Essex Police's force control room receive hoax calls

The force control room in the county revealed the shocking behaviour via Twitter yesterday and said officers had been called to a number of reported incidents which were not true.

It revealed a number of hoax calls were made by youngsters, who could be heard laughing in the background.

First 999 call of the day was a telephone box in a holiday park and kids messing about laughing.
Please find something else to do on holiday, this delays a genuine call to help on 999. #EmergenciesOnly999

— Force Control Room (@EPControlRoom) April 18, 2022

One was made from a holiday park phone box.

Other hoax calls made on bank holiday Monday included:

• A person who rang up three times and swore at call takers. They later claimed there had been a stabbing which turned out to be false
• Children who rang up and put on fake accents. They claimed a gun had been fired but officers found this was not true when they arrived at the scene
• Children reporting a fast-food restaurant was on fire and guns were seen. Officers again attended the incident but found out it was untrue

Another Hoax call today - Kids calling in that a fast food restaurant was on fire and people seen with guns, they while laughed on the phone.

We attended due to what is being reported and no fire and guns seen/heard and no trace of the kids calling from the phone box.

— Force Control Room (@EPControlRoom) April 18, 2022

Another 999 call was also made to police reporting that a football had been kicked over their fence and into their garden.

In a message to hoax callers, the force control room tweeted: “Please find something else to do on holiday, this delays a genuine call to help on 999.”

Officers were said to have given stern words of advice to a number of people who made hoax calls and were still at the scene when police arrived.