Port Moody police investigating several ‘swatting’ calls, one targetting middle school

By

PORT MOODY (NEWS 1130) — A bomb threat at a Port Moody school Thursday was a case of ‘swatting’ according to police who say they’ve fielded a number of these fake calls in recent days.

Moody Middle School was locked down and evacuated after a man called police around 8:30 a.m., saying he had planted three pipe bombs in the building, and had more weapons in his car which was parked outside. After about an hour and a half of sesarching the premises along with K9 crews, police declared the school was safe.

Sgt. Ian Morrison, with the Port Moody Police Department, says this is the fourth call like this in the Port Moody in the last ten days, with at least one other being recorded by police in neighbouring Coquiltlam.

“They give an address and a description, a description of the place or they’ll supply a description of the suspect, and when police attend we discover that there’s no event of any kind taking place. Most of the time the people, if it’s a residence, are completely unaware that the police are outside, that there’s anything going on. It’s basically a hoax, it’s a hoax,” he explains, adding that the calls are often placed over the internet which makes them harder to trace.

“We do get them and we respond to them in an extremely serious manner. We don’t think for an instant that it’s a swatting call. We do treat them seriously until we can determine something different.”

The goal of these calls which generally target people and places at random is to create chaos, according to Morrison.

“This is just about mischief, and getting the police to have to respond in a big manner.”

Regardless, Morrison says he hopes the swift response from officers and the school to Thursday’s call shows parents and everyone else in the community how seriously threats to schools are taken.

“Safety comes first, especially the safety of children, when you get a phone call saying, this is happening at the school. For us, like any police agency, all hands are on deck, everybody drops what they’re doing, and off we go,” he says.

Morrison NOTES placing these calls is in itself a crime. In 2015, a teen from Coquitlam pleaded guilty to 23 counts in a swatting case that involved shutting down a Disneyland ride.

It’s too early for police to say whether the same person or people are responsible for all of the recent calls in the Tri-Cities, and the investigation is ongoing.

“For folks that make swatting phone calls — we’re looking, we’re looking for you.”

With files from Sonia Aslam

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today