One aspect of this that I haven't seen addressed yet, is the role the 911 dispatchers play. I'm not sure what (if any) training they receive today specific to detecting SWAT'ing instances, but it seems likely that there are steps dispatchers could take to try and help separate pranks from real incidents, and - in turn - relay that to the responding officers who can mediate their response based on that.
Disclaimer: I am a former 911 dispatcher myself, but I've been away from that world for 25 years or so, so my knowledge of training standards, procedures, technology, etc. used in a modern 911 center is pretty thin.
That said... there should be some red flags to a dispatcher that call might be of questionable veracity. One would, to my mind, simply be if the call is received from a much different geographic region than where the incident is reported as happening. For direct calls to 911 the callers location is generally shown, although not with super high precision in the case of cell-phones. If somebody wants to call a 911 center that isn't "their" PSAP, they can call the 10 digit number for the center (if they know it. I guess these can probably be found online). I think you will also get location information on the admin line, but don't quote me on that. Additionally, the dispatcher can tell if you called 911 or "the admin line" - and a member of the public calling in on the admin line should probably raise a least a hint of suspicion.
A call being relayed / bounced to your center through multiple other agencies is also something that might indicate that the caller is not physically present and may not have the full picture.
There are probing questions that could be used to help validate the call. "Did you hear/see these events yourself?" "Where were you when you say/hear them?" "How old are you?" "What's your name?" Some of these are, in fact, questions a 911 dispatcher would ask anyway, not specific to SWAT'ing. What I'd be curious to know, is are there more specific ways to probe to detect a likely SWAT'ing event.
If there is a report of gunfire or something, a dispatcher would also typically notice if they only get one call, and no additional confirming calls. While it is possible, especially in a rural area, to only get one call on something like that, reports of gunshots would often-times come from multiple sources. So if the incident is reported as being in a busy/urban area, but there is only one call, that could be an indicator that things aren't kosher.
Anyway... just some stream of consciousness stuff here that occurred to me. Not sure if anybody has looked deeply into this aspect yet, or is working on it. If not, maybe somebody should be.
Edit: looks like this has gotten at least some attention within the public safety communications world:
Disclaimer: I am a former 911 dispatcher myself, but I've been away from that world for 25 years or so, so my knowledge of training standards, procedures, technology, etc. used in a modern 911 center is pretty thin.
That said... there should be some red flags to a dispatcher that call might be of questionable veracity. One would, to my mind, simply be if the call is received from a much different geographic region than where the incident is reported as happening. For direct calls to 911 the callers location is generally shown, although not with super high precision in the case of cell-phones. If somebody wants to call a 911 center that isn't "their" PSAP, they can call the 10 digit number for the center (if they know it. I guess these can probably be found online). I think you will also get location information on the admin line, but don't quote me on that. Additionally, the dispatcher can tell if you called 911 or "the admin line" - and a member of the public calling in on the admin line should probably raise a least a hint of suspicion.
A call being relayed / bounced to your center through multiple other agencies is also something that might indicate that the caller is not physically present and may not have the full picture.
There are probing questions that could be used to help validate the call. "Did you hear/see these events yourself?" "Where were you when you say/hear them?" "How old are you?" "What's your name?" Some of these are, in fact, questions a 911 dispatcher would ask anyway, not specific to SWAT'ing. What I'd be curious to know, is are there more specific ways to probe to detect a likely SWAT'ing event.
If there is a report of gunfire or something, a dispatcher would also typically notice if they only get one call, and no additional confirming calls. While it is possible, especially in a rural area, to only get one call on something like that, reports of gunshots would often-times come from multiple sources. So if the incident is reported as being in a busy/urban area, but there is only one call, that could be an indicator that things aren't kosher.
Anyway... just some stream of consciousness stuff here that occurred to me. Not sure if anybody has looked deeply into this aspect yet, or is working on it. If not, maybe somebody should be.
Edit: looks like this has gotten at least some attention within the public safety communications world:
https://www.ems1.com/tactical-ems/articles/swatting-guidance...
https://www.911.gov/pdf/National_911_Program_State_of_911_We...