More on "swatting" on OFFICER.com
No Joke: Searching for Serious Solutions to 'Swatting'
- To combat and prevent “swatting” threats, law enforcement fights a two-front battle, and a rash of these calls targeting schools after the Nashville mass shooting shows how insidious the problem is.
A new Florida law creates harsher penalties for making swatting calls as part of the state's crackdown on the hoaxes involving law enforcement and innocent citizens.
At a ceremony at a Winter Haven high school Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 279 —known as the "False Reporting"—into law, WTVJ-TV reports. Under the bill, anyone making false reports such as swatting—incidents when a person calls 9-1-1 to falsely accuse a victim of a crime that initiates a SWAT response—leading to a death will face second-degree felony charges. Calls that lead to serious injury will be classified as third-degree felonies.
"Florida is a law-and-order state and we will punish swatters to the full extent of the law," stated a social media post by the governor's office.
What HB 279 Says
Read the full text of House Bill 279—known as the "False Reporting Bill"—at the website for the Florida Senate.
Convicted offenders also will have to pay restitution to victims and police agencies. And repeat offenders will face enhanced penalties, according to the governor's office.
"Swatting is a tactic of cowards who use fake reports to law enforcement to harass people who they disagree with politically. Today, Florida gets even tougher on swatting," DeSantis said in a statement. "These are not victimless crimes. These acts are wasteful and create dangerous situations for the public, victims, and for our law enforcement officers."
