Man charged after hundreds of false calls to NWT RCMP

Police in Fort Smith say a man faces a charge of public mischief after placing “hundreds” of false, often silent calls to RCMP over the past year.

Presenting to town councillors this week, Cpl Stephanie Leduc said Fort Smith’s detachment had recorded 21 calls in December alone “where a person or persons were dialling the police number and not saying anything.”

“That takes up a lot of our time,” Leduc said.

Officers told councillors the man, who was not named during the meeting, has been charged with the criminal offence of public mischief and has also contravened the NWT’s 9-1-1 Act, which bars the placing of “a false, frivolous or vexatious 9-1-1 call.”

The town’s detachment commander, Sgt Cagri Yilmaz, said police were confident the man charged had been behind “hundreds of phone calls to the police over the last 12 months”

“This guy was so notorious in making these phone calls and taking up members’ time,” said Yilmaz. “We had to take investigative techniques which we normally wouldn’t – such as putting a data recorder on his phone, so we’d know every single phone call he makes, which number he is dialling at what time of the day.

“We’ve been told by our dispatch in Yellowknife that he is the most frequent caller in the territory. It was that bad.”