Intrusive alerts condition public to ignore warnings

Re Boy, 3, found safe in Toronto after Amber Alert issued Tuesday, Online, May 14 Reforms are clearly needed to change the policies that govern how Amber Alerts and other cellphone-based emergency alerts are used. Once again, last night, everyone across southern Ontario was awakened by a series of blaring alarms. This use of the mobile networks is intrusive, inappropriate and, most of all, ineffective.

Police organizations will surely respond in the media to the resulting complaints by arguing that Amber Alerts are necessary tools to help recover abducted children. These responses are also often accompanied by disparaging remarks directed at the complainants.

I do not dispute that Amber Alerts can be very effective tools. When broadcast on radio, TV and highway signs, an alert can reach a large number of people very quickly. But they are effective precisely because the public is paying attention to these media. But when nighttime alerts break through do not disturb settings and wake everyone in the province up, they do nothing useful at all. No one is going to get out of bed and start looking for the identified suspect. The only thing these ill-timed Amber Alerts do is condition us to ignore the alerts altogether. Better judgment is needed here to ensure that Amber Alerts remain a useful tool. John Enright, Thornhill

I wonder how an Amber Alert at 6 a.m. affects little children sleeping in their beds. It could be almost horrifying for a youngster to hear that some child is in danger. I’m not opposed to Amber Alerts, but there must be a less invasive way of notifying the public of a perceived danger to a youngster. Bill Fox, Oshawa