Hoax calls affect the operations of USCG and set the lives of mariners and first responders in danger. However, as USCG said these kind of calls are a reality. Namely, during 2017 there were about 58 calls which were deemed as hoax.
USCG’s strategy regarding hoax calls changes in 1990. More specifically, on March 25, 1990 the coast guard received a call from the 19-year-old Billy Hokanson and his father, William, saying that their boat was sinking, moments before the boat sank to the bottom of the ocean.
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A minute after this call, there was another call also declaring SOS, but in playful tone with laughter. Both distress calls were presumed to be related and deemed as hoaxes.
Five days after these calls, the Hokansons reported them overdue and a commercial salvage company found the wreckage of their ship. Their bodies were never found.
This incident changed the way the US Coast Guard responds to possible hoax calls and the penalties for those who make them.
Lt. j.g. Bradley Milliken, command duty officer at Sector Hampton Road’s command center said:
False maydays not only waste time, money, and resources but also can be extremely dangerous. Any time that Coast Guard assets are dispatched to an area where nothing is wrong, it leaves them unable to respond to actual emergencies.
In order for the USCG to conduct a rescue mission, it uses one rescue helicopter and one boat which cost tens-of-thousands of dollars an hour at the taxpayer’s expense. In fact, depending on the nature of the distress call even more assets could be un-resourcefully used due to a hoax distress call.
However, hoax calls also affect local agencies and communities, who help in search and rescue cases, as an urgent marine information broadcast is usually issued after a distress call is received to ask local mariners to look out for signs of distress.
Unfortunately, hoax calls happen frequently. According to Mr. Milliken, “in 2017, there were about 58 calls deemed to be hoaxes.”
Nevertheless, hoax callers will face serious consequences. Hoax callers could face up to 10 years in prison, $250,000 in fines, plus the cost of the search.
