In 2012 this newspaper published a story on the troubling issue of prank calls to the police 119 emergency number.

That report highlighted data provided by a deputy superintendent at the police control centre showing that of the 6.7 million calls answered by the police the year before, just over 2.4 million were categorised as prank calls.

Prank calls, we were told, don’t include those that are logged as ‘silent calls’ — that’s when the line is open but the caller says nothing — neither are those in which the callers make lewd suggestions to the police and civilian women who answer the phones at the control centre.

We had reason to reflect on that story because of a recent notice by the police that legislation is being drafted to treat with the issue of prank calls to the 119 emergency number.

Additionally, we saw that a bomb scare hoax on Sunday by a buffoon caused a significant redeployment of State security and emergency resources to Ocho Rios, St Ann, disruptions in commercial activities, and mental stress among residents.

Thankfully, the man who made the bomb threat via social media platform TikTok is now in police custody and we hope that he will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

For, as Mr Dennis Brooks, the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s senior communications strategist, pointed out in a column in this newspaper on Tuesday, the bomb threat, made via a TikTok video, “underscores the potential for digital platforms to be weaponised as tools of public disruption”.

Mr Brooks also correctly noted that, “While this incident may be presented as an isolated prank, it is part of a growing trend that exposes the gaping chasm in our legal protections.”

In April when the police signalled the coming introduction of legislation to deal with this problem, they told us that approximately 85 per cent of the 5,000 to 9,000 calls to 119 daily are prank calls.

Senior Superintendent Gary Francis, who is in charge of the Emergency Communication Centre, made an appeal to Jamaicans “to empower and educate their neighbours, friends, and children not to call the number in jest”.

We join him in that appeal, as we have seen instances when people in genuine need are unable to get help because emergency services are responding to prank calls.

Mr Francis has said the police will use moral suasion to help prevent this irresponsible behaviour, but there is no denying that there are people who will not be swayed by reason.

The advances in technology that have given many more people access to social media platforms have only made matters worse, because, instead of using those platforms in a responsible manner, what we have seen are more and more people descending into depravity.

Mr Francis also told us that the police are being equipped with technology that will make it possible for them to identify the miscreants who abuse the emergency service. That makes eminent sense and the constabulary should not resile from using it to let it sink in that, while the people who make prank calls regard doing so as fun, they run the risk of placing other people’s lives in danger.

At the same time, the police need to ensure that the public has every confidence that law enforcement will not abuse that technology.