Hoax 999 Caller Meets With Police
A teenager who made 45 hoax 999 calls has met with police to learn about what she did wrong
A 13 year old girl from Gravesend met with a Kent Police Inspector this week as part of a restorative process after the girl made a series of hoax 999 calls to Kent Police.
The teen was given a six-month referral order after she made 45 calls to the Force Contact and Control Centre reporting incidents in Gravesend and Medway. Patrols were assigned to various incidents that eventually turned out to be hoax calls.
Between 18 July and 30 September the teen made reports including:
- A fight involving 20-30 people
- Made 20 silent calls where operators were required to do further investigation to ensure it wasn’t from a caller in danger
- Two calls stating she was being followed by a man
Many of these were attended by patrols on flashing lights, only to find the calls were hoaxes.
Inspector Chris Norfolk of the Force Contact and Control Centre, based in Maidstone, said: “This meeting was an opportunity to explain to the offender how irresponsible her actions were. She wasted the time of patrols, who needlessly attended these calls when they could have been attending real emergencies. She also wasted 7.5 hours of call taker time in our control room. Getting to meet a representative of her victims gave the offender an opportunity to realise the scale of her actions.”