PORT ANGELES — A hoax involving a false report of an “officer-involved shooting” over a police radio frequency Saturday evening sent law enforcement from several agencies scrambling to find out if one of their own was in trouble.
The false report from an unknown source, which came in over the Port Angeles police radio frequency at 8:43 p.m., said that there had been a shooting involving an officer at the New Peking Restaurant and Lounge east of Port Angeles on U.S. Highway 101.
A dozen officers from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Border Patrol and Port Angeles and Lower Elwha Klallam police departments arrived outside the restaurant with guns drawn.
After accounting for all of their officers, interviewing patrons of the business and finding no evidence that a shooting took place, police concluded that the call was a hoax, said Port Angeles Sgt. Glenn Roggenbuck.
Deputy Chief Brian Smith said a criminal investigation was opened immediately.
Police are determined to find who was responsible.
“We’re maintaining a high level of vigilance,” Smith said.
Smith and Roggenbuck said that such a false report not only leads officers to to think that an officer is in harm’s way, but also compromises public safety.
“They are disrupting public safety to virtually the entire community,” Roggenbuck said.
It’s illegal both to make a false report and for those not authorized to use a police frequency, Smith said.
All attempts by dispatchers to reach the person who made the false report over the radio failed.
While it remained unknown Saturday why the report was made, it was clear to the two officers that the person who did it did not comprehend the consequences.
“I doubt that they have any appreciation for the difficulties that it could cause,” Smith said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsula dailynews.com.