Police looking for caller behind 911 hoax
STAMFORD — Police say catching those who make hoax 911 calls, like the one that sent officers scrambling from all over the city to an active shooter call on Newfield Avenue Thursday afternoon, can be very difficult to do.
There are lots of ways to disguise where a call is coming from, and sometimes they can be traced to a different country, said Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin, who supervises the criminal investigation
“Whoever is responsible certainly put a lot of people’s lives in danger.” Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin
divisions in the Stamford Police Department. Throwaway cellphones, or “burners,” can be used, phones made with “spoofing” software are employed, or alarming 911 calls can be made over the internet, making them virtually untraceable.
Swatting, the practice of falsely reporting a crime in order to provoke a massive response, is a national problem and has drawn condemnation from many quarters, including the FBI.
“If they put some thought into covering their tracks, it can be very, very difficult to find them” Conklin said.
At 1:45 p.m. Thursday, a person called 911 dispatch to report that
he had just shot his mother in the chest. The caller said he was feeling suicidal, and might shoot any officer who responded to his location, which he identified as an address on Newfield Avenue. The man also said he booby trapped the property, wanted $30,000 and was waiting inside the garage of the home.
Dozens of officers converged on the address, including the Special Response Team, hostage negotiators and personnel from the K-9 and Bomb Squad units. Two hours later the SRT team members detonated a flashbang grenade and breached the home finding no one inside.
Acting Chief Tom Wuennemann said the police response was was complicated because the home was between Trinity Catholic High School, which was in session, and the Jewish Community Center.
By 3:45 p.m officers were clearing out and Newfield, which had been closed in both directions right after the call came in, was opened up to traffic.
Conklin would not comment on whether or not the department has any leads on the person who called in the hoax because he said the investigation is very much ongoing. He said investigators are looking into whether the man who made the call used the address because he knew it would cause added confusion, given its location.
“Whoever is responsible certainly put a lot of people’s lives in danger,” he said, adding that police are working “diligently” to find out who made the call.
Once a call like that comes in, officers have little choice as to what they must do next.
“This creates a vast draw on resources,” Conklin said. “The problem is, even if you have a gut feeling that the call is a hoax, you still have to dance the dance to bring it to a conclusion. There is no good way around it.”
Minutes after the call came in, Conklin was on the radio advising responding officers that the call could be fake.
Conklin said he was proud about how the patrol officers and teams responded to the call on Newfield.
“We are blessed to have these resources and they are very good at what they do,” he added.
He declined to speak further about what his officers are doing to find out who was responsible for the call.
“We don’t want to refine the skills of the people perpetrating situations like these,” he said.