The Princeton Police Department continues to investigate bomb threats that occurred at Riverside School last Thursday and Princeton High School last Friday. Riverside was placed on “shelter-in-place” watch and PHS was evacuated for approximately two and one-half hours, on successive days last week, as K-9 explosive-sniffing dogs and their handlers searched the schools. 

Similar to several unfounded threats received by area schools last year, both threats, communicated by recorded messages phoned in to the main offices of the respective schools, were fraudulent. No bombs were found, and students went back to classes later in the day.

The Princeton Police Department, according to Sergeant Jonathan Bocchere, is working with many different agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Police, the Detective Bureau at the Department of Public Safety and others, to track down the individuals responsible.

“We continue to work with the investigative authorities,” Police Chief Nicholas Sutter stated at Monday night’s Princeton Council meeting. “We are making progress, doing everything we can.” The Police Department continues to work closely with the schools on this issue. Chief Sutter talks with School Superintendent Steve Cochrane every day.

“We are doing our best,” said Sergeant Bocchere, “to put officers around the schools, at drop-off and pick-up times, to give the schools’ faculty, students, and parents a greater sense of security.”

Incidents of “swatting,” reporting bogus threats that are designed to provoke a response from a SWAT team, have risen rapidly in this area and in the entire country over the past year, according to the Princeton Police Department.