Expect more crank calls

Dr Varma Deyalsingh
Dr Varma Deyalsingh

Secretary of the Association of Psychiatrists (APTT) Dr Varma Deyalsingh is advising Police Commissioner Gary Griffith to brace for more threatening phone calls from people suffering from mental illnesses.

Deyalsingh said he was not surprised to learn three of the four people who made threatening phone calls to the E999 Command Centre may be suffering mental illness.

On Saturday a ten-year-old boy threatened to behead Griffith.

Deyalsingh said there may be two reasons why people with mental-health issues may be so prone to make threatening phone calls, especially to the CoP.

He said, “People with mental illness may suffer from what is called paranoid delusion, and often times they would think people are after them and they may see a need to reach out to the police to complain about these perceived persecution.

“They often call, to get some release, to the local police authorities and many of these patients are known to the local police service.”

He added that after getting many complaints from the same individuals, sometimes saying that neighbours are after them, people are tapping their phones, etc, “If these individuals do not get relief from the local police they may now target the commissioner as a source of the inability to get the local police to act,”.

He said the second reason why people with mental-health issues may call is, “Once somebody is in the news, any public figure, they may be stalked by certain individuals, and there are cases where news anchors have been stalked, both via the phone and personally, by individuals. Once the commissioner is in the public eye he falls into that category, plus the fact that his phone number is well advertised will give these individuals a greater access to target him.”

Griffith, who took up the post in August, has been threatened at least four times by people who called the E999 Command Centre.

Two of the four have been deemed juveniles and three have a history of mental illness. Two have been sent to St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital for medical reports.

Sources at the E999 Command Centre said yesterday that when people make prank calls or issue threats, their phone numbers can be seen. The information is then passed on to Port of Spain CID and the callers are interviewed, statements obtained and in some cases people are arrested.

In instances where phone numbers do not show up the matter is referred to the police Cyber Crime Unit and when the number is obtained the necessary investigations are done.

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