Here is a story on the local news tonight. A new term to me. Someone needs a trip to the woodshed. Standish family decries hoax that drew armed police to their home The family was the victims of "swatting," a growing phenomenon in which fake emergency calls are made to bring a huge law enforcement response. Within minutes, Lent, his wife, Jeanine, and her mother were handcuffed and lying on the ground in front of their two-story homestead. Their children were brought out in tears as several dozen heavily armed officers surrounded their home, responding to what they thought was an active hostage situation. It soon became clear that the Lent family and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office were victims of “swatting,” the term for a hoax emergency call designed to draw a large law enforcement response that may include SWAT teams. And neither the family nor investigators know who did it. Officials have yet to determine whether the family was targeted or victims of a random hoax. The Lents say they do not know why someone would target them. Investigators are trying to figure out who made the call, triggering a response that likely will cost the department $8,000 to $10,000 in overtime and equipment. The sheriff’s office received the call around 8 p.m. Sunday from a man who said he had shot his girlfriend and was holding her parents hostage in a bathroom. The Standish town deputy was quickly dispatched to the home on Bonny Eagle Road, followed by backup deputies and officers from Gorham, York County Sheriff’s Office and State Police. But when the 40 officers, including a SWAT team, arrived at the house, the residents were fine and knew nothing about hostages or gunshots. “We figured out relatively quickly it was a case of swatting,” Sheriff Kevin Joyce said. “For a practical joke, it creates a lot of problems we just can’t tolerate. It’s not funny at all.” GROWING PHENOMENON The FBI first became aware of the phenomenon in 2008 and the agency now provides resources and guidance for local police departments dealing with the prank calls. An FBI spokesperson in New England said the agency has not been asked to help investigate any swatting calls in Maine. High-profile swatting calls on the West Coast have targeted celebrities, including Clint Eastwood, Justin Bieber and Ashton Kutcher. Many calls around the country have been directed toward video gamers who participate in live streams in front of large online audiences while they play. The Sunday incident was the second swatting case the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office has responded to in recent years. Joyce said his department sent deputies to a similar incident in Cumberland several years ago. In that case, the response was called off before a SWAT team arrived. Police in Rochester, New Hampshire, responded to a call Monday morning in which a man first said he had a hostage, then told police he had shot that person. After evacuating several homes and closing down Route 202 near the Maine state line, Rochester police determined the call was another swatting incident, likely made by someone from out of state, Capt. Paul Toussaint said. Joyce had not heard about the Rochester incident as of Monday afternoon, but said he would bring it to the attention of detectives investigating the Standish call. Christopher Carver, of the National Emergency Number Association, a national nonprofit that focuses on 911 policy issues, said such hoaxes are not new to public safety, but their complexity has increased in recent years as people use the Internet and online phone services like Skype to make anonymous calls that are difficult to trace. “People used to pull the fire call boxes on street corners just to get a thrill out of seeing the fire department respond,” he said. “Now (swatting) is happening once or twice a day nationwide on average, maybe sometimes a little more frequently.” No agencies or groups are tracking the number of swatting incidents nationally, according to Carver, who said that swatting incidents create a dilemma for law enforcement because dispatchers who answer emergency calls must take them all seriously and responding officers must work quickly and diligently to determine if the threat is real. “In most cases, these are done as pranks, but they’re terrible pranks in that you’re putting people’s lives in danger,” Joyce said. “Residents have police officers knocking on the door and tactical teams moving around their houses. It creates trauma for the residents and the kids involved.” ‘I HEARD NOTHING’ Jeanine Lent is still shocked that when her husband outside Sunday night he found police officers surrounding their house. “I guess (the police) had been calling for us, but we had the fans and the TV on,” she said Monday. “We had no idea what was going on. I heard nothing.” The 25-acre Lent homestead, named Horse Catcher Ranch, is tucked in the woods at the end of a 900-yard driveway off Route 25. The Lents, who recently moved to Maine from Alaska, run a horse boarding and training facility and raise chickens, horses and pigs with their children. The home is guarded by two tiny Chihuahuas. On Sunday, Ryan and Jeanine Lent were home with her mother, Jody Ingman, and five children ages 7 to 17, including a niece and nephew visiting from Alaska. Their 13-year-old son was at a friend’s house. After Ryan Lent stepped outside and encountered the police, all three adults in the house were handcuffed for 45 minutes as officers searched their property and brought the kids out of the house. At one point, officers brought Jeanine Lent, still handcuffed, back inside to get her 16-year-old son, who has autism and was asleep in his bedroom. “My first instinct was to get the kids, but they hold me not to move,” said Ingman, her eyes filling with tears as she described the scene. “The kids were bawling. I couldn’t even grab them and hug them.” For the next two and a half hours, the Lents stayed with police at the end of the driveway. They say officers had them listen to a recording of the police call, but they did not recognize the caller’s voice. Officers took their teenage son’s PlayStation and cell phone as part of the investigation, though the Lents say their son was not involved. The person who called sounded like a teenage boy and dialed the department’s business line instead of 911, Jeanine Lent said. “It didn’t sound like a hoax or a lie. It was creepy. I can see why the cops took it so seriously,” she said. “I never in a million years thought we’d be a victim of it.” Ryan Lent is grateful no one was injured during the incident or because officers were tied up responding to the hoax. He said the responding officers were kind and apologetic, and he feels they responded appropriately to what could have been a serious situation. “How would you like to pull up to this long driveway with a possible murder and a guy saying he’s going to get the cops?” he said. “It takes a lot of guts to pull up to a house to respond to that.” The family decided to talk publicly about what happened because they are worried about copycat incidents, Jeanine Lent said. “Our hope is kids will see this isn’t funny. It wastes a lot of resources and effects a lot of people,” she said. “It’s scary and it’s serious.”
Saw that on the news tonight Larry. Gotta wonder (not really) how that might have turned out if the homeowner, upon seeing men with guns working their way toward his house, had gone inside and popped out with his 12 gauge. All because of a hoax. Scary chit...
yes indeed, I wondered how I would have reacted. I can't get on the ground without falling down. I don't own a gun. I do live in on a dead end just because I want to stall out of the main stream. This could easily have been you or me. It is just sick. I'm glad no one is reported to have been injured. I don't think I would be sleeping well after that. I don't think that two little dogs are the way to go when you live way off the road. Maybe two or three Rottweiler's would be the way to go in that situation.
Yes, that's been a problem for a while now, unfortunately. That and other stupid things technology allows undisciplined kids to do.
They need something to do. How in heck will they ever learn to value, respect, and responsibility if they only have to feed their face at someone else's expense.
This has been a thing for a while. A lot of Xbox kids using it to "win" games by swatting their opponent.
2 things that bored young boys seem to like to do... knock over old cemetery stones... ... and call in hoaxes like bomb threats and now reporting fake gun violence to get the cops involved. While it never seems to happen... I say ... make the kids work in the cemeteries repairing all of the damage they've done, then finish out the mowing season on the end of a heavy push mower... and, repay every dime of the cost of police teams called out on hoaxes, and then wash police cars for at least a couple months, every day, rain or shine... I know, I know... not gonna happen.
They won't. As boomers retire, gen x'ers such as myself will be the only ones working. The gen y kids will be sextortioning themselves, swatting people, and wondering why they have no skills outside of video games and computer programs.
my nephew (on the wife's side) got caught tipping cemetery stones. His punishment was digging graves! Today, he is a responsible man working as a merchant marine.
All reverts back to parents who cannot or will not do their job as parents......................Sad part is that the LEO's are put in a damm'd if you do and damm'd if you don't situation. As I have read, this stupidity started out in California and was being foisted on celebrities out there................Sure is a stupid way for someone to get their "jollies". Ain't technology wonderful??????
I must live under a rock. Fist time I have come across this. I would say I would be better under my rock, but that didn't help the family that got swatted. Maybe that is why they took the game box the kid in the home had. 8 to 10 grand in overtime for the cost of this swat. That cost somehow should go back to those responsible, except how in heck do you collect form a kid who has nothing.
The good news is that our "esteemed" senator F U Schumer had a press conference today to announce proposed legislation to increase the sentences for perps convicted of Swatting.
