(March 13, 2024) — As the presidential election cycle heats up, doxing and swatting remain heightened concerns for election officials and law enforcement around the country. These threats of violence and intimidation are unacceptable and the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections (CSSE) firmly condemns them. Swatting, where false emergency calls are made to draw a heavily armed police – or “SWAT team” – response to a specific location, is dangerous and disruptive. CSSE has released updated swatting recommendations to address this practice.
Law enforcement plays a critical role in preventing and responding to swatting incidents. Swatting attempts to intimidate and silence targeted individuals, and poses a risk to the democratic process and public safety. CSSE has released updated recommendations for election officials and law enforcement to prepare for and help thwart swatting attempts:
- Ensure your elections office establishes a dialogue with your local police departments and sheriff’s office and that they designate someone as the election liaison.
- Provide the liaison with the names and physical home addresses of election officials and key or higher-level staff, specific locations of voting centers and counting facilities, and any other relevant election-related locations within your jurisdiction.
- Host a discussion with area law enforcement agencies to discuss issues such as bomb hoaxes and swatting calls and understand their concerns as well as their response protocols.
- Make sure local law enforcement and 9-1-1 centers are familiar with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Virtual Command Center, which serves as a clearinghouse for potential or suspected hoax bomb or swatting reports.
- Ask law enforcement if it’s possible to have a flag put into their computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) system to alert 9-1-1 staff and responding officers of the nature of those locations, with a specific note about concerns regarding swatting or other false reports.
- Provide police and 9-1-1 staff with 24-hour cell phone numbers for critical elections staff who can be reached in the event of possible false reports.
- Encourage local policing agencies and 9-1-1 centers to train on identifying swatting or other hoax calls and establishing procedures for appropriate responses to suspected hoax calls.
- Encourage local police to initiate a dialogue with federal authorities including the FBI and DHS on resources federal agencies maintain to identify signs of hoax reports, including utilizing the FBI’s Virtual Command Center (VCC) as a clearinghouse for information on potential or suspected hoax reports.
- Understand that sheltering in place is often preferred over evacuating your facility when unknown or unverified threats are received.
- Recognize that many times multiple hoax calls or threats are made almost simultaneously around a region or state. Work together to establish a statewide communications and information sharing plan for threats to elections officials and facilities. Consider bringing your State Office of Emergency Management, state or regional Intelligence Fusion Center, and Secretary of State’s Office into this discussion. You can greatly negate the impact of these incidents when you are able to quickly share information among elections officials statewide.
- If potential hoax callers learn your response plans, they will use that knowledge to try and defeat your procedures. Thoroughly train your staff on response procedures but keep them confidential.
To reach the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections or our Members, please e-mail csse@clyde.us.
