Star comment: Hoaxers can expect a call back
You can understand what is in it for a thief or an armed robber. They gain something from their crime.
But for the people who make hoax phone calls to the emergency services, the "what's in it for them?" question has to be rather more complicated.
Whatever their reason, they should try getting a life.
Over the festive period West Midlands Ambulance Service, which incorporates Shropshire, received 40 cases of hoax phone calls, including to "stabbings" and, in one case, a report of somebody not breathing. The result was a lot of wasted time for the ambulance crews who have better things to do than embark on wild goose chases.
The pointlessness of it all is irritating and annoying, but in some circumstances there could be really serious consequences. We all know how financial pressures on the emergency services are making efficient use of resources all the more precious. An ambulance which is responding to a fake call is not available to respond to a genuine call in which somebody really has stopped breathing. In this way malicious phone calls put lives at risk, and when the offenders are caught they can expect sentences which reflect that.
For a moment, let us look at things from the standpoint of the people who are making these calls. Putting to one side mischievous children who are too young to know better, we have to assume that either they get some sort of kick out of what they are doing, they think it is a big joke, or that there is something wrong with them and their lives, and they are seeking some sort of attention or strange validation of self-worth.
They take a big risk. Public phone kiosks have been on the decline, making it more difficult for offenders to call and scarper. Anyone who makes a hoax on a mobile phone or home landline is flagging themselves up and inviting a knock on the door. Advancing technology is lifting the cloak of anonymity which was the friend of these crank callers.
Those who are genuinely sick and cannot stop themselves need help, and there will be some people like that. But there will be others who are doing it knowing it is wrong and delighting in the thought that they are putting professional people to needless trouble. For them, the weapon to use is the threat of detection. The last thing that these hoaxers want is a call back.
