The Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana National Fire Service, ADO1 Ackah Desmond Essoun says his outfit is collaborating with the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) and the National Security to track, arrest and prosecute prank callers.
A prank call, also known as a crank call, is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the answering person. It is also referred by others as a type of nuisance call.
Mr Essoun says the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the police have also had the cause to complain about such behaviour by a section of the public.
The trend, though not an exception for fire officers in the Ashanti Region, it is on the ascendency as 42 of such calls were recorded in 2019 as against seven in 2018.
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He said it is is very unfortunate to have them move a fire tender with the blurring siren and top speed just to realize there is no fire outbreak after getting to a particular scene.
He said prank calls continue to pose a challenge to the operations of fire officers in the region and bold steps have been taken to ensure that the trend is halted completely.
He believes the arrest and prosecution will serve as a deterrent to other members of the public who will want to engage in similar acts.
“One thing that we have realized as a challenge now is the public. Some of them play with our emergency lines. We will throw a caution that this time around since everybody has registered his or her number, when you call and then you play pranks with our lines, we will give your details to the National Security and the BNI and then they will do the needful by arresting and prosecuting you,†he warned.
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He indicated that such persons will also have their pictures and the details of the crime committed published in the national dailies and other news portals in order to deter others from engaging in the act.