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Port Stephens’ police commander has labelled the alleged actions of a Medowie man who is charged with making hoax phone calls to triple-0 as “abhorrent”.
The 20 year old man, a probationary member of the NSW Rural Fire Service, is alleged to have made 48 calls to triple-0 (000) throughout August with false reports about bush fires and motor vehicles accidents in the area.
As emergency services were responding to a fire in Medowie on Tuesday, Detective Acting Superintendent Wayne Humphrey, commander of the Port Stephens LAC, spoke about the importance of phoning triple-0 (000) for for “real emergencies” and not “nonsense”.
“This type of behaviour is abhorrent,” he said.
“It is wasting police time, ambulance time, fire brigade time, wasting the public money.
“Right now I have police and RFS members on the highway at Medowie fighting an actual bush fire.
“The impact of having to call those emergency services to false events is just horrendous.
“We're a finite resources, as is the RFS.
“The nonsense around hoax calls is indescribable. It takes police and RFS away from where they need to be.”
Strike Force Wenske, involving Port Stephens detectives and officers from the state crime command, was set up in August in response to concerns from the RFS about a number of hoax calls.
“As a result of information received from RFS we were very concerns about up to 48 telephone calls, which were hoax calls surrounding bush fires in the Medowie area and motor vehicle accidents,” Detective Acting Superintendent Humphrey said.
Following the strike force investigation, on Monday police arrested the 20 year old man from a residence in Medowie.
The man was charged with three counts of make false call to emergency services number, 11 counts of make vexatious calls to an emergency services number and assault with act of indecency.
Police will allege that the act of indecency was against a female member of the RFS.
The man has been released on conditional bail.
He is due to appear in Raymond Terrace Local Court on September 19.
EARLIER:
A NSW Rural Fire Service firefighter will appear in court in October after allegedly making more than 40 false calls to the Triple-0 (000) emergency line.
The 20-year-old man, a probationary member of the RFS, was arrested at a Port Stephens residence on Monday, September 4 following police strike force investigation.
Strike Force Wenske was set up in August by police from the Port Stephens Local Area Command.
Port police were assisted by the State Crime Command, Property Crime Squad and arson unit to investigate hoax reports of bush fires and motor vehicle accidents.
Following his arrest on Monday, the 20-year-old was taken to Raymond Terrace Police Station and charged with three counts of make false call to emergency services number, 11 counts of make vexatious calls to an emergency services number and assault with act of indecency.
Police will allege that more than 40 calls were made from pay phones and a mobile phone to contact 000 and report fictitious bush fires and motor vehicle accidents.
The man was granted conditional bail and will appear in Raymond Terrace Local Court on Friday, October 20.