Swatting incidents are on the rise in public spaces such as schools, airports and grocery stores. Although hoaxes for crimes such as active shooter alerts have been happening for years, experts point to a rise in such incidents. What is swatting? Swatting refers to false reports of crimes such as bomb threats and active shooter alerts in public spaces like schools, grocery stores, office buildings and airports. They spark heavy law enforcement responses and panic among civilians.  Swatting started as a hoax among gamers in the 2000s, according to the Anti-Defamation League and as reported by USA Today . There’s not one isolated group conducting these types of hoaxes. Instances of swatting have been conducted by as many individual pranksters as online extremists. “It used to be someone would pull the fire alarm because they didn’t want to go to school. Now they swat the school,” Carla Hill, a senior director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League, told the news...