‘Swatting’ a major issue for Virginia schools last year, report

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) – A recent report says swatting is a big issue for Virginia schools, and Albemarle County officials say it is something they take very seriously.

Swatting is where someone makes a false report to police, and in many cases, includes a threat of violence.

“A lot of these are designed to create panic or concern,” Albemarle County Deputy Chief of Police Terry Walls said.

“We’re very sensitive to the psychological sort of domino effect that can come from something like swatting on our students, and that’s something we’re deeply concerned about for students of all ages,” Albemarle County Public Schools Spokesperson Helen Dunn said.

The Educators School Safety Network say swatting was the main reason police responded to schools in the commonwealth in 2022.

Dunn says it can be scary for students any time emergency responders are called out to schools because they don’t know what’s going on.

“Younger students can be a little bit more vulnerable to those kinds of concerns or misunderstandings, although any student really is certainly susceptible,” the spokesperson said.

“It’s very demanding,” Walls said. “A lot of these incidents that involve the schools or that are reporting very serious crimes will sometimes take up maybe half the officers that we have working.”

While ACPS didn’t experience any issues with swatting last year, Dunn says it is something they’ve seen in the past and the toll it takes.

“Many emergency responders are called to a school. Obviously, that represents taxpayer dollar,” she said. “The school itself would be disrupted by responding in a variety of different ways to make sure that they’re doing what they need to do and following protocol to ensure that their students are kept safe.”

Walls says ACPD works closely with schools to come up with better ways to respond to these types of calls effectively.

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