Hoax callers face prosecution

Date published: 09/10/2007

Hoax callers who put lives at risk by wasting police time will be punished as part of a new crackdown.

The warning follows a false report of a shooting and murder on Sunday 7 October.

Greater Manchester Police received an anonymous call at 5.14pm that shots had been fired and a man had been killed.

Officers conducted a thorough search but the call turned out to be a hoax.

A 14-year-old boy was later arrested for wasting police time and bailed pending further inquiries.

Inspector Stephen Porter said: "These are not jokes or pranks.

"The police have to take these reports seriously until we can establish them to be false.

"This can waste massive amounts of time and resources that should be put to use providing the best service to our communities.

We are constantly striving to provide the best possible service to the people of Greater Manchester.

"However, our ability to do this is affected when we receive nuisance or hoax calls, which take up valuable time and prevent genuine callers from getting through to GMP. I want to make it clear that GMP will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who intentionally abuses the system in this way and puts lives at risk.I would urge anyone who has information about anyone making hoax calls to contact us so we can take action."

GMP is using a variety of methods to deal with nuisance callers.

Over the last 12 months, these have included liaising with social services and community mental health teams, issuing Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), prosecution under the telecommunications act, issuing fixed penalty notices and the barring of mobile phones.