A growing and dangerous trend of making a hoax call to incite SWAT deployment or other law enforcement response is called what?

• A. Red light cameras
• B. Retroactive investigation
• C. Blending
• D. Swatting

Answer: (D)

Swatting is the act of making a hoax emergency call to emergency services to trigger a tactical police response, such as a SWAT deployment, to a target’s location. The goal is to deceive responders into believing there is an imminent and dangerous situation, prompting a heavily armed arrival. This is dangerous because real officers could confront non-threatening people, potentially causing harm, property damage, and wasted resources. The other options don’t fit because red light cameras enforce traffic laws with automated photos, not hoax calls or police deployments; retroactive investigation refers to looking into events after they happen, not triggering an incident in real time; and blending describes concealing one’s identity or actions, not initiating a police response through deception.