A 2023 report by the Ohio University Office of Emergency Management compared criminal activity on campus and in surrounding communities from the past three years. While its findings show that 2021 had the highest overall crime rate, it also found that 2022 held the highest crime rate in 10 of the 20 categories studied.
The study was completed in compliance with the Clery Act, which requires higher education institutions to record specific crime statistics and safety policies for public viewing and follows a trend of increasing violence across college campuses.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the 2020 school year saw just 3.44 reported crimes per 10,000 students. In 2022, that number is nearly 5. The newest type of crime on emergency management’s radar is swatting.
The FBI defines swatting as any call to 911 that fakes an emergency to draw a response from law enforcement.
According to Ohio University Police Department’s Community Engagement Officer Evan Wilkof, OU received four or five swatting calls last year alone. He says swatting includes a variety of emergencies like active shooters, biological agents, downed aircraft and bomb threats.
“Swatting calls are a relatively new type of crime that law enforcement is observing,” Wilkof said. “The majority of these calls do come from overseas, most notably from countries that do not have reciprocity for prosecution with the United States. It makes it incredibly difficult, even if we did locate, to successfully prosecute or to collaborate with their law enforcement agencies.”
Wilkof noted that swatting is considered a serious offense in Ohio. As law enforcement officers and members of the general public have been injured, the Ohio legislature has increased penalties for those found guilty of swatting.
“(It's a) felony of the fourth degree for anyone found guilty of swatting,” Wilkof said. “If serious harm to anyone occurs … it is a felony of the second degree. The severity of the criminal penalty has been enhanced because this has become such a problem.”
While Wilkof said he has not seen a significant rise in swatting calls during his time with the department, he says the OUPD works closely with OU’s Office of Emergency Management to prepare for incidents of campus violence they call active aggressors.
According to University Spokeswoman Samantha Pelham, OU has established a Critical Incident Response Team comprised of various leadership on campus, including University Communications and Marketing and OUPD.
“We come together quarterly, if not a little more often as well, just to discuss ways that we can make sure we're being more communicative,” Pelham said. “There's the operation side of it in which we work together to decide, ‘what is our plan going forward?’ and then the University Communications side of it is more so, ‘how do we communicate this?’”
Once the OUPD, in collaboration with the rest of the CIRT, has legitimized a threat, Pelham says UCM ensures students receive timely and accurate information to prepare for the situation.
“We actually have the Ohio Alerts Page and an Ohio Alerts messaging system that specifically works through to make sure that people are updated as soon as possible,” Pelham said. “We really encourage students to make sure that they've opted into those messaging alerts because that way they're going to receive the quickest information.”
While OU is Athens’ largest target, the campus is not the only place that receives swatting calls. According to Wilkof, locations such as highways and the Gordon K. Bush Ohio University Airport are also targeted. In those instances, Wilkof says OUPD shares jurisdiction with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Athens Police Department and the Athens County Sheriff's Office.
“With the rise of swatting calls, a lot of agencies, including federal agencies and the FBI, have kind of gotten together and said ‘we're going to release more of a comprehensive approach and recommendations on how to respond to these without sending the community into a panic because, again, that's really what these callers want to elicit,” Wilkof said.
Regardless, Wilkof says the OUPD responds to all swatting calls.
“Our department, I think, does a terrific job, as well as our partner agencies, of determining the degree of threat that a call has,” Wilkof said. “We don't want to be premature in causing any degree of panic, but we also have an obligation and a duty to inform the public.”
