With the bizarre clown trend creeping people out across the nation and here in Connecticut, state police are issuing a warning about the consequences of actions perceived to be threatening.
“Individuals dressing as clowns and engaging in threatening or alarming behavior will be immediately addressed by law enforcement,” state police said in a Facebook post.
Sightings of clowns creeping in the woods were first reported in South Carolina back in August and children reported that the clowns showed them money and tried to lure them in to the woods.
Then, reports spread to North Carolina and began to make rounds in other states.
This week, New Haven schools announced that they have banned clown costumes after several Instagram posts from people posing as clowns and making threats and at least one other school district is considering banning them.
In the last few days, there have been several reports of clown sightings in Connecticut, state police said. While it isn’t illegal to dress as a clown, they said it is illegal to do so with the intent of causing alarm and law enforcement.
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They said they won’t tolerate people inciting violence through social media or alluding to creating fear in local communities and any such case will be handled as criminal matters. They compared these incidents to swatting cases in which police are being misdirected to investigate pranks.
“We want to remind everyone that your online actions are not anonymous; we will continue working with social media companies to identify those inappropriately using social media to cause panic,” state police posted on Facebook.
They said at least five people have already been taken into custody.
“Situations such as these waste valuable resources and can lead to injuries to both first responders and members of the public,” state police on Facebook. “These clown pranks can cause major disruptions leading to schools, businesses and neighborhoods being placed into lockdown unnecessarily.”
