ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — New York State Police have issued an advisory for swatting incidents that have occurred across the state.
NYSP says these incidents have involved a caller stating that an active shooter is in a school.
‘Swatting’ is the action of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about a dispatch of a large number of police officers to a particular address.
Thursday morning, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received a false report regarding shots fired at Brockport High School. MCSO says they investigated and worked with the school and determined no one is in danger. Brockport High School was put in a hold in place while police searched the building.
“We were notified about mid-morning that there was a call to the Brockport High School that there was some kind of shooter,” said MCSO Public Information Officer Brendan Hurley. “We worked with the Brockport school district to ensure the safety of all the students, teachers, and staff.”
According to the Brighton Central School District, Brighton High School went into a ‘shelter in place’ Thursday after law enforcement informed the district of a threat pertaining to an active shooter. The threat was confirmed to be not credible after law enforcement sweeped the area.
All of the reports have been unfounded, according to NYSP. They add that they are working alongside federal and local partners to investigate the threats.
“It’s a statewide thing that everyone is dealing with,” Hurley said. “You have to remember that swatting calls, they want to create that sense of urgency and they want to get everyone there as quickly as they can, so they didn’t go into specifics of anything else.”
In Albany, a number of schools have received multiple unfound swatting reports. These reports have caused multiple schools in that area to enter precautionary lockdowns and lockouts.
These incidents have also affected schools statewide — including Syracuse and Utica.
Earlier this month, students in the Hilton Central School District were evacuated after the threat of pipe bombs underneath several locations within the district.
The district received multiple threats thereafter. After an investigation, law enforcement and the district sent out that the threats were hoaxes and posed no threat to the community.
Hilton Superintendent Dr. Casey Kosiorek is also the President of Monroe County Council of Superintendents and says whether the threat is connected or not, they will do their best to ensure the safety of all students and staff within their school districts.
“You send your child off to school and you want them to be safe and you want them to learn and have positive experiences,” Dr. Kosiorek told News 8. “And now people from outside for whatever reason are wanting to disrupt and instill fear in our schools.”