Hoax calls to security agencies to be tracked
A clearing house system is being set up by the Ministry of Communications to process emergency phone calls to the security agencies.
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The system, which will electronically scan phone calls, will make it easier for the security agencies to track and identify hoax callers.
According to the Minister of Communication, Dr Omane Boamah, the system, which is part of the security connectivity project, is intended to reduce the high number of hoax calls received by the security agencies.
The Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service received 2,240,000 prank calls from the public in 2013.
The clearing house system
Speaking with the Daily Graphic, Dr Boamah stated that the system had the capacity to track the geographical location of the caller.
He said the system would also deny access to unregistered SIM cards, adding that “suspected armed robbers employ the use of bait and switch techniques which involves the use of unregistered SIM cards to call the police in order to divert their attention.”
Dr Boamah, however, said that the implementation of the system involved a lot of stakeholder consultations due to certain privacy concerns likely to be raised.
“We will roll it out later this year after we have engaged in the necessary stakeholder discussions with the various actors likely to be affected by this module,” he said.
Criminal information system
Dr Boamah also said the ministry would launch the Criminal Information System later this month to ensure a common platform for the receipt of emergency calls.
According to him, the system would feature the introduction of an emergency code for all security agencies, adding that “the same emergency code would be used by all the security agencies and all calls received would be redirected to the respective security agencies.”
Chamber of Telecommunications
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, said the various mobile service providers would reveal the identity of any alleged prank caller, if any of the security agencies secured a court warrant.
He stated that because of the right to privacy of subscribers, mobile service providers could only release information of subscribers to the security agencies, if the appropriate legal steps were followed.
