On a single day in December 2021, Utah’s SafeUT crisis and safety tipline received more than 100 tips about rumored school threats circulating on social media. That same month two years later, school employees throughout Utah were spammed with counterfeit emails threatening violence. On March 29, 2023, a high school in Ogden was swarmed by armed police officers responding to computer-generated 911 reports of shooters on the campus.
All of these threats were hoaxes. None were verified, despite being thoroughly investigated by police, tying up law enforcement resources and causing needless fear in school communities, at great cost to taxpayers.
And, while the intent behind them is unclear, what’s clear now is these types of threats carry heavy penalties under the law.
House Bill 14, approved during Utah’s 2024 General Legislative Session, imposed harsher penalties on adults and students alike who make threats against schools or falsely report emergencies, from hoax bomb threats to prank 911 active-shooter calls known as “swatting.” Anyone 18 years of age or older behind school threats can be charged with a second-degree felony, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. Students responsible for threats will be suspended or expelled from school.
Some hoax threats are even prosecuted as federal crimes, depending on the severity.
“Threatening school safety is never a joke. We take each threat seriously and investigate it to determine its credibility,” says Canyons District Risk Manager Ryan Jakeman. “What some students might think is an innocent prank can be very costly in terms of instruction-time lost and all the law enforcement personnel who have to respond.”
Canyons District encourages parents to talk to their children about the risk of making threats against a school, a school employee or another student — even something as seemingly harmless as scribbling something on the bathroom wall.
The District also advises against sharing threats on social media, and urges anyone who sees something unsafe to say something by reporting it through the anonymous crisis and safety tipline SafeUT. To date, there are more than 885,000 parents, students, and other SafeUT app users who, between July 2022 and June 2023, reported 9,204 assorted tips.
The problem with sharing tips in public forums, such as Facebook or Instagram, is that it lends credibility to false threats and stirs panic in school communities, Jakeman says. “The hoax threats we are encountering today are not as simple as pulling a fire alarm. There’s nothing that strikes more fear in the heart of a parent than to hear their child may be in danger. We are always going to take these threats seriously. But when a school threat turns out to be a hoax, we are diverting police from other priorities.”
Erring on the side of precaution, Canyons has well-established protocols in place for directly and immediately notifying parents of emergencies in as clear and transparent a way as possible – even unverified threats.
“We do this to, not to cause unnecessary alarm but to keep everyone informed. Parents deserve to know about the safety and whereabouts of their children, and keeping everyone informed helps all of us keep cooler heads in a true crisis,” Jakeman says.
Everyone has a role in school safety and Canyons encourages families to familiarize themselves with the steps taken to maintain schools that are welcoming, secure, and prepared. Information about CSD’s safety protocols, including tips for promoting good digital citizenship in the home, can be found at canyondistrict.org/safe-schools.
“We are always pushing; we are always looking to improve. We’re not just sitting back and accepting the old status quo. We’re always doing things to improve and be proactive when it comes to the safety of our students,” Jakeman says. “So it’s a good idea for families to check this resource page each year and discuss it with their students.”
