Hugely Successful Swatting Masterclass Is a Prime Example of MCP’s Vision and Foresight

Since MCP’s founding 15 years ago, we’ve taken great pride in our ability to help our public-safety and justice clients prepare for the future, both short term and long term, mostly by knowing what’s coming around the corner before anyone else does.

Last week we presented a virtual “swatting masterclass,” which spun out of a conversation I had a few months ago with Bob Finney, the communications technology division director for the Collier County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office, which has been an MCP client for nearly the past decade. We were talking about swatting, which most certainly is not something that’s just coming around the corner. Swatting has been occurring for more than a decade and involves placing a fake 911 call with the hope of eliciting an emergency response. Recent evidence indicates that the practice is increasing in number and severity. It is estimated that the number of swatting incidents annually totals in the thousands.

Swatting incidents tie up emergency-response resources that potentially are diverted from legitimate incidents. They also can have tragic consequences. For example, three years ago, in Tennessee, a swatting incident occurred because the swatter wanted to harass someone into relinquishing a desired Twitter handle. A 911 call was made that falsely reported that a murder had occurred at the swatting victim’s home. When police officers arrived, the stress apparently caused the victim, a 60-year-old grandfather, to suffer a fatal heart attack. And anytime “lights and sirens” are activated, a traffic-safety issue emerges that places emergency responders and citizens at unnecessary risk.

It’s safe to say that swatting is a very big problem that’s getting bigger — in fact, it would not be an exaggeration to state that swatting is reaching epidemic proportions. When Finney and I discussed this, a question popped up: is there anything at this point that can be done about this?

The very good news, as we learned last week, is that there’s a lot that can be done.

Before I go on, it’s important to note the tremendous support that the swatting masterclass received from the public-safety community. The roster of featured speakers reads like a “who’s who” list:

• Desiree Arnold, 911 executive director, City of Atlanta Police Department
• Christopher Carver, director of market development, Hexagon
• Jodie Chinn, executive director, Gunnison/Hinsdale (Colorado) Combined Emergency Telephone Service Authority
• Chris Covelli, chief deputy and public information officer, Lake County (Illinois) Sheriff's Office
• Thor Eells, executive director, National Tactical Officers Association
• Justen Davis, senior director, industry relations and public policy, Somos
• Bob Finney, communications technology division director, Collier County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office
• Mark Fletcher, vice president of public safety solutions, 911inform
• Brian Fontes, chief executive officer, National Emergency Number Association (NENA)
• Lisa Fulton, education and training course manager, NENA
• Scott Fulton, Mt. Juliet (Tennessee) Police Department
• April Heinze, vice president and chief of 911 operations, NENA
• Tim Jones, executive director, Genesee County (Michigan) 9-1-1 Dispatch Authority and president, Michigan Communications Directors Association
• Senator Cheryl Kagan, State of Maryland
• John H. Kelly, legal counsel, NENA
• Heather McGaffin, director, District of Columbia Office of Unified Communications
• Todd Miller, senior director, SaaS operations and strategic programs, Motorola Solutions
• Hannah Nall, 911 telecommunicator, Kannapolis (North Carolina) Police Department
• Harriet Rennie-Brown, executive director, National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA)
• Karen Sutherland, director of the support services division, Scottsdale (Arizona) Police Department
• Brian Tegtmeyer, coordinator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) National 911 Program
• Ty Wooten, director of government affairs, International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED)

The swatting masterclass was attended by nearly 400 emergency-response practitioners, and we expect that number to more than double after the archived event is made available on MCP’s website in about a month. If you couldn’t attend last week, I urge you to view the recordings of the masterclass sessions when the archived event becomes available.

We learned about what motivates swatters — revenge is very big, but so too is harassment, bragging rights, incident diversion, the desire to gain intelligence about response tactics, and even lost bets. We learned why swatting incidents are so difficult to prosecute. In addition, we learned why it is so important that the 911, law-enforcement, fire/rescue, and emergency-medical sectors — as well as ancillary entities like school districts and local businesses — work collaboratively, train together, and share information continuously. We heard from frontline 911 personnel about their personal experiences concerning swatting incidents, and their stories are compelling.

Most importantly, we learned about operational and technological strategies and tactics that virtually every public-safety organization can employ to identify swatting incidents quickly and efficiently, ideally before response is dispatched, but at least before any doors get kicked in.

It’s difficult to express just how proud we are to have envisioned this event and made it a reality. It’s also difficult to express just how grateful we are to our friends and partners in public safety for their help — we couldn’t have done it without them.

We hope that you’ll take advantage of this one-of-a-kind opportunity if you haven’t already. If you need more incentive, both NENA and IAED are offering one continuing-education credit for participation. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts you’d like to share about swatting, please reach out.

John Chiaramonte is president of MCP’s consulting division. Email him at JohnChiaramonte@MissionCriticalPartners.com.