Twice in one week, two separate school districts faced potential threats sent through social media.
One was determined to be a hoax and the other is still under investigation. Both instances are part of a growing concern in the country.
Dr. Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services said, “There’s been an uptick in swatting threats in schools across the nation in the past year.”
Swatting is another term for a ‘fake threat’, and Trump said when it comes to school safety, there are two types of threats.
“Those threats that often occur locally that originate from students, former students, somebody within a community, oftentimes with a grievance,” Trump said. “And then swatting threats that can come from across the state and even international borders sent digitally.”
So by definition, – what happened Wednesday in the Fayette County school district was local.
Two students played a prank when they sent out threats over social media. The threat in Madison County on Wednesday also came through Snapchat. It’s not yet known where that call came from, but investigators say they will find out.
“Eventually those footprints are tracked or digitally traced. but it takes time to do that. and they’re becoming more sophisticated,” Trump said. “There are actually pay-to-swat websites where you can pay through Bitcoin or other digital forms to have a specific target threatened with a swatting threat.”
Trump said young people need to realize that once you press send, you can’t put the threat back in the smartphone. according to the FI, a person can be sentenced to up to five years in prison for making a hoax threat.
“You’re going to face a ton of bricks that eventually falls with suspension and expulsion from school. Criminal prosecution and calls for restitution. That could be thousands of dollars for the police response time and costs involved,” Trump said.
Trump said charges also can include inducing panic or rise to a terroristic threat, and in the state of Kentucky, depending on the level of severity, those charges could be a misdemeanor or felony.
In 2018, the DOJ reported that two teenagers from Nicholasville created a social media account in someone else’s name and used it to make threats against a public school, which police determined to be a hoax. The two served several months in prison.
“The best way to prevent that is to have some candid conversations with young people ahead of time as educators, school resource officers, and parents,” Trump said.
The Kentucky Office of Homeland Security asks to call or report any suspicious activities at schools.
Source : Fox56 News
