False distress calls prompt Coast Guard concern

It’s one thing to think a boat’s sinking or a little kid’s drowning and call the Coast Guard about it.

But to do it as a prank when there’s no real threat on the water is an entirely different, criminal, matter.

A recent statement from the U.S. Coast Guard states the number of false distress calls has nearly tripled in 2017, compared to the number received last year by the same time.

“A false distress or hoax can be made by phone

or over a marine radio by a person claiming to be in distress intentionally deceive others and cause an unnecessary search,” reads a June 29 statement from the U.S. Coast Guard 9th District Great Lakes public affairs office. “There have been more than 160 false distress calls made to date across the Great Lakes compared to 55 similarly in 2016.”

No matter if it’s a person calling to report a distressed vessel, someone missing on the water, a possible drowning or the discovery of a body in the water, any response by the Coast Guard and/or state, county or local authorities is a serious, time- and resource-consuming matter the agencies involved take very seriously.

“The Coast Guard treats all emergency calls as if they were real until they can be proved otherwise. A false distress can put other mariners in real danger at greater risk because of the redirecting of available search and rescue responders,” the Coast Guard statement reads.

And, whether the person reporting the hoax call gets a laugh or some entertainment value out of watching public safety resources get dispatched to an area due to a false call or it’s an honest mistake, the Coast Guard responds to it regardless. And it’s no laughing matter.

“False distress and hoax calls expose not only Coast Guard rescuers, but our partner agencies and other mariners to unnecessary risks, and potentially take away personnel and resources from real emergencies,” said Capt. Joseph McGilley, chief of incident management for the Ninth Coast Guard District, which encompasses the entire Great Lakes region.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Brian McCrum with the outfit’s Ninth District Great Lakes public affairs office said that the Coast Guard and other public safety organizations don’t want people with legitimate concerns to hesitate calling when they think something’s wrong.

“That’s not our purpose here — to scare people with six months in prison and a big fine,” he said. “People should call when they genuinely think someone’s in trouble on the water,” McCrum said. “There’s a difference between hoax distress calls and when someone makes a call like that in good faith.”

He said they want to receive the good-faith calls. And, even when an honest mistake is made, say a child playing with a radio or phone and makes a distress call that’s not genuine, people should follow up and alert the Coast Guard or whatever agency that a mistake has been made.

“That way,” he said, “we can stand down. Because, if we get a call about someone in distress on the water, we’re going to respond.”

And those responses aren’t cheap, the Coast Guard reports.

“The average cost of launching a Coast Guard response boat is about $4,500 an hour while the cost of a Coast Guard helicopter involved in a search could run as high $16,000 an hour. A hoax Mayday case can sometimes last an average of 3 hours before it is called off,” the June 29 Coast Guard statement reads. The costs of legitimate calls are paid for by the Federal Government, which is funded by taxpayers.

But if the call turns out to be a hoax, people are paying big penalties if they can be linked to the calls, the Coast Guard reports.

Take a recent case out of Chicago, for example: “In 2017, a Chicago man was sentenced to 6 months in prison, three years of supervisory release and ordered to pay the Coast Guard $28,181 in restitution for knowingly calling in false distress calls of a body in the Chicago River on two separate occasions in 2014,” the Coast Guard reports.

SOURCE: COAST GUARD