A hoax 911 call resulted in massive results yesterday over in Toddville, IA. The
prank caller said that there had been a deadly shooting, complete with possible hostages:
Col. John Stuelke with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said dispatchers received a landline call at around 7:10 p.m. for a report of a shooting and hostage situation on Toddville Road near the intersection with Feather Ridge Road.
Several cars from the sheriff’s office, as well as ambulances and fire trucks, responded to the scene. Stuelke said the response was appropriate given the reported severity of the call.
“When something like this occurs, we send out a large contingency of officers, not only from our agency but from other agencies,” Col. Stuelke said. “That’s why we sent as many units as we did, because we have to make sure that we have enough people to cover the residence before we attempt to make entry.”
Upon investigation, deputies discovered the report made to 911 was unfounded, which can be dangerous for both law enforcement and those inside the location of the reported disturbance.
“It puts our officers at risk when they’re running emergency to these calls and then we find out they’re not true,” Col. Stuelke said. “The people [inside the home] don’t know what’s going on, and all of the sudden you have a large contingency of law enforcement personnel showing up around their house.”
I had never heard of swatting until roughly two weeks ago. That's where you report false crimes of a serious nature via 911 at others' homes or work places. It's obviously very illegal. I would imagine that it will be easy to trace this particular hoax 911 call as it came from a landline phone.
