Prank calls made to fire officers and police stations could soon be a criminal offence if Attorney-General Freundel Stuart has his way. He highlighted that most of these calls are made by adolescents and younger children and were costing the society in more ways than one. Firstly, it takes a significant amount of money for firemen to prepare themselves for the fire and secondly, it takes emergency personnel away from real emergencies.

 

"Passing the law is going to be one thing, but a kind of educational architecture will also have to be put in place through our schools," Stuart said, noting that children of today's society have easy access to telephones and may not understand the weight of their actions.

Help may soon be on its way with the $30 million Motorola Project, which has strengthened the communications within the police force and will soon be available to the Barbados Fire Service with plans to have a full integrated system for all Barbadian protective services. The Minister acknowledged that the project was an expensive one, but is a thorough way to enhance the services currently offered.