Editor’s note: This press conference is available at the bottom of this page.
BROCKPORT, N.Y. (WROC) — After false phone call threats statewide and in Monroe County these past couple of weeks, a plan is being put in place to stop these attacks on school districts.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer was in Brockport Wednesday to propose a plan of a full investigation into swatting calls that have impacted Rochester, as well as statewide.
Schumer announced a three-point plan involving the FBI. The first part of the plan includes the FBI utilizing their resources to launch a full investigation into these calls.
“Without the help of the Federal Government, it’s going to be much harder to put an end to this once and for all,” Schumer said.
The second part of the plan involves supercharging the FBI to request $10 million in their budget to be used solely to target swatting. Schumer says the money will be able to be used for purchasing machinery, use cybersecurity, and social media to find who has made these calls, and bring them to justice.
The third part of Schumer’s three-point plan is for the FBI to start tracking the crimes. Schumer is calling on the FBI to issue a full report on how these instances occur.
“They don’t do it now,” Schumer said. “You can track a crime, you can find out what’s happened.”
On March 30, according to Schumer’s office, 36 false reports of mass shooting incidents caused New York State Police to respond to 226 schools statewide.
Schumer spoke alongside school and law enforcement officials such as Brockport Superintendent Sean Bruno, Monroe County Undersheriff Korey K Brown, and NYSUT representative Andrew Jordan.
“This should be a sacred part of our society,” said Superintendent Bruno. “Not just in Brockport. Not just our state, and not just our country but throughout the world.”
The Senator also announced resources for students who may be struggling with trauma.
“The bipartisan Safer Communities Act which I put together, it’s bipartisan, has money for programs called Stop School Violence and one billion of that goes to school based mental health service grants,” Senator Schumer said.
Both the mental resources and FBI investigation are elements Superintendent Bruno says will help tremendously.
“This is traumatizing. It’s traumatizing for our students, for our teachers, for the parents, and everyone else,” Senator Schumer said. “Imagine the horror when a parent hears there might be an active shooter in the school. Imagine the horror of the students. It’s traumatizing and even though it soon discovered to be a false alarm. The trauma doesn’t go away.”
That day, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received a false report regarding shots fired at Brockport High School. MCSO investigated the situation and worked with the school to determine no one was in danger.
Later that same day, Brighton High School went into a ‘shelter in place’ after law enforcement informed the district of a threat pertaining to an active shooter — which was later confirmed to be not credible.
On March 31, New York Governor Kathy Hochul spoke on the swatting incidents alongside police and the Department of Education.
“Very often and probably in this case, they are foreign actors. These are computer generated calls originating in a foreign land trying to cause disruption,” Governor Hochul said. “This is different than a criminal in our communities which is easier to identify, comprehend and prosecute. That is the challenge we face.”
On March 22, the Hilton Central School District evacuated students after a threat of pipe bombs underneath several locations within the district. There were no injuries or devices found by MCSO.
These threats continued within the district for two school days following the first threat.
