I’m not big on creating new laws but one may be needed in this case. There should be a law created that if a person was found guilty of orchestrating a hoax crime, they should be sentenced the same punishment as if the crime were real. The way things are going, unless the hoaxers are punished severely, they will continue.
As the police chief said, this incident could have caused a hugely dangerous situation amongst the local population in the form of riots and civil unrest. A powder keg.