GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones is taking a firm stance against false threats, known as swatting, after a series of incidents in the region caused several unnecessary evacuations.
On Tuesday afternoon, Bullis High School in Potomac, Maryland was evacuated over a bomb threat.
On August 18, shoppers at Montgomery Mall were also evacuated following a similar threat.
Both threats were deemed to be not credible, according to Montgomery County Police. And no arrests have been made as a result of the false threats.
Chief Jones says his department is investigating these two recent cases alongside the FBI.
"We believe that these two, could be connected to other incidents that have happened across the country," he told WUSA9.
Jones says all threats are taken seriously which means these false alarms are not only dangerous for his officers but a waste of the department's limited resources.
"Calling in these prank calls, then you possibly may cost someone else maybe their lives because they have a real 911 emergency," he added.
Some of the swatting calls are coming from out of state, but the police chief says others are coming in locally. The calls are made both to targeted places like schools and malls, but also called into the police department, according to Jones.
"If we would be so fortunate to discover who these people are we would definitely be pushing to persecute them to the fullest extent of the law," Jones said.
The Stafford County Sheriff's Office is investigating at least four swatting calls made the first week of school. The false threats prompted evacuations during morning and afternoon hours, according to authorities. No one has been arrested for these incidents.
As school is set to start in Montgomery County on Monday, Chief Jones has a warning for students. "Stop. If you want to go play games, go play a video game, do that, but don't play with people's lives," he said.
Jones says his team has had to have difficult conversations with students and parents following prank calls that have resulted in evacuations. "They didn't want to go to school that day. They wanted to get out of school early that day," he told WUSA9.
The chief says that considering the gravity of the false alarm, his agency is willing to recommend criminal consequences through the State Attorney's Office.
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