A dangerous but growing practice, known as “SWATing,” sent Roswell police racing to a residence Aug. 5 with the report of a burglary in progress.
It took police close to an hour to discover the emergency 911 call was a hoax, and that someone had hacked into the homeowners’ voice over Internet Protocol to make the emergency call.
“This is very dangerous,” Roswell police spokesman Lt. James McGee said. “Someone could really get hurt.”
Police received the emergency 911 call at 11:10 p.m. Aug. 5 reporting a burglary in progress at a home in the 10000 block of Roxburgh Lane. The caller said there were four black males inside the home, two armed with pistols.
Police raced to the scene and set up a perimeter, then approached the house. Within minutes, officers had contacted the homeowner, explained the situation and the emergency alert was canceled. In all, four police officers responded to the call, McGee said.
Authorities have since launched an investigation into the incident, but McGee said these calls are virtually impossible to trace.
Dispatch Magazine, a trade journal for emergency dispatchers, estimates close to 60 incidents have been logged nationally since the practice began about six years ago. In all cases, callers hacked into a person’s VoIP, the technology that provides voice calls using a broadband Internet connection.
The 911 system itself is not hacked or compromised.
Fallout from the practice could be deadly, McGee said, not just because it’s dangerous anytime police rush to a scene with their lights flashing.
“Suppose a homeowner hears something outside and comes out with a gun?” he said. “It gets sticky at that time.”
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