Congresswoman Clark Unveils Bill To Battle 'Swatting' Hoaxes

In April, Framingham Police, swarmed a Frost Street home around 8 a.m., thinking an armed gunman was inside.

Framingham Police had received a 9-1-1 call from a man, calling himself “Peter.” The caller said he had shot his girlfriend and taken other family members hostage.

But inside was Irandi Waighe and her mother-in-law, 96, who is a double amputee and in a wheelchair.

The unsuspecting family and Framingham Police were the victims of a ‘swatting hoax.”

Yesterday, at the Framingham Police Station Congresswoman Katherine Clark with Framingham Police Chief Ken Ferguson, unveiled a national bill to help battle these ‘swatting’ hoaxes.

“It is far more than a hoax,” Rep. Clark said. “It is really such a dangerous situation for law enforcement, for victims, and for communities at large.”

The FBI estimates 400 swatting attacks occur every year.

Swatting is defined as the intentional misleading of emergency responders in order to provoke a S.W.A.T. team response.

Some ‘swatting’ incidents have been reported to cost local law enforcement agencies as much as $100,000. Ferguson said he did not know how much two incidents in Framingham in April cost the Town.

The most serious cost of these attacks is the danger they pose to emergency responders, innocent victims, and their families, said Clark.

Swatting attacks, nationwide, have resulted in injury to law enforcement officers, heart attacks, and serious injury to victims.

Congresswoman Clark said across the country there have been cases where young children are at home, during a ‘swatting’ hoax.

“Perpetrators of these hoaxes purposefully use our emergency responders to harm their victims,” said Clark. “These false reports are dangerous and costly, and have resulted in serious injury to victims and law enforcement. It is time to update our laws to appropriately address this crime.”

In Framingham, there have been two calls this year, both in April.

During the second call in Framingham, a Nicholas Road resident, with a heart condition, was inside when Police arrived. Police however were told via a 9-1-1 call that a man named “John” plan to attack Framingham Police and had a weapon.

While federal law prohibits using the telecommunications system to falsely report a bomb threat hoax or a terrorist attack, falsely reporting other emergency situations is not currently prohibited.

The Interstate Swatting Hoax Act proposed would close this loophole by prohibiting the use of the interstate telecommunications system to knowingly transmit false information with the intent to cause an emergency law enforcement response.

Individuals convicted could face up to 20 years in prison.

“Having a national law will help reduce these type of calls,” said Chief Ferguson.

Chief Ferguson said when his department receives a call they have to treat it like it is real each time.

Each time we take a call, “we plan for the worst and hope for the best,” said the police chief.

But it is “dangerous for everybody,” said Chief Ferguson. “It is dangerous for the police officers responding. It’s dangerous for the community ... it’s dangerous for the people (at the home) we are responding to.”

No arrests have been made in either Framingham 2015 ‘swatting’ incident.