late June, Marshfield (Wis.) Medical Center received a phone call indicating that two males were enroute to shoot up the hospital and would arrive in 20 minutes. The hospital went on lockdown and police responded to the call. However, law enforcement determined similar threats were called into locations across Wisconsin that same day, and the threat was a swatting call.
On July 4, La Crosse (Wis.) police received a report of a suspicious person with a gun outside Emplify Health by Gundersen’s emergency room. Police responded and determined it was a swatting call.
Here is what hospitals should know about swatting and how to respond.
1. Swatting incidents have jumped from about 400 cases in 2011 to over 1,000 cases in 2019, according to estimates. Each swatting call costs taxpayers around $10,000, or about $240,000, per year, nationally.
2. The average SWAT call lasts around three to four hours.
3. Swatting calls on hospitals are likely trying to put their reputation at risk, as patients and residents who hear about a SWAT response at the hospital are more nervous about their safety at that facility. Swatting calls can also put distrust on the effectiveness of hospital security.
4. To mitigate swatting calls, International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation recommends in-service training for hospital staff to learn how to handle swatting incident, how to identify characteristics of a false report, efficiently reporting swatting incidents or attempted incidents, de-escalation tactics to reduce potential harm to patients and staff, and how to provide appropriate details to law enforcement after a false report. Healthcare facilities also need emergency response procedures to handle various falsely reported scenarios, including bomb threat, armed intruders and fire.
5. In 2015, the Interstate Swatting Hoax Act laid out four levels of punishments for individuals who call in false reports: 1) if there is an emergency response, the person swatter can be fined, imprisoned for up to five years, or both; 2) if the swatting results in serious bodily injury, then the swatter can be fined, imprisoned for up to 20 years, or both; 3) if the swatting results in a death, then the swatter can be fined, imprisoned for up to life, or both; and 4) for any other result, the swatter can be fined, imprisoned for up to a year, or both.
6. Swatting not only diverts law enforcement resources, but can intimidate healthcare professionals, disrupt hospital operations and distress patients.
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