911 call prompting search near Point Pleasant Park was hoax: police

Halifax police say a 911 phone call Sunday morning that prompted a search of Point Pleasant Park and the Tower Road area was a hoax.

An 18-year-old woman has now been charged with public mischief and also ticketed for making a false call to 911. She was released from police custody and will appear at a later date in Halifax provincial court.

On Sunday about 3 a.m., emergency dispatch was called by what sounded like a man who said he was hurt in the Tower Road area.

Police said the caller was "vague" and the number unregistered. Even so, a search was launched and included a police dog and search and rescue volunteers. No one was found and the search was called off Sunday afternoon.

However, dispatch continued to receive multiple calls from the same number, but there was no voice on the line.

Halifax Regional Police Sgt. Gerard Gibbons says police were helped by a telecommunications company that used information from a cell phone tower to better pinpoint the location of the calls.

He says officers patrolled the area and spotted a group of three people. When they spoke with the group, officers figured out one of them was their suspect.

Police say the 18-year-old woman had in her possession the phone used to make the 911 calls.