Fake threats affected over 55K students, cost $1.3M in lost resources in Washington state

Washington schools got hit with 17 swatting incidents in just four days last week.

These fake threats of violence are meant to disrupt the school day, draw police resources away from other calls, cause unnecessary fear and trauma to students, and end with a lot of lost learning time. All of these things cost taxpayers money.

“As a parent, as a taxpayer, you’re paying a tutor to tutor a student in class if someone interrupts that and you evacuate or lockdown, you’re no longer providing that service,” said Don Beeler, CEO at TDR Technology Solutions.

To know how great the financial impact is on education, TDR, which runs School Access Manager (SAM), worked with schools across the country to develop a formula to know how much this costs everyone who pays taxes.

SAM counted 56 swatting incidents in the state of Washington last year. The ensuing lockdowns affected more than 57,553 students and cost $1,273,645.

“And they do it for profit, I think. You never can tell 100%, but based on what we’ve seen that’s happened in Washington, it appears that it’s a group out of West Africa,” said Beeler.

RELATED:School District to lay off dozens of teachers, staff due to budget shortfall

Beeler told KOMO News they're tracking three major groups that charge $50 to $75 per threat, even offering discounts for repeat and high-volume customers.

“It’s a business,” he said.

When calls originate from within the United States, Beeler said the FBI is very good at identifying suspects.

“If it’s someone in Africa, the chances of us arresting them are slim to none. I’m not saying it won’t ever happen, but if they’re in the US, they’re getting arrested it might take a few days. The FBI is very good at that,” said Beeler.

And it’s not just the cost to children and schools. There’s also the law enforcement presence that needs to be factored into these fake threats of violence.

“A rule of thumb is that a law enforcement response per person cost between $125 and $150 an hour. Depending on how many hours they were there, you could be looking at $50 to $ 100 grand just in law-enforcement response for that one incident. When these (fake threats) come in, if you’re law enforcement, it doesn’t matter what agency you’re with. You’re running to the school,” said Beeler.

“Since the pandemic, we’ve seen reports come out that quantify what this does to a student’s education, and it’s pretty dramatic. There was a 5% to 7% decrease in math and English scores due to lost instruction,” Beeler said, quoting a recent national survey.

RELATED: STEM program aims to inspire students in Seattle-area school districts

He said teachers, principals, superintendents, and even school board members, are in their positions to educate and protect students, but they don’t typically get trained on handling these types of situations. Neither do students.

“And when something like this happens, it is really, really difficult emotionally, even if it ends up being fake. It’s not normal to have 20 people running through school with guns drawn,” said Beeler.

KOMO News asked licensed social worker George Gonzalez about this. He is the Assistant Director at the Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center.

“The biggest mistake schools make is to do nothing,” he said. Gonzalez said it is important to create a safe space to say, "This happened. How are you feeling about it?"

Parents, he said, also need to keep the conversation going, though it may not always be direct. For instance, Gonzalez said some kids are not comfortable talking about their feelings, even with their parents. One approach that he said works is to ask the student how their friends are dealing with what happened.

Getting back to the cause of all this, Beeler told KOMO News that prevention is key. That, he said, includes educating students on the criminal side and the cost of these fake threats and to help dissuade them from ever attempting it.

On this note, KOMO News asked the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction what they’re doing to help schools statewide battle this. KOMO News was told they are about to publish new resources for schools. KOMO News will certainly update you with that information when it’s available.