Andrew Carey
LIMERICK Gardaí will use telecommunications tracking technology to identify hoax callers who send the city’s emergency services on bogus call-outs.
Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan has confirmed to the Limerick Post that Gardaí can now trace callers by triangulating mobile phone positioning, voice recognition software and reviewing CCTV footage in areas where a public phone has been used.
“Once a complaint is received, we can use a number of assets to bring those involved before the courts. Even if the hoax callers try to hide their identity or position by removing the SIM card from a mobile before making the 999 call, we still have the ability to trace the call through the IMEI number,” Chief Supt Sheahan explained.
He was reacting to a number of hoax calls that put the emergency services out of action over the past week.
In the early hours of last Wednesday morning, Limerick City Fire and Rescue Service received an emergency call claiming that a passerby saw someone fall into the river.
The caller claimed that a person had entered the water “two bridges up from Anglers Walk” in the Rhebogue area.
Extensive searches were carried out before a follow-up call claimed that the incident happened at a different location. Crews searched both areas for more than two hours but were eventually stood down after it was determined that it was a false alarm with malicious intent.
On Halloween night, there was a false report of a house fire in the Garryowen area and last Saturday, crews were sent to O’Malley Park to deal with another fire that didn’t exist. On Sunday night, a young person phoned 999 from a public coin box on Sarsfield Street claiming that the back of Guineys shop on William Street was on fire.
Former Garda and local councillor Sean Lynch said that hoax calls could cost lives as there could be genuine cases in desperate need while the emergency services were responding to a scam
“Individuals playing in this “deceitful practice” should be held to account and “named and shamed”.
