Editor’s note: The Appalachian remains dedicated to the coverage of campus safety and will continue to provide additional updates regarding these reports as they are made available.

During the past two weeks, App State has received four repetitive reports of threats to campus. Each threat has been determined by App State Police as a hoax.

 The first report was made the night of Nov. 29 for New River Hall during Thanksgiving break. The following reports were made Tuesday night for New River Hall and Sanford Hall and the most recent report was made Friday night for the area of Rivers Street and John E. Thomas Hall. 

In an email sent by Johnny Brown, director of public safety and chief of police at App State, the reports are not thought to be coming from the local area. Known as “swatting,” these “hoax threats” have been on the rise across various college campuses in recent months, according to Brown.

“Like many law enforcement agencies across the nation, App State Police have received training from the FBI about characteristics and nationwide trends regarding hoax threats,” Brown wrote in an email.

Brown wrote that App State Police has engaged the FBI in the ongoing investigations of the reports, as well as the Information Security team. He wrote that App State Police responds to all reports of threats made to the App State community that “regard life safety” with support from regional, state and federal agencies, if warranted.

Brown ended the email encouraging everyone to report safety concerns to App State Police and to contact 911 for any emergencies. He wrote that increased police presence is in the area out of an abundance of caution and said all App State community members should sign up for App State Alerts if they have not done so already.

In an email, Senior Director of Public Relations Anna Oakes reiterated that there will be an increased presence of police patrols and that “any suspicious activity or safety concerns” should be reported to App State Police.