Two Greater Manchester schoolboys who made up to 30 hoax calls – including that a woman had been raped, a man was on fire and a shooting – have been forced to write apology letters.
The 12-year-olds, from Levenshulme and Reddish in Stockport, called 999 from their mobile phones between 6 September 2014 and 12 October 2014 with each call prompting response from at least one of the emergency services.
During a Restorative Justice meeting between representatives from all three emergency services, the two boys and their parents, both youngsters admitted their guilt and ‘showed genuine remorse’.
As a result, under Restorative Justice, the boys have agreed to write a letter of apology to all three emergency services and will attend educational courses organised by the ambulance and fire services.
Police Constable, Lisa Valentine said: “Both these young boys realised how foolish they had been by making so many hoax calls to the emergency services.
“However, thanks to the Restorative Justice process we have been able to really show these boys the error of their ways without having to put them through the criminal justice system.
“During the Restorative Justice meeting, it was pointed out in no uncertain terms that their actions had potentially put people’s lives at risk, forcing the emergency services to respond to their silly calls when they could have been out responding to genuine emergencies for people in need of urgent medical treatment or police assistance.”
Shock treatment included having the reckless calls replayed to them and visit to a custody suite at West Didsbury Police Station to show them ‘the error of their ways’ rather than criminalising them.
Police Constable, Lisa Valentine added: “In this way, these young boys have not received any sort of criminal record which might hamper them in later life and all for a few weeks of foolish behaviour, but instead been shown the real harm they have caused so they don’t do it again.
“This is another excellent example of how Restorative Justice can be used to really repair the harm caused by individuals without putting them before a court which in many cases would not either an appropriate punishment or deterrent.”
Image courtesy of Adam Fagen, with thanks.
