CALUMET COUNTY (NBC 26) — Two false emergency calls targeted homes in Northeast Wisconsin this week, prompting law enforcement officials to warn the public about the serious dangers of swatting.
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Swatting is when someone makes a false emergency call — often claiming there is a serious crime in progress — to send police to an unsuspecting person's home.
On Monday this week, an Oshkosh home was targeted by a false call claiming a man had shot his girlfriend and was holding someone else at gunpoint. Then, Tuesday night in Harrison, a caller claimed he had been stabbed and shot his wife. Both calls were a hoax.
Calumet County Lt. Joe Tenor said the Harrison incident stretched local resources dangerously thin.
"We provide an appropriate law enforcement response and in some instances that could be requiring a SWAT team because until we can prove it's a hoax, we need to respond appropriately," Tenor said.
"With our recent incident we had a lot of our law enforcement resources tied up, ambulance tied up, Harrison Fire and first responders at the scene, off duty law enforcement called in. Had something else come in in the county, we would've been stretched thin and not properly able to respond to that."
Tenor also explained why responding to these calls puts everyone involved at risk.
"Our units are responding in emergent fashion, we are responding to a business or resident that is unsuspecting and we are responding in a way where we are going to probably have some sort of use of force," Tenor said. "There is nothing funny about this, it's a serious criminal act, there is a high probability of someone getting hurt."
Nicholas Roedell, a Manitowoc resident, knows that danger firsthand. He was a swatting victim years ago.
"I was sitting at my parents dinner table … and just cops swarmed the house. It was absolutely insane," Roedell recalled.
Roedell said someone he didn't get along with called a crisis hotline and gave them his address. He was placed in handcuffs until officers could figure out what was really happening.
"One wrong move and I easily could've got shot," Roedell said. "Definitely not how I would go about pranking someone."
The FBI formed an online database this year to better share information between law enforcement agencies to combat swatting incidents.
Swatting is a crime in Wisconsin. Under state law, penalties can range from 3.5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine to up to 15 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
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