美国国家公共电台 NPR--For Maine schools impacted by 'swatting,' the fear lasts despite the fake threats

For Maine schools impacted by 'swatting,' the fear lasts despite the fake threats

Transcript¹

Schools across the country are being bombarded with false reports of shooters and other types of violence. These "swatting" hoaxes³ can have lasting⁴ consequences for local police and communities.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some schools around the country face false reports of violence. Ten schools were targeted on the same day last month in Maine. These incidents, known as swatting, seem intended to draw an armed police response. And the fake threats bring real fear. Maine Public's Nicole Ogrysko reports.

NICOLE OGRYSKO, BYLINE⁵: Nov. 15 started like any other day for Kristen DeForge until she got a text that morning from her daughter Jenna, who was inside Sanford High School and Regional Technical Center.

KRISTEN DEFORGE: Jenna said, Mom, there's a shooter in the high school, and I'm locked in my classroom. And I think I went into panic mode.

OGRYSKO: Nearly a dozen nearby towns and federal agencies responded to the scene. Three air ambulances were on standby. Major hospitals closed their emergency rooms, preparing for the worst. Just 35 miles away, dispatchers received a similar call about an apparent active shooter at Portland High School. The school went into lockdown. Special education teacher Michael Brown says he couldn't quite hear the announcement but knew something was wrong.

MICHAEL BROWN: A few of my advisory⁶ students were sprinting⁷ down the hall with such a stressful look on their face - and fear, and other teachers had come down from the first floor, where they had witnessed the police come into the building, and were just pushing kids into classrooms. And I knew right then it was serious.

OGRYSKO: More than 35 police officers swept the school, entering each classroom. Senior Eliza Stein was ushered⁸ into an unfamiliar⁹ office with a few others. She says they were checking social media posts on their phones and soon realized that Portland wasn't the only school that had been locked down.

ELIZA STEIN: Pretty quick, we figured out how to download the police app, and we were listening to the police radio. We were listening to the one in Sanford, like, in live time, and we were all just, like, silent.

OGRYSKO: But there was no shooter in Portland, Sanford or any of the eight other schools in Maine that received similar calls that morning. So far this school year, there have been at least 240 false reports of violence in schools around the country. Amy Klinger of the Educator's School Safety Network tracks those incidents and says that's a nearly 600% increase in the last four years.

AMY KLINGER: You can create chaos¹⁰. You can undermine the institution. You can make people not trust the school, not want to send their kids to school, be afraid. I mean, people do it because it works. It clearly works.

OGRYSKO: There is no clear-cut motive¹¹ behind the hoax² calls, although an NPR analysis did find that schools in 28 states were apparently¹² targeted earlier this year by the same individual. It's not clear if the hoax calls in Maine are part of that pattern, but the FBI and local authorities are investigating. For Kristen DeForge in Sanford, the experience didn't feel like a hoax. It's had a lingering impact on her and her daughter.

DEFORGE: She saw police with assault rifles. She was led out of her classroom with her hands on her head. I mean, everything she saw and felt and smelt¹³ and - every experience she had that day led her to believe there was a shooter in the school that day.

OGRYSKO: Swatting incidents have been a wake-up call for some schools, prompting them to revisit their safety plans. And Klinger warns, these hoaxes have become so prevalent that all schools should prepare for one.

For NPR News, I'm Nicole Ogrysko in Portland, Maine.

(SOUNDBITE OF ASTRALIA'S "FAREWELL AND ENCOUNTER")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

3 hoaxes   

n.恶作剧，戏弄( hoax的名词复数 )v.开玩笑骗某人，戏弄某人( hoax的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The disc jockey, a young separatist named Pierre Brassard, has made his name with such hoaxes. 这位名叫彼埃尔 - 布拉萨尔的音乐节目主持人，是一名年轻的分离主义者，以制造这类骗局闻名。 来自百科语句
• This chain-letter hoaxes, has mutated over the years. 这一骗局多年来在互联网上不断发展和变异。 来自互联网

4 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

7 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

8 ushered   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
• A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

10 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

11 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

13 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。