COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new bill in the Ohio Senate would criminalize "swatting," which is when an individual calls emergency services and falsely reports a serious crime, such as a hostage situation, active shooter or bomb threat. This hoax has the goal of sending a large police presence, or a SWAT team, to approach an unsuspecting victim.

Calling 911 should not be taken lightly, but law enforcement reported that the "prank" is causing traumatic and sometimes deadly incidences.

Numerous cases in Cleveland have popped up during the pandemic, with a previous News 5 investigation finding swatting incidences in Medina and Bay Village — but those are only two of the numerous examples across the state.

Some alleged offenders have lived in Ohio and caused them in other areas.

A man in Wichita, Kansas, died in 2019 after being swatted by someone in Ohio, according to the Department of Justice. A Medina teenager was allegedly involved in sending police to the home of the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, who lives in LA, according to Medina police.

Swatting victim, BLM co-founder speaks about being targeted multiple times

RELATED: Swatting victim, BLM co-founder speaks about being targeted multiple times

"It is usually younger gamers, online people who use technology to prank 911 and send a heavy-armed response to a scenario that is not needed," said Jason Pappas, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio (FOP).

Pappas has seen an increase in swatting calls since the pandemic began. Many of the cases he has seen revolve around technology, specifically gaming.

"They'll call from Ohio and say, 'Hey, in California, we were with this other person online — this is where they live and this is what's happening. They're being held hostage, there's lots of guns, there's drugs,'" he added. "When you get a situation like that, as law enforcement, obviously you send out your SWAT teams or a large presence, lots of officers, and hence the name swatting."

The individuals who do this, typically adolescents or 20-year-olds, in Pappas' experience, may think that it is "funny."

But it isn't funny to the person being swatted or the law enforcement showing up to what they think is a life-or-death situation, he said.

"They show up thinking that there's this very terrible hostage situation with guns and then it turns out not to be true, which obviously can have all kinds of negative consequences for both the officers and the people who have been swatted," Pappas added.

Not that the "prank" had never occurred before technology was widely available, but it has been increasing for a few years. Pappas said he hasn't heard of many cases recently, but he knows it is still an issue.

"During COVID, when a lot of kids were playing online a lot and they weren't in school, there seemed to be a little more of an uptick," he said.

Because of how relatively new this phenomenon is, there isn't actually a crime specifically designated for the act.

"Typically, the only recourse we would have would be to charge somebody with misuse of 911," he said. "The technology has outpaced the law, it appears."

State Sen. Andrew Brenner, a Republican from Delaware, wants to catch the Ohio Revised Code up.

"Senate Bill 292 will provide another tool in the toolbox for prosecutors to address this serious disregard for safety and resources," the lawmaker said in his sponsor testimony in March 2022.

Although he did not comment Friday about the bill, the Republican referenced incidences in his community where two cases happened within one month of the other.

"The legislation before you was introduced at the request of the Attorney General and as companion legislation to House Bill 462," he said.

House Rep. Kevin Miller, a Republican from Newark, introduced the original bill with former Rep. Rick Carfagna, who left his seat as a Republican from Genoa Township to become the vice president of government affairs at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Miller was busy Friday, but talked about how the gaming community — specifically live streamers — have made it popular.

"Perpetrators can watch their pranks unfold in real-time on computer webcams as officers burst into residences demanding victims to get on the ground and/or put their hands in the air," Miller said during testimony in April of 2022. "House Bill 462 aims to deter and appropriately punish those who choose to engage in this outrageous behavior."

Twitch streamers like LosPollosTV, Summit1G and Koota are among the many gamers who have been swatted during livestreams.

The companion bills, which are nearly identical, would make swatting a third-degree felony. If someone is hurt in a prank call, then it could become a first-degree felony. The bills would also allow a court to order the offender to reimburse the law enforcement response.

"Presently, the only applicable charges to these situations would be making false alarms, inducing panic, menacing or harassment, but they are all misdemeanor offenses," Miller added in his testimony.

Pappas and his organization haven’t decided on their stance on the bill, since it is so new, but they are interested in working with the Legislature to make sure the bill sends the right message, he said.

"Once the information is out and they know that it's much, much more serious and is likely to have serious consequences, I think it would put a stop to a lot of it," Pappas added.

As of right now, there are no outspoken opponents to this bill, but testimony will be heard at hearings in both the Senate and the House in the future.

"Swatting is not cool," Pappas advised to those who think the hoax is funny. "Swatting is a very dangerous activity and we highly encourage you not to participate in that kind of activity, whether it's online or in-person. Do not abuse the 911 system or you will be punished."

One Kentucky lawmaker also plans to introduce a bill making swatting a felony in the commonwealth. A Georgetown couple victimized by a March swatting incident said they both felt "assaulted" the night Scott County sheriff's deputies stormed their home in what turned out to be a false report of a homicide

Follow statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

DENVER — Oftentimes, hoax perpetrators are seeking attention and reaction from the community, and we don’t want to help them in that pursuit. We also don’t want to encourage copycat hoaxes.

However, as at least 14 Colorado schools received “swatting” calls Wednesday, specialists point to a growing trend we believe you should be aware of.

Swatting is the act of calling first responders with a fake emergency to coax them into sending a significant police presence to a specific address

Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, says he’s been tracking a “spate of school swatting threats that has gone on for months” across the United States. He says many previous mass swatting events have been traced to actors from foreign countries.

“Swatting threats typically cross multiple school districts, multiple communities, oftentimes multiple states and originate internationally,” Trump said. “They create anxiety, fear, uncertainty about school safety, drain local first responders from other needs out in the broader community, and can extend over a period of time while the investigation goes on — oftentimes for weeks or sometimes months.”

While it is, at this point, unclear if the multiple threats to Colorado schools were coordinated, Trump says these bad actors often have the specific goal of creating chaos, confusion and fear.

“These threats typically turn out to be unfounded, not credible, but every threat needs to be treated seriously [and] investigated thoroughly,” Trump said. “There’s not only a massive drain of law enforcement resources, but also swatting fatigue and fatigue by school districts: the risk of school communities not taking threats seriously, becoming complacent, and not treating each one seriously when there could be one possible threat that turns out to be credible.”

Sergeant Ryan Scheevel with the Boulder Police Department says he was impressed by the response of students and staff at Boulder High School Wednesday morning. The entire school’s lockdown procedure made law enforcement’s job of evacuating and sweeping the school for the potential threat much easier.

“It was very obvious that they had trained for that,” Scheevel said. “I would implore all schools, employers, anything like that to have a plan in place.”

Scheevel was just a couple hours into his shift Wednesday morning when he heard a weapons tone over his radio, and dispatchers relaying reports of a possible active shooter at Boulder High School. He and his fellow officers quickly realized the threat was likely a hoax, both through conversations with school administrators and messages from dispatch of other fake threats being called in across the state. Still, they had to push forward, per protocol, to ensure it was, in fact, a false alarm.

“We went and had them go into lockdown, and then started going [on] a systematic search of the school, hoping that we weren’t going to find anything, but planning that if we [did] find something — whether it’s a suspect or a victim or somebody’s injured — that we have the resources and a plan in place to deal with that,” Scheevel said.

Even after the all-clear, Scheevel and his fellow officers had to rely on their training and support from one another to process the other great cost of swatting threats: the emotional drain it puts on our law enforcement, teachers, and students.

“Two of my kids are school age, so anytime we get a call at a school, it definitely heightens your sense of what’s going on there,” he said. “When you’ve removed yourself from you that situation, you really think about like, 'That could have been my kids in there.’”

This article was written by Rob Harris for Scripps News Denver.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a public service announcement Tuesday warning users of smart home devices of being hacked for "swatting" incidents.

In the PSA, the FBI asked users to use "complex and unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication" to protect against the attacks after they were notified of hackers using stolen email passwords to access them.

"Offenders have been using victims’ smart devices, including video and audio capable home surveillance devices, to carry out swatting attacks," the PSA read. "To gain access to smart devices, offenders are likely taking advantage of customers who re-use their email passwords for their smart devices. The offenders use stolen email passwords to log into the smart device and hijack features, including the live-stream camera and device speakers."

According to the FBI, swatting is when a hoax call is made to 911 to report an immediate threat to human life that leads to a response from law enforcement and the S.W.A.T. team.

The FBI said these incidents are motivated by revenge or a prank.

"They then call emergency services to report a crime at the victims’ residence," the PSA stated. "As law enforcement responds to the residence, the offender watches the live stream footage and engages with the responding police through the camera and speakers. In some cases, the offender also live streams the incident on shared online community platforms."

The FBI also advised users not to duplicate passwords between different online accounts to protect themselves better.

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Georgetown couple victimized by a March "swatting" incident told us they both felt "assaulted" the night Scott County sheriff's deputies stormed their home in what turned out to be a false report of a homicide. LEX 18 obtained the dramatic security video of when the victims were ordered out of the home with their hands in the air.

MORE: Law enforcement on growing push to make "swatting" a felony in Kentucky

The husband and wife spoke out because they believe "swatting" should be a felony offense due to the anxiety, fear, and stress it caused them. Currently, there is no law on "swatting" in Kentucky. Scott County Sheriff Tony Hampton says right now the crime would be considered as falsely reporting an incident, which is a misdemeanor.

The victims' story caught the attention of State Representative Phillip Pratt of the 62nd district.

"You could just hear it in their voices and as they walked out, they were scared to death," said Pratt who viewed the security video and listened to the couples' interview in our story.

"I'll be honest after watching that video I already contacted my staff, and we are reaching out to the judiciary committee. I want to draft a bill that makes 'swatting' a felony here in Kentucky because it could have turned out much worse," said Pratt Thursday.

Pratt plans to introduce a bill the first chance he gets, at the 2022 session of the General Assembly. "I see this being a very good bipartisan bill that I can't imagine anyone not voting for," said Pratt.

"This shook those people to the core and it's something we need to take very seriously, and we need to put some bite into the law to stop people from doing this."

This story was originally published by LEX 18.