NEW ULM — A wave of hoax police calls made on schools included New Ulm Public on Wednesday.

Several police departments received false active shooter class on schools in Minnesota. Roughly 16 different Minnesota had fake calls made against this. This his part of a new trend called “swatting” in which individuals make false shooting reports to police departments. Sometimes these false calls are made in attempt to instigate violence.

New Ulm Police did receive a false report of a shooting at the school, but local law enforcement had already been warned about the swatting trend. Police were suspicious of the call as it was not coming from the school.

New Ulm Police and New Ulm Public followed procedures out of precaution and enter a soft lockdown until the School Resource Officer confirmed all was clear.

Superintendent Jeff Bertrang explained on any normal day all of the school doors are locked from the outside except the front door. On Wednesday the front door and staff monitored the entrance. Though the call was suspected of being a hoax, the Police Department and school followed drill procedure.

Even with the swatting trend the school would continue to follow lockdown procedures. Bertrang said they did not want to take these threats likely and create a “boy who cried wolf” scenario.

New Ulm was far from the only school to receive a swatting call on Wednesday. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said 16 districts across the state received similar hoax calls. These district includes school in Mankato, Twin Cities and International Falls.

In New Ulm the PD and school were able to work together to resolve the hoax, but incidents like these can rain already high anxiety level.

Bertrang said these false calls can also pull law enforcement away from other important tasks that could endanger those in real crisis.

Moving forward Bertrang said the best thing to do was maintain positive communication with the students and public.