Fake SWAT calls are scare tactic in White House race
THE state troopers sprang into action after receiving a call that a man had broken into the home of Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state.
The call came days after Ms Bellows had ruled that Donald Trump should be excluded from the 2024 presidential primary ballot.
After gaining access to the property, The officers began to search the house. But it soon became clear that they had been duped when, according to state police, they found nothing suspicious.
There was no intruder. Ms Bellows had become the latest victim of a phenomenon known as “swatting” in which armed police are called to a fake emergency.
The term is derived from the acronym for the elite Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams who hurtle to homes where it is feared lives are at risk.
Ms Bellows is one of dozens of people who have been swatted in recent months, as the tactic has emerged as the weapon of choice for those bearing a political grudge or seeking to intimidate.
Nikki Haley, the Republican presidential candidate, last week said she had been swatted twice, while Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-Right politcian says she has been swatted eight times.
Ms Bellows told The Telegraph: “It seems clear to me now that the swatting attempt as well as threatening and abusive communications that came in targeting not only me, but people around me, were designed to scare and to send a message not only to me but to others.”
By chance, Ms Bellows was away when the police turned up. She said the incident came after a wave of intimidation aimed at her and her staff.
Soon after the first threats came in, her home address was posted online, she said.
“Just because swatting is a fake emergency doesn’t make it any less dangerous,” she added. “Swatting is very dangerous because in certain circumstances, the consequences can be harmful, and even in some instances deadly.”
In 2017, Andrew Finch, 28, was mistakenly shot dead by a police officer who rushed to his home after responding to a report of a murder and hostage situation.
Swatting has been on the FBI’s radar since at least 2008, according to reports. But its popularity has exploded in recent years after several high-profile cases involving gamers and internet personalities.
An FBI report showed more than 500 swatting incidents nationwide since May, CBS news reported.
Amid a divisive election campaign, politicians and election officials are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs.
Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican congressman was swatted twice during his time on Capitol Hill.
“Twice in 2011, I was awakened by pounding on the door of my Washington, DC apartment.
“During the first of those incidents, no fewer than five officers stormed in, guns drawn, demanding that I tell them where “Tina” was, and if she was all right,” he wrote. “Police had closed off the entire street while a helicopter hovered overhead.”
Boston’s Democratic mayor, Michel Wu, found her house surrounded by police on Christmas Day after a man rang to say he had shot his wife and was holding her and another man hostage at the address. It was not the first swatting Ms Wu had experienced. “For better or worse, my family are a bit used to it by now,” she told a local radio station.
Other targets have included Jack Smith, the special counsel pursuing the former president and two judges: Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing one of the criminal trials linked to the 2020 election. and Arthur Engoron. who is presiding over Mr Trump’s civil fraud trial.
“Nowadays if someone feels they disagree with a person, they feel entitled to pursue them,” Lauren Shapiro, a professor at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice said. “Incidents are even being live-streamed.”