After a swatting incident, the Calumet County Sheriff’s Office is speaking out.
Lieutenant Joe Tenor tells Seehafernews.com that swatting is when someone calls in a fictitious crime to law enforcement or a business to cause panic and trigger a large law enforcement response.
A first report of swatting happened in Oshkosh when officers got a fake call about a homicide on Menomonie Drive.
In Calumet County, dispatch got a fake call from someone who said they had been stabbed in the chest and that they had shot their wife in the head in the Village of Harrison.
That was later determined to be false.
“Once it was verified, we made sure everyone in the neighborhood was safe,” he explained. “But, it ended up with pretty significant law enforcement and medical response in the neighborhood.”
Lieutenant Tenor says swatting incidents are not only illegal, but they’re also dangerous for both the public and sheriff’s deputies.
In both Calumet County and Oshkosh cases, law enforcement was called for weapons complaints, requiring officers to respond tactically.
“With that there’s the danger of someone getting hurt,” he noted. “There are people inside the house or it could be a business that are unsuspecting that this is even occurring. And it has the potential to be a recipe for disaster. So, we need to respond appropriately until we can verify that it’s a hoax.”
Tenor also adds that officers have to treat all calls as legitimate, because more times than not, they are people calling with legitimate concerns.
Unfortunately for the Calumet County Sheriff’s Office, this is not the first time this has happened.
Tenor added, “This is at least the third incident of swatting in our county. The other two incidents occurred several years ago.”
The Calumet County Sheriff’s Office reminds residents that swatting is illegal and will be counted as a felony.
Lieutenant Tenor says the department is working with the state to identify the person or persons involved in the incident.
