Minnesota lawmakers are considering increasing the penalties for “swatting,” which is when a person reports a fake emergency in order to get police, first responders and even swat teams to show up at a specific location.
Swatting is oftentimes performed as a “prank” or in order to harass an individual. And while it is clearly a waste of resources, the act can easily turn deadly. The swatted individual has no idea that police or a swat team is descending on their residence, and law enforcement are only acting on a tip, so they may believe that the person is armed or dangerous. This can make for a violent confrontation and a tragic ending.
Swatting Penalties
Currently, the person who calls in the fake swatting complaint can only be charged with a felony if the phone call results in serious injury. The call itself is only a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and fines up to $3,000. House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, has introduced legislation that would make the call itself felony-level offense if the victim is an elected official, judge, correctional facility worker, peace officer or prosecutor.
“It puts those first responders at risk. It puts anyone that may be in that home at risk,” said Demuth during recent testimony during a state House committee.”We also know that swatting would divert our first responders, our law enforcement and emergency personnel away from what could be a true incident so we want to increase this—but it will be very narrowly focused.”
If convicted under the new proposal, an individual could face up to a year in prison and fines up to $5,000. Those penalties increase to $20,000 and up to 10 years in jail if the swatting incident results in serious bodily harm.
“A lot of people think these are just pranks and they’re fun but it really isn’t,” said Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry in an interview with WCCO. “They can be very dangerous, very deadly and can have lasting impacts on that victim as well.”
Back in 2017, a man in Kansas was shot and killed during a swatting incident. The person who made the swatting call was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2019.
Starry supports the proposal, saying that he hopes the harsher penalties will act as a deterrence.
“I think sometimes just the fear of having a tougher law where they can go to prison may stop a person from doing it,” said Starry.
We’ll keep tabs on the proposal as it makes its way towards the governor’s desk, but in the meantime, if you need assistance with a criminal matter, reach out to the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
