The Coast Guard would is reminding people of the dangers and penalties associated with hoax distress calls and the use of laser pointers pointed at aircraft or boat crews on patrol

  The Coast Guard would is reminding people of the dangers and penalties associated with hoax distress calls and the use of laser pointers pointed at aircraft or boat crews on patrol.

The Coast Guard says the number of false distress has been on the rise, which places rescue crews in danger, diminishes their capacity to respond to real emergencies and wastes taxpayer dollars.

In July alone Sector Mobile watchstanders handled two confirmed hoax calls and three confirmed laser strikes to boat crews training or actively involved in a search.

One of the events happened off St. George Island on July 12th when the Coast Guard received a call of a vessel going down and the use of profanity over VHF channel 16, the international distress frequency.

A good Samaritan responded that there were no vessels in distress in that area.

After searching 65 square nautical miles with local agencies, the Coast Guard suspended the search classifying it as a suspected hoax.

Penalties for initiating a hoax may include a $250,000 criminal fine, reimbursement to the Coast Guard of the cost of all search efforts expended, and up to six years in prison.

The costs are not cheap.

The Coast Guard’s response boats cost between 3500 to 5200 dollars an hour to operate, and the helicopters cost between 7800 dollars and almost 13 thousand dollars an hour to operate.

Parents are held responsible for minor’s actions.

If you are boating with young children or teenagers, a good habit is to establish rules when they are aboard a boat before you leave the dock.

Teaching children how to make a call if you are in distress can make them more responsible about using radios on board vessels. 

Parents should stress to children that the radio is not for play, similar to 911 calls, and should only be used for emergencies.  

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