ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Many schools are now back in session, and over the past 10 days, more than a dozen universities across the country have been targeted with fake active shooter calls. Those fake calls have very real responses from law enforcement who swarm campuses looking for threats.

These consistent threats have stirred up fear and caused feelings of uncertainty at local institutions in South Georgia.

“It’s just ridiculous that someone would make a threat of an active shooter, especially when we are all already scared about it,” one Albany State University student said.

Not only are there tremendous costs associated with active shooter threats, but they also deeply impact school faculty, students and others within the community.

“A spade of swatting incidents have hit college campuses most recently, but they have hit K-12 schools year after year for the past decade,” Dr. Ken Trump, the President of National School Safety and Security Services, said. “Swatting threats cause an upheaval of the entire school community and the anxiety, emotions and ambiguity, uncertainty around school safety continues for weeks after the threats.”

The Department of Homeland Security defines ‘swatting calls,’ or incidents, as hoax calls made with malicious intent to emergency services to falsely report an ongoing emergency, such as a violent crime or explosive device at a certain location. These calls are made to cause large-scale deployment of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, bomb squads, and other police resources.

Dr. Trump added that schools take several steps to identify threats.

In the event of an active shooter threat on campus, experts advise school officials to assess the situation and then react. School closure and evacuation are not always the best solution.

“You need to assess the credibility of the threat, unless there is something obvious and imminent right in front of you, and then react accordingly. Sometimes the best process may be to continue on with education under heightened security, rather than evacuate and close. Then, you are playing into the whole purpose of swatting: to create fear and disrupt,” Dr. Trump said.

In light of the recent threats across the country, Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) law enforcement has increased public safety and held more department-wide meetings to go over protocol.

“We begin to go into our emergency protocol by notifying our students, making them aware of what’s going on, and probably that shelter in place piece, and we go to that location where the caller advised that this incident was actually occurring,” GSW Police Chief Michael Lewis said.

The FBI Atlanta issued the following statement on recent hoaxes:

“We work closely with our law enforcement partners to determine their credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action. As always, we encourage members of the public to remain vigilant and immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”

Schools that have experienced these ‘swatting hoaxes’:

• Villanova University - Thursday, August 21
• University of Tennessee in Chattanooga - Thursday, August 21
• Louisiana State University Alexandria - Sunday, August 24
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Sunday, August 24
• University of Colorado Boulder - Monday, August 25
• University of New Hampshire - Monday, August 25
• University of Arkansas - Monday, August 25
• Iowa State University - Monday, August 25
• Northern Arizona University - Monday, August 25
• Kansas State University - Monday, August 25
• University of South Carolina - Monday, August 25
• University of Maine  - Monday, August 25
• University of Kentucky - Tuesday, August 26
• West Virginia University - Tuesday, August 26
• Central Georgia Technical College - Tuesday, August 26
• University of Texas at San Antonio  - Tuesday, August 26
• Auburn University - Wednesday, August 27
• Mercer University - Wednesday, August 27
• Texas Tech University - Wednesday, August 27
• University of Georgia - Friday, August 29
• University of West Georgia - Friday, August 29
• Clark Atlanta University - Friday, August 29

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