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‘Swatting’ far from harmless pranks, police say By CHAMIAN CRUZ chamian@appenmedia.com NORTH METRO ATLANTA, Ga. — While local law enforcement agencies say “swatting” calls are still rare, they do not consider them “harmless pranks” and will continue to crack down. Swatting is the act of intentionally reporting false emergencies to provoke a Special Weapons and Tactics team response. Locally, officers from the Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton police departments make up the North Fulton SWAT team. Officers from Johns Creek, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody police departments make up the North Metro SWAT team. Each has approved manpower of approximately 50 members. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office has its own SWAT team. The special teams are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside the training of other police officers in their respective jurisdictions. High-risk operations may include hostage rescues, counter-terrorism operations, serving high-risk arrest and search warrants, subduing barricaded subjects and engaging heavily armed criminals. These officers are often equipped with weapons ranging from handguns to submachine guns or rifles, as well as tools like entry body armor, helmets, ballistic shields, entry tools, communication equipment and chemical agent protective masks. Milton Police Capt. Charles Barstow said he is not familiar with any swatting incidents ever occurring in his city in at least the past five years. However, all members of the North Fulton SWAT Team, including Milton officers, are on call 24/7, 365 days a year. The North Metro SWAT team works the same way. “If a decision is made to activate the SWAT Team,”
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FORSYTH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Law enforcement departments, like the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, say they are plagued from time to time by “swatters,” callers who falsely report emergencies that require deployment of manpower and equipment. Barstow said, “all members are notified of the call and those that are available to respond will indicate so and respond to the location they are requested at.” Recent cases Last month, the Roswell Police Department responded to three false reports at a single home along Old Course Drive. One of those reports was from someone claiming to be there who called 911 and said they heard arguing and gunshots upstairs, but when armed officers arrived, they found nothing wrong. The next day, someone at the same home allegedly
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called 911 and the Georgia Crisis Line threatening to commit suicide. Again, the report was false. The victims told officers they believed someone was pranking them. As of Sept. 9, no one has been charged for the false reports. Roswell police spokesman Tim Lupo said he does not consider them “pranks.” “Thankfully, these events are rare, [but] they are taken exceedingly seriously because of the threat they pose both to the resident victims and to re-
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See SWATTING, Page 4