Juan Ameen
Prank calls cost almost €60,000 last year
Money down the drain
Last month soldiers were sent to Comino on a hoax call after someone called to say there were 50 immigrants. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi.
A fire engine was pointlessly sent out almost every day in 2008 because of prank calls, an exercise that cost the government almost €60,000.
Official figures show that 225 hoax calls were made to the Civil Protection Department last year, almost two every three days, and cost the government €250 per call - a total of €56,250.
Not only do bomb hoax calls involve five soldiers trained in explosive devices, two army cars and a sniffer dog to scour the area where the explosive device is supposed to be situated but the whole system is put on hold.
There were 34 bomb threats last year, the majority being reported in court, with each operation costing €110, a total of €3,740 went down the drain.
The figure does not include the cost of postponed court cases, increased case load and the money wasted because lawyers, police officers, court employees, litigants and members of the judiciary have to wait outside the courts for a solid hour.
Hoax calls are not reported in the media in order to prevent the number from increasing but are always taken seriously by the authorities.
Recently, the police admitted that one in three calls to the 112 emergency line operated by the Malta police was left unanswered.
The police blamed Malta's poor record on blocked lines caused by prank callers or those who called when there was no genuine emergency. In addition, they said, some people did not allow enough time for their calls to be answered.
Only last month, the army sent out 52 specially trained soldiers to comb through Comino after receiving a report that there were about 50 immigrants. After almost three hours of searching, nothing was found.
Although the number of hoax calls is substantial, it is very rare for someone to be caught and prosecuted. Only recently, a man was jailed for 18 months for hoax calls he made to hospital and court, saying there was a bomb. His call had disrupted an extremely delicate operation on a baby and postponed 1,000 appointments in Casualty and Outpatients.
The reason he gave for making the hoax call? The man had a court case scheduled that day but had no money to pay his lawyer!
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John Borg
Nov 24th 2009, 09:17
Oh come on Danika Vella! If you say so, it must be that you have absolutely no clue about the hugeness of the deficit. Besides, if the authorities really wanted to know who was making these prank calls, they could always go to the telephony operators and get to know who was making them. No #31# would mask the true identity, unless the person happened to be calling from a telephone box, in which case, if repeated calls were received from particular boxes, they could trace the person by sending someone physically on the place. So stop complaining and start acting!
john micallef
Nov 24th 2009, 08:41
for all those prank callers, do not forget, that when you make such calls, you are putting the emergency crews at risk. just think about it!!!
G Falzon
Nov 24th 2009, 01:21
With today's technology and facilities I cannot believe that all these alleged prank calls go untraced. It is next to impossible or someone is failing badly in his duty! Why does a fire-engine and an ambulance depart on an emergency without having registered/traced the originating telephone numbers together with the other details they need to reach the site of an accident. All should agree that doing this would not result in any delay at all.
Danika Vella
Nov 23rd 2009, 19:36
I say, if we stop all this waste, Malta's coffers would not be so shallow, and we wouldn't be in such a dire state!!! It's not the Gov that is depleting Malta's coffers, but us, the citizens. Naraw biss sa mnehirna...
N.Calleja
Nov 23rd 2009, 16:32
Shame on all those who make these hoax calls. The Court should deliver very severe punishments when hoaxers are caught. If necessary even jali sentences. Only through severe penalties will such people learn. Soft penalties will not stop this very abusive stupidity!
apgrech
Nov 23rd 2009, 14:57
The prank callers must understand that their calls are not only costing us all money but if a real emergency occurs, fire engines, police, soldiers, etc will be busy attending to the prank call and the REAL emergency may cause deaths or injuries due to irresponsible behaviour of a few.
It can also be one of your own relatives who might need emergency service. Just remember, you're no heroes but simply irresponsible idiots.