Indiana House approves tougher swatting penalties INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hoax calls that lead to SWAT callouts could potentially land you in prison for up to two and a half years under a bill the Indiana House approved Tuesday afternoon. Under current law, false reports are a class B misdeme anor, punishable by up to six months in prison. A bill in the legislature bumps that up to a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail, and clarifies that false reports can include reports that lead to at least one law enforcement officer being dispatched. If it leads to a situation where a reasonable person might feel terrorized, frightened or intimidated, it’s a level 6 felony, punishable by 6 to 30 months in prison. Swatting incidents have targeted celebrities, public officials, and schools nationwide. According to statistics compiled by the Educator’s School Safety Network, schools alone logged at least 446 swatting incidents nationwide during the 2022-2023 school year, though that number dropped to 158 for the 2023-2024 school year. They’ve even happened here in Indiana. Whitestown and Greenfield suffered swatting incidents in July and December of 2019, respectively. Both cases led to criminal charges. Rep. Andrew Ireland, R-Indianapolis, who sponsored the bill in the House, said current laws clearly are not stopping people from making false calls reporting active shooters, bomb threats or the like. “Really, it puts lives at risk,” he said. “You have individuals that have a gun pointed at them. That’s not a place that anybody wants to be.” Ireland said under the bill, felony charges would typically result from situations where the original call itself was meant to terrorize the intended recipient, such as phoning in a bomb threat. Besides putting lives in danger, Ireland said swatting diverts resources away from real emergencies. The bill passed the House unanimously. It already passed the Senate but has to go back to that chamber because the House made some changes. Ireland said those involved minor tweaks to wording and he expects the Senate will accept them. ...read more read less