swatting

swatting, act of reporting a false crime at a specific address with the aim of involving armed law enforcement. The term refers to the division in police departments called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, teams. The Anti-Defamation League estimates that about 1,000 swatting incidents occur each year. 

Although swatting has historically targeted celebrities or schools, the practice has become more commonly used against ordinary people, including former partners or even video game opponents.

Laws against swatting are inconsistent, and no federal law specifically prohibits the practice, though there are broader laws about filing false reports. People who make false reports often use sophisticated tools to mask their identities, which makes finding the perpetrators challenging. In addition to the not-insignificant costs associated with mobilizing heavily trained and armed officers to a location, the very real risk exists that innocents will be harmed in the ensuing operation.

In 2017, for example, online gamers Casey Viner of Ohio and Shane Gaskill, who lived in Kansas, were involved in a dispute online. Viner contacted his friend Tyler R. Barriss, who lived in Los Angeles, and asked him to swat Gaskill. However, Gaskill had intentionally provided an older home address to Viner earlier (and given the same address to Barriss to taunt him), to which authorities raced in response to the reported shooting and kidnapping. Andrew Finch, who actually lived at the address and had nothing to do with the argument, was shot dead by law enforcement when he answered the door. Barriss received 20 years in prison for the notorious incident, while Gaskill and Viner received 18-month and 15-month sentences, respectively.

In 2023 alone controversial far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, as well as fellow Republican Rep. Brandon Williams, were swatted on Christmas Day. Greene has claimed that she has been swatted eight separate times. In December 2023 several hundred synagogues were swatted, as well as Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who had blocked former president Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot. Prosecutor Jack Smith and judge Tanya Chutkan, both of whom oversaw one of Trump’s criminal cases, were both swatted in late 2023 and early 2024, respectively. In January 2024 the White House was swatted when someone called emergency services to falsely report a fire.

When law enforcement is called as part of swatting, it is often difficult to determine the next course of action. Investigators are obstructed by the many tools that bad actors may use to remain anonymous. As no federal anti-swatting laws are in place, punishments are difficult to implement. Some states, including California, Ohio, and Virginia, have passed laws that prohibit 911 prank calls and criminalize calls that lead to harm or property damage. In 2021 an anti-swatting bill failed to pass U.S. Congress. The FBI created a database of incidents in mid-2023 in the first effort to develop a nationwide repository for swatting-based data.

One way police departments have attempted to mitigate potential swatting incidents is by developing intelligence about potential fraudulent reporting and contacting victims before sending teams to their location. Williams, the Republican representative for New York’s 22nd congressional district, was called by Cayuga county authorities in New York before they arrived at his home, which effectively prevented the situation from escalating. In the case of Smith, U.S. marshals who had been protecting his family preemptively informed local police that there was nothing amiss at his home.