The Hoax Call - Film

The Honicknowle neighbourhood policing team, Joe Plant, a third year Plymouth University student and a handful of St Boniface College students have come together in Plymouth and produced a trailer and a short film which depicts the potentially lethal consequences of making hoax calls. The film adopts a similar format to that of the popular crime drama 24, in which viewers get to see different events from a set time period of time simultaneously. In this case, the viewers see the actions of a group of hoax callers, a burglar and their victim, a police control room operator and a police officer. The film shows viewers how a hoax call can influence decisions taken regarding the deployment of police resources and put peoples lives in danger. The project came about after over twenty-five hoax calls were made by a local young person from the Plymouth area which led to armed officers being deployed to a number of fabricated incidents. The youngster said they had made the calls for a laugh and demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the implications of their actions. The neighbourhood policing team decided to do some problem solving work with their local young community to tackle the issue. PCSO Kate Stanley said After doing a bit of research, it became apparent that there was nothing in existence that we could use to educate youngsters about the possible consequences of hoax calling. We decided very early on that it would be good to get input from the young people themselves to make sure whatever we developed would capture their attention and appeal to them. PC Greg Rendle said This project has been brilliant because everyone involved has got something out it. It was great fun playing the part of myself but there is a serious message behind the film which hopefully will make young people think twice before dialling 999 as a prank.