NORTH TEXAS (WBAP/KLIF News) – A billboard campaign is launching this week in Texas to warn about the consequences of making hoax threats.
It’s called “#ThinkBeforeYouPost” and the movement is in response to a disturbing trend that is being reported by police departments across the country.
The campaign was started back in May…the same month eight students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Sante Fe High School just south of Houston.
Many in law enforcement have reported an increase in hoax threats to schools and other public places in the wake of mass shootings like Sante Fe.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office’s Tim Navarre detailed one of the many phony call his department has received.
“The caller pretended to be part of a terrorist network that places multiple explosive devices within a high school. He stayed on the phone with a 9-1-1 operator for more than an hour and gave specific details,” he said.
Assistant Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said the FBI and local authorities don’t take hoaxes lightly.
“Just this month we’ve investigated several online threats against schools. Each one requires significant manpower hours and significant costs. We in law enforcement can not take the chance and neither can the schools involved,” he said.
Both Satterwhite and Navarre want Texans to remember that anyone caught making hoax threats can face criminal charges.
Back in February, teenagers from Arlington and Krum were arrested for making threats, online or verbal, to their schools. The three Arlington students were charged with a third-degree felony of Terroristic Threat.
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