CHICAGO — Bogus threats at schools in the Chicago area have left students and staff anxious and law enforcement on high alert, part of a troubling nationwide trend that began in September, experts say.
The threats, besides being disruptive and extremely stressful, can produce “swatting fatigue,” or “threat fatigue,” experts say, and have hit various suburbs and at least one Chicago public school in the last few weeks. They turn into a waste of resources for law enforcement, and can cost in the six figures, according to experts.
The FBI’s Chicago office received about 84 reports of “incidents,” meaning reports of some type of school-centric threat, whether founded or unfounded, between October 2021 and September 2022, said FBI spokesperson Siobhan Johnson. Between January 2023 and March 3, they have received approximately 10 incident reports per month, Johnson said.
If reports continue at this rate, it would be a hike of about 42%.
According to school safety expert Kenneth Trump, there are two broad categories of school-related threats: swatting threats — prank calls that attempt to draw a swarm of police officers to an address or location — and other threats that are linked to something special about the school, or stem from people or former students who have grievances with someone or something at the school.
These other threats are easier to identify for at least two reasons, experts say: affected students often speak up to an adult they trust, and a “digital footprint” is often left behind, which makes it easier for law enforcement to identify the threat maker, Trump said.
“Swatting,” so-named from the massive police and sometimes SWAT response, ends up to be very costly — upward in the six figures, said Trump. These can hit several schools in the same day.
Johnson couldn’t comment on data for swatting, but according to the FBI’s website, these threats or “hoaxes” have been happening since at least 2018, when the educational media campaign “think before you post” was displayed on their website.
And, according to Trump there has been a spike in swatting incidents at schools nationwide since September, including most recently in Colorado and Kansas. In Colorado, Trump said, “they timed it” to hit cities there alphabetically, within minutes of each other.
“This seems to be the longest streak that I remember,” said Trump, who has 35 years of experience in school safety training. Law enforcement tends to “nail down” similar waves like these more quickly. “It hasn’t been nipped in the bud.”
Recent threats
Closer to home, in-person classes were canceled Friday for the students at Elmwood Park High School after officials said there was “potential threat” and they wanted to exercise caution.
“We received a report of a potential threat during the EPHS student organized walkout that was planned for 10 a.m. this morning. Out of an abundance of caution we will move to an e-learning day today at EPHS,” Superintendent Leah Gauthier wrote in a message distributed to district families just before 7 a.m. Friday.
In Elgin, swatting was blamed for an emergency situation on Feb. 28, when a school district received an “unsubstantiated threat” to Elgin schools, the district said in a tweet. The schools were not placed on lockdown and “our buildings remain secure” according to the tweet.
On Feb. 20, Wheaton North High School was hit with a caller’s false threat to “kill everyone.” The swatting drew a large police response to the school as officers responded to similar threats on the same day at Winnetka’s North Shore Country Day School and Wilmette Junior High School. Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park went on “hard lockdown” when another swatting hoax hit the school Feb. 10.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, swatting hoaxes have been rare, Chicago Public Schools spokesperson Mary Fergus said. But Chicago police confirmed at least two fake threats have occurred in one West Side high school.
Chicago Bulls College Prep, with an enrollment of more than 1,000, was evacuated about 8 a.m. on Feb. 27 after someone called in a bomb threat — their second in less than a year.
“There is a bomb in the gym, and the kids know!” the caller told the principal, a police report said.
The caller reached a clerk at the school office, who immediately notified the principal, who called 911. The school, 2040 W. Adams St., which put in effect its safety plan, was in session at the time and all students were moved to nearby Malcolm X College while police searched the area using bomb-sniffing dogs. They did not find anything, the report said.
No injuries were reported, and staffers and students returned to school later that day.
The same clerk took a similar call from a male caller at 7:02 a.m. on May 3, 2022.
“There is a bomb inside the auditorium!” After a moment of silence, the caller said: “There is a bomb inside the auditorium and if you call CPD it will detonate!” according to the report.
The school was not evacuated that time, but police searched the school and didn’t find anything, and nobody was hurt. The telephone number the caller used did not go through to anyone, the police report said.
Response from law enforcement
If CPS schools have an emergency, schools are trained to call 911, according to Fergus.
“Once a report is made, regardless of the source, we can respond to a report of an incident with urgency,” Fergus said in a statement. “We coordinate our respective resources to respond while validating the conditions at the school whether there is an actual active situation or whether the report is a hoax.”
Fergus said CPS takes all safety threats seriously and responds to all incidents consistently and thoroughly using “strong protocols” and partnerships with sister agencies in the city, including police, fire and OEMC.
Chicago police spokesperson Maggie Huynh also said student and school safety is a top concern, a priority and regular training is provided.
“We work closely with the CPS Office of School Safety and Security and all schools to respond to incidents quickly and thoroughly investigate all threats,” Huynh said in a statement. “We also participate in school safety drills with fellow public safety agencies at schools across the city to make sure we are equipped and trained for emergency situations.”
For the FBI, if a person making a threat “has the means to make it happen,” the threat will generally be regarded — at least initially — as credible, Johnson said. That determination could change as more information comes in.
“It’s always a dynamic situation,” Johnson said.
“We gather intelligence to ensure they have as complete a picture as possible and work with other agencies, including police and prosecutors, to determine the most appropriate action,” Johnson said.
When agents receive a threat, they evaluate it for merit.
“We consider whether this is likely a real threat or whether someone is threatening something they could not possibly carry out, (or have no intent to carry out), “Johnson said.
Anxiety, stress, confusion and high price tags
For students, parents, and school staff the situations generate a “high degree of anxiety and ambiguity to what already exists” said Trump, the school security expert, referring to the already-looming awareness of mass school shootings.
“Parents and school officials need to talk to the young people to make sure they know that threat will be thoroughly investigated and there will be consequences. By tracking digital footprints, eventually they will find the threat-makers,” Trump said.
Trump said it’s not unusual to have threats targeting multiple school districts across states within the same day.
“Oftentimes they’re computer generated, or digital threats or threats communicated by phone or other electronic means. Oftentimes they originate from across state or international borders,” Trump added.
An alarming side effect from the high number of threats seems to be “swatting fatigue/threat fatigue,” Trump said, when people become complacent. The majority turn out not to be credible but nobody wants to be that one,” Trump said, meaning officials have to investigate no matter what.
And officials haven’t been able to stop this latest wave, which began around September, he said.
“It begs the question of: Are the threat makers that sophisticated? Are they more complicated?” Trump said.
The callers face expulsion or criminal prosecution with demands for restitution.
Hoax incidents are federal crimes, Johnson said, adding they usually see younger adults involved. The FBI “constantly” has to reeducate by distributing and coordinating media campaigns.
Real threats already rampant
In Chicago, real threats on school campuses are rampant. Most recently, March 1 about 4:30 p.m. multiple schoolchildren “took cover under a slide,” Cook County prosecutors said, when a domestic quarrel led to a shootout ending with the death of Chicago police Officer Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso near an elementary schoolyard. No children were injured and a man has been charged.
On Dec. 16, 2022, four students were shot — two fatally — outside Benito Juarez high school. A former student has been charged.
Additionally, it’s not uncommon for students to sometimes bring guns to city schools, which, though also disturbing, is a different kind of threat, officials said.
At least one such disturbance happened recently in the South Shore neighborhood.
On Feb. 22 at 1 p.m., Chicago police were called to Isabelle O’Keeffe school, 6940 S. Merrill Ave., where a 14-year-old boy had brought a gun to school. The student was charged and nobody was hurt. Police said they found the boy inside the school and confiscated a gun.
Schools, while training for these emergencies, should have an internal list for heightened security measures, otherwise they’d close schools every day, according to Trump.
Additional police patrols, more periodic checking of washrooms and a school crisis community strategy is also critical. “So they can hit the ground running, so everyone can get out,” Trump said.
“Rumors and misinformation that used to be spread in hours and days, now it’s in seconds and minutes,” Trump said.
Another issue is evacuating the schools. “You think you know what you’re getting away from but oftentimes you don’t,” and schools lose control of the students if they’re evacuated, Trump said.
In the end, the majority of kids don’t like these threats, pranks and hoaxes, and become as upset as the teachers. It doesn’t help them, Trump said. They have enough on their plate, he said, with academics, sports, and extracurricular activities to have to worry about something else.
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