EXCLUSIVE: Volusia Sheriff echoes dangers of ‘Swatting’ for the Public and Law Enforcement

Volusia County, FL — Law Enforcement has seen an eye-opening increase in ‘Swatting’ calls.

The act of ‘Swatting’ is defined as, the act of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring a large number of police presence to a particular address.

In an exclusive interview with WDBO, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said, “You have to treat them (’Swatting’ calls) all, as if they are real, but you have to keep in the back in your mind as you’re responding, to make sure we don’t not respond in a way that’s gonna hurt or kill us or an innocent person.”

Like Sheriff Chitwood and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, many other departments have dealt with ‘Swatting.’

Sheriff Chitwood told a story about his parents being swatted at their home in Port Orange. “It’s a scary thought, to know my father, at 80 years old, retired law enforcement, hears pounding on the door at 2 a.m. and the first thing he does is grab his gun to see what’s going to happen,” Chitwood said, “Now, Port Orange PD did a fantastic job, they were able to contact my parents to let them know exactly what is outside of their house, to diffuse the situation.”

“These clowns that make these calls, they are hoping to see an innocent person get killed or law enforcement kill an innocent person or law enforcement get killed themselves,” Sheriff Chitwood said.

Sheriff Chitwood said the solution to combat ‘Swatting’ isn’t clear, as “they (swatters) have technology on their side.” Chitwood said the only hope law enforcement has to capture these “clowns,” is they make a mistake that contributes to their arrest.

You can listen to the full interview with Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood in the latest episode of the “Anez Sez” podcast:

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