BETHLEHEM — After a week of increased police presence and anxiety in Bethlehem schools because of unfounded phone threats, Police Chief Gina Cocchiara announced on Tuesday that, in partnership with the FBI, her department has determined “there is no imminent threat to Bethlehem schools.”

The district had continued running classes last week, the second week of the new school year. None of the threats materialized and no arrests were made but absences increased as students became wary.

“These calls have the characteristics of a swatting hoax,” Cocchiara’s Tuesday statement said. “There is no evidence of a local connection, and our collaborative investigation with the FBI is now focused outside of the Capital Region.”

The term “swatting” was used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as early as 2008. The FBI  in February of that year wrote about “The New Phenomenon of ‘Swatting’,” detailing a group that had caused sports events and hotels to be evacuated because of fake bomb threats.

The FBI described swatting as “calling 9-1-1 and faking an emergency that draws a response from law enforcement — usually a SWAT team.”

A SWAT team is a Special Weapons And Tactics team called to high-risk situations.

The five swatters in the 2008 incidents were arrested by the FBI’s Dallas office, working with law-enforcement agencies in various parts of the country.

Kevin Kolbye, assistant special agent in charge of the Dallas office, when asked why the crime had been committed, said at the time, “Individuals did it for the bragging rights and ego, versus any monetary gain.”

“Basically, they did it because they could,” the FBI piece concluded.

In recent years, there have been several local swatting incidents.

In the fall of 2023, the Guilderland school district used a shelter-in-place one morning, keeping students stayed in their classrooms, while police investigated an emailed swatting threat that bombs had been placed in schools across the state.

In April 2023, several local schools as well as schools across the nation experienced a spat of swatting threats.

At that time, Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate’s majority leader, held a press conference in front of Troy High School, which had been swatted, calling for the FBI to comprehensively investigate swatting incidents at schools.

“This is not just a victimless crime,” said Schumer, adding of the petrified teachers and students, “The trauma does not go away.”

While swatting has been around for a while, Schumer said, it used to be rare but the week before police had to go to over 220 schools because of the false threats. “These recent attacks are unprecedented,” he said, noting a particular concentration in the Capital Region.

“We eventually can find out where the swatters are but there is no guarantee and perhaps not even a likelihood they are from the Capital Region, that they’re even from New York State, that they’re even from America, from the U.S.,” said Schumer.

Hence, he said, a federal approach should be used to crack the cases.

In May 2023, Guilderland Police charged a 14-year-old after a swatting incident at Crossgates Mall in which a fake emergency call of a shooting in a mall parking lot was made to the Guilderland Police. At that time, Westmere Elementary School, which is about 3 miles from Crossgates Mall, was placed in a brief lockout.

Cocchiara concluded her message on Tuesday, “It is our hope that the Bethlehem Community as a whole can start to return to a sense of normalcy.”

As she had said last Friday, Cocchiara stressed that the police continue to work diligently to find the person or persons responsible for the “dangerous and disturbing actions.” On Friday, she had said, “Threats of this nature are a felony and will not be tolerated.”