MONTMARTE – A prank call gone too far involved a large amount of resources recently in Montmarte.
Police say on May 2, just after 3 p.m., Indian Head RCMP received a call about a homicide with an armed and active suspect.
The caller, who seemed genuinely terrified, reported witnessing a shooting inside a residence in Montmartre," said RCMP in a media release. "The caller claimed to be hiding inside a room from the killer."
Police arrived prepared for a dangerous situation, donning hard body armour, only to discover the call had been a hoax.
"The occupants of the residence reported having no knowledge of the call," RCMP said. "Police made certain all occupants were safe and there was no active threat."
A large number of resources went into his ultimate false alarm, including a drone from Indian Head RCMP, members of the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol and Fort Qu'Appelle RCMP, the Saskatchewan RCMP Police Dog Service, a Conservation Officer, a crisis negotiator, EMS who were on standby, the Saskatchewan RCMP Divisional Operational Communication Centre in Regina, SaskTel (working to trace the call), and a request for assistance from the Critical Response team, RPS, and the Saskatchewan Protection and Response Team should the event escalate.
"Over the time period of this response - from approximately 3 to 5 p.m. - Saskatchewan RCMP received 53 calls for service unrelated to this incident requesting police assistance across the province," said RCMP.
Police treat such calls as extremely important, and the list of resources at hand illustrates what goes into responding to such a serious incident.
"This investigation took time from call-takers and officers who could have been helping someone in a real life-threatening situation," said RCMP. "We cannot emphasize enough the importance of ensuring 911 calls are reserved for police-related matters and REAL life-threatening emergencies."
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