ST. GEORGE — Pranks and hoaxes committed on April Fool’s Day are nothing new. While they are often meant in good fun, other times they can be malicious and end up with people getting hurt or worse and the pranksters facing criminal penalties.

Monday saw a so-called prank – a swatting – target Hurricane High School. In two separate calls made to non-emergency police dispatch lines, someone reported there was an active shooter inside. However, the school was largely empty with the exception of a handful of students and staff since it was a teacher prep day.

Hurricane City Police and several other law enforcement agencies from across the county rushed to the school for what ultimately turned out to be a hoax.

“There is not any current threat to the public or students that attend Hurricane High School,” Hurricane City Police Officer Dan Raddatz said in a press release later that day.

So what are the penalties for calling in a false alarm like an active shooter or other serious emergency?

Current state law makes reporting a false alarm a third-degree felony for “alleging an ongoing act or event, or an imminent threat,” or if the false alarm “causes or threatens to cause bodily harm, serious bodily injury, or death to another person.”

Anyone who calls in a threat involving a weapon of mass destruction (like a bomb) can end up looking at a second-degree felony.

A third-degree felony can result in up to five years in prison and fines approaching $5,000, while a second-degree felony can result in a 1-15-year prison term and up to a $10,000 fine.

“These are some serious offenses,” St. George Police Lt. Joseph Hartman said as he spoke with St. George News about dealing with false alarm calls.

“We’ve actually charged this,” he said. “We’ve had some cases where they’ve called in false alarms. If we can track down who did it, we’ll charge them with it. It causes a huge inconvenience and puts a lot of people at risk.”

Calls like this can take resources and first responders away from responding to real incidents and create a risk for officers and people at the location where the incident is allegedly taking place.

One nationally known swatting incident occurred in December 2017 when police went to a home in Wichita, Kansas, and a man not connected to the people who triggered the swatting was shot and killed by police.

It eventually came to light that in actuality, the three people involved in the setup were in the midst of a dispute involving an online game. All three were arrested and prosecuted to various degrees, with the man making the actual call receiving a 20-year sentence in federal prison.

“If you call in an active shooter, we’re going to respond appropriately, but that could be dangerous to other people if they are completely unaware of what’s going on,” Hartman said.

Upon visiting Hurricane High School as police responded to the false call, Steven Dunham, the communications director for Washington County School District, told St. George News the law enforcement response was immense.

Not only were Hurricane City Police officers on scene, Dunham said he saw officers from St. George, Washington City, the Utah Highway Patrol, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, FBI, Utah Tech University and many other agencies respond to the incident.

Hurricane City Police later confirmed that other responders included Hurricane Valley Fire and Rescue, Springdale Police, Santa Clara-Ivins Police, Adult Probation and Parole, LaVerkin Police, Zion National Park and Utah State Park rangers, and the Department of Homeland Security.

“They were all there onsite, responding to the call,” he said. “We greatly appreciate that.”

Before Monday’s incident, Snow Canyon High School was the target of swatting last September. The person who called in a fake emergency to police was eventually identified as an out-of-state juvenile who was linked to an organized group that perpetrates swatting incidents across the county, St. George Police reported in January.

Online threats were also made against Hurricane High School and several Utah schools last September that also turned out to be hoaxes caused by a student in Texas.

“Swatting incidents are very frustrating wastes of time for our first responders,” Dunham said. “We are happy there are severe penalties in play.”

A few weeks after the fake active shooter call related to Snow Canyon High School, new threats targeting Intermountain Health facilities and the St. George Regional Airport were also determined to be fake. These calls were found to be connected to a widening trend of fake calls occurring across the country, Hartman said.

September’s swatting incident and hoaxes prompted a change to the Utah law recently passed by the Utah Legislature and was signed by Gov. Spencer Cox last month.

Starting May 1, people caught in Utah calling in threats or false emergencies targeting schools will be subject to a second-degree felony. Utah students caught doing the same will also be subject to suspension or expulsion from school.

Sen. Don Ispon, R-St. George was a co-sponsor of this bill.

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