16 AUGUST 2017 • FOGHORN FOGHORNFOCUS: SAFETY A s conscientious, professional mariners, PVA vessel operators train regularly for any number of incidents that could happen while a vessel is underway with crew and passengers aboard. One such exercise that PVA Vessel members train for is a “man overboard” drill. Using well-developed training techniques, vessel crew and officers learn and practice how to save a person who has fallen into the water by retrieving them and providing the needed care. In many incidents, vessel operators respond to these situations involving people who were not passengers aboard their own vessels, but have fallen or jumped from the shore, a bridge, or off a recreational boat. Regardless, because of all their training and abilities, passenger vessels, when near the person in trouble, are in a position to offer what may be life-saving actions. But, what if the rescue wasn’t really needed? Imagine hearing about a person requiring immediate assistance, only to find out it was a hoax? While that scenario does not occur often, it does happen and the numbers are on the rise. According to Loretta Haring of the Coast Guard Office of Strategic Planning and Communication, Acquisition Directorate, “the Coast Guard received 161 confirmed or suspected hoax calls in fiscal year 2016, up from 135 in 2015. While that may seem like a relatively small number when compared to total search and rescue (SAR) cases – the service responded to 16,343 SAR cases in fiscal year 2016, saving more than 5,174 lives and protecting more than $63 million in property from loss – hoax calls are a drain on Coast Guard resources and personnel.” Haring explained in the July 11 Coast Guard Compass, the official blog of the U.S. Coast Guard, that until a call is de- termined to be a hoax, Coast Guard units respond without delay to any notification of distress. As a result, hoax calls pull critical equipment and operators away from legitimate marine emergency situations, putting the public in increased danger, said Special Agent-in-Charge Marty J. Martinez, with Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Chesapeake Region. Since many SAR cases are conducted in adverse Coast Guard Project Intends to Crack Down on Hoax Distress Calls By Karen Rainbolt, FOGHORN Managing Editor Coast Guard Research and Development Center and Carnegie Mellon University cooper- ate on voice and audio forensics to create an audio “fingerprint” of callers on suspicious maritime search and rescue emergency calls, as shown in this undated graphic.The Coast Guard combined the audio forensics with improved inland direction finding to detect, identify, and deter hoax SAR callers. --Coast Guard Compass weather conditions, the safety of Coast Guard personnel and assets are also put at risk. In addition, hoax distress calls also “waste hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars annually in search and inves- tigative response,” Martinez added. And, it should be noted, making a false distress call is a violation of federal law (14 U.S. Code § 88) and may result in up to six years in prison, a $250,000 criminal fine, a $5,000 civil fine, and reimbursing the U.S. Coast Guard for the cost of performing the fruitless search. The U.S. Coast Guard recently studied the growing problem. Haring reported that the Search and Rescue Hoax Location Systems and Methods project, was completed this spring by the Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center (RDC) in New London, CT. The project sought to “evaluate and demonstrate different technologies that would assist CGIS and other partners with locating, identi- fying and prosecuting hoax callers within the Coast Guard domain,” said Holly Wendelin, Coast Guard command, control communication, computers, intelligence, surveillance