BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – BEFORE April 1 rolls around each year, persons plan and concoct pranks that they would execute on their friends, loved ones or even members of the public.
And hilarity is often the order of the day during and or after the execution of these hoaxes. After all, who doesn’t appreciate a belly full of laughs after observing a good joke as it plays out from beginning to end?
In America, the White House had its share of fun on April Fools Day (April 1) when, after an announcement that the President would be making a special address, a nine-year-old boy emerged from behind the podium.
Leaning over the rostrum he proclaimed, “It looks like you were expecting somebody else. Well April Fools’ on all y’all…”
The video, which lasted a little over one minute, brought smiles to the faces of some and evoked laughter among others.
Conversely, there are those pranks which – in addition to instilling unwarranted and undue fear and worry – have the potential of adversely affecting the wider community.
On April 1, a number of ill-conceived messages were disseminated; some via Blackberry Messenger (BBM), which suggested that an incident had occurred and resulted in two sustaining gunshot injuries and another fatally wounded.
The suggestion was that it might have been a prank message; nonetheless it was investigated.
When contacted by this publication and asked of the rumour, Press and Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, Inspector Lyndon David indicated that he had no information to prove it was true. He also indicated that he would make further investigations.
Subsequent contact made with the Inspector revealed that the police received no report to support the information contained in the message.
He warned that pranks of this nature could have serious ramifications.
In explaining some of the consequences, David made reference to the resources of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, the St. Kitts-Nevis Fire and Rescue Services, the Emergency Medical Services, the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force and others which could be deployed in response to information of this nature.
And had this been the case, it would have meant that the resources expended by these entities in response would have been wasted.
Additionally, the Inspector noted that what if these units had responded to the bogus alarm and while there a real emergency had arisen? He explained that it would have meant that the entities’ ability to respond to the emergency would have been somewhat decreased, simply because someone thought it funny to deliberately distribute false information.
Inspector David suggested that persons should think twice and even thrice before engaging in such activities.
