We need Amber Alert, fine-tuned or not
Whether they were unspeakably heartless or just plain stupid, the people who flooded Brantford police with 911 complaints about an Amber Alert last week were entirely out of line.
A two-year-old girl had been taken from her home in that city by a man who had broken down the door. The child’s mother was distraught. Fears for the child’s safety, even her life, were legitimate.
And so in those desperate, middle-of-the-night minutes early Thursday, police sent out an Amber Alert to people’s cellphones across Ontario pleading for any information that might lead to the safe recovery of that little girl.
Thankfully, police found the child unharmed in Hamilton, returned her home and made four arrests. But not before fending off the furious flak of fools who had been awakened from their sleep by a shrill Amber Alert and chose to vent their rage by calling 911.
One person called 911 no fewer than 11 times and is rightly being investigated for a possible mischief offence. But everyone who dialed that number to gripe about this Amber Alert behaved reprehensibly.
That number is for emergencies, not complaints. Calling 911 for such a comparatively frivolous reason could delay a serious emergency call and result in tragedy.
No wonder there’s a petition calling on the Ontario government to make such abuses of 911 an offence. Some deep breaths and calm reflection are called for. It has been 15 months since Canada started transmitting alerts, including Amber Alerts for missing children, to mobile devices.
This year there have been six Amber Alerts, not all of which were issued at night. They’re hardly a daily occurrence.
Five of these alerts ended with the abducted child returned to his or her home. Sadly, one ended in the arrest of a 41-year-old Toronto-area man who was charged in the death of his 11-year-old daughter.
But what we already know from experience is that Amber Alerts work. Not every time, to be sure. But there has been more than one case in this province where an Amber Alert helped police recover a missing child. They’re an important, effective tool, regardless of their drawbacks and the fiery 911 complaints they spark every time.
It’s understandable that people awakened on a work night by an Amber Alert might, at least initially, be annoyed. Their frustration will be particularly pronounced if they live far from where the child has gone missing and could offer no help.
The authorities should be sensitive to this and at least consider modifying Amber Alerts so they can remain effective while causing minimal disruption. That may not be easy.
The United States uses different tiers of alarms, the most serious of which is a Presidential Alert which cannot be blocked. Other alarms used for less extreme matters can be blocked. But what if that results in someone not knowing there’s a missing child they could help police find?
Some people suggest dividing the enormous land mass of Ontario into regions and targeting alerts to people in specific areas. Perhaps that would be an improvement. But police believe this change could weaken the effectiveness of the Amber Alert, citing the case of a child reported missing in Sudbury who was later located in Toronto.
If Amber Alerts can be fine-tuned, we say, “Good.” If they can’t, people should learn to live with the occasional inconvenience they create. Or they can turn off their phones. But before they do, they might consider that a child’s life matters more than an interrupted sleep.