Police, School address swatting call that forced hard lockdown.
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Police, School address swatting call that forced hard lockdown
While the investigation surrounding the apparent “swatting call” that caused a lockdown at Sandburg High School on Friday, February 10, is still ongoing, the Orland Park Police Department and Consolidated High School District 230 collaborated and debriefed in an effort to refine their procedures and communication.
Swatting is a fake, malicious call making false reports of a crime to elicit a large-scale law enforcement, or SWAT team, response. Earlier this week, similar instances of swatting calls were made locally to Wheaton North High School and nationally to several schools in Colorado.
On February 10, students and staff at Sandburg High School went into a lockdown at approximately 1:40 p.m. after Orland Park Police received a call from someone claiming two students intended to do harm to the school.
Within minutes the on-site School Resource Officer and nearly two dozen officers were deployed inside the school, according to Orland Park Police Commander Ken Rosinski. “Our teams advanced throughout the campus, while other officers were investigating the phone call, and found no evidence of any threat,” he said.
The school moved to a soft lockdown as officers swept the campus and students were released at 3 p.m., as usual. Police confirmed the campus was safe and secure, and the threat was unsubstantiated. The entire event lasted approximately 45 minutes.
Investigators traced the call to a discarded or lost phone, which registered to a cell tower on the outskirts of the district. Neither the phone nor the call appear to be connected to the school in any way. In the meantime, Rosinski said we must respond appropriately to these threats because every second counts in a real emergency. “These threats are a crime and will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.
Following the incident, the school utilized its late start schedule to provide students and staff time to process the event through staff meetings and an advisory period to start the school day. Additional police presence was on-site at the start of the following school day, therapy dogs were on hand for students and staff, and counselors and social workers were also available throughout the day to provide guidance and support.
Sandburg Principal Dr. Derrick Smith said, “I remain thankful for and proud of how our school community rallied over this incident. We’ve received positive feedback and praise for the supportive spaces and opportunities staff created throughout the day following the lockdown.”
Transparency and communication were key between the school and law enforcement agencies, allowing parents to be kept up-to-date with as accurate information as possible. Principal Smith added, “While there is no cookie-cutter response to any emergency, we continue to take every precaution possible and prepare as best we can. The cooperation and collaboration between the school and police department were laser-focused on safety for our students and staff, and I do not take lightly the trust our parents have put in us to maintain a safe learning environment.”
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