Officers of the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police are warning young people of the dangers of making hoax calls to emergency services.
The advice not to waste police time comes as schools throughout the TCI prepare to close for the summer holidays.
Officers are reminding young people that if they make repeated nuisance calls to police they could be prosecuted for wasting police time and made to reimburse emergency services for any cost incurred to follow up on a hoax call.
Police Public Relations Officer Audley Astwood, said: “Public reporting is an important part of the fight against crime and any attempt to disrupt this service will be investigated thoroughly.
“Every time someone misuses the ‘911’ emergency call number they are potentially putting others’ lives at risk. This is especially true when we receive a large number of nuisance calls as it could impact on how quickly other emergency calls are answered.
“This behaviour is unacceptable and we will continue to actively pursue those who make malicious calls.”
Earlier this year we visited schools throughout the entire country speaking to pupils about nuisance calls and also when to call 911.
On average, RTCI police receives 100 calls per day on the 911 number that are not genuine emergencies.
You should only call 911 in a real emergency – when a crime is happening, when someone suspected of a crime is nearby or where someone is injured, being threatened or in danger.