RCMP to look into emergency alert policy
Use of warning system under ‘full review’ after Nova Scotia shooting
Mounties in Nova Scotia are under scrutiny for not issuing an emergency alert as a gunman rampaged through rural communities, but there’s nothing in the national RCMP handbook to suggest that they should have.
In fact, the RCMP says there are currently no countrywide guidelines for when police should use Canada’s public warning system to broadcast information to cellphones and television screens.
In the wake of the mass murder that claimed 22 lives in Nova Scotia about two weeks ago, the force is looking into developing a national operational policy for using the emergency alert system.
But experts in law enforcement and emergency management say authorities must strike a delicate balance between informing the public about potential threats and avoiding unnecessary panic. And as the tragedy in Nova Scotia shows, they say those judgments aren’t always clear cut in the throes of crisis with lives on the line.
“Make no mistake — none of us have ever experienced the kind of chaos that those officers, first responders and even the critical incident commander faced that night,” said Terry Flynn, an associate professor of communications at McMaster
University.
“The critical thing for them is that now, they unfortunately have a mass shooting playbook.”
Before Canada launched its text-based national alert system in 2018, Flynn said RCMP considered social media to be the best way to communicate during a crisis.
Reviews of the 2014 shootings in Moncton, N.B., and on Parliament Hill found that Twitter was a critical tool for disseminating real-time information to the public and media as both incidents were unfolding.
In a similar vein, Nova Scotia RCMP used Twitter to send out updates as a firearms complaint in the tiny coastal village of Portapique on the evening of April 18 evolved into a shooting and arson spree across the central and northern parts of the province.
Mounties have faced questions about why they relied on social media to get the word out when they could have sent an emergency notification to every phone in the province. Some victims’ relatives have called for the issue to be examined as part of a public inquiry into the mass murder.
Premier Stephen McNeil has said emergency officials were ready to issue an alert, but couldn’t act until the RCMP supplied information. The Mounties say they were crafting a message when the gunman was fatally shot by police in Enfield, N.S., on April 19 after a 13-hour manhunt.
Nova Scotia RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell told reporters Tuesday that the force is conducting a “full review” of the use of the emergency alert system in consultation with the province and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. National RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival said in an email that the force is looking at creating a Canada-wide policy, but said public alert protocols are generally set out by provincial emergency management authorities.
Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for details about its protocols.
Flynn, who specializes in crisis management at McMaster, said instituting clear procedures and training about when to issue an emergency alert could save lives in situations where “seconds count.”
While it may seem wise for authorities to err on the side of caution, Flynn warned flooding people with notifications could foster “alert fatigue,” potentially prompting some to swipe away warnings about a present threat.