Earlier this week Toronto Police received a ton of calls from people complaining about being rudely awakened to an amber alert at 3am.
It isn’t the first amber alert anguish that’s happened.
In March Edmonton police also received a rush of calls from people irate they would interrupt their zzzzzz’s with an alert that a child was missing – and this wasn’t 3am, it was 9:45pm.
Sgt. Janelle Shoihet, Media Relations Officer with the E Division Communication Services Headquarters in Surrey, says its important people realize the seriousness of an alert.
Shoihet says a number of conditions have to be met before awakening city residents.
The last amber alert issued in B.C was in Vancouver in 2016 and before that Delta in 2015.
Unlike Ontario, B.C’ doesn’t push amber alert systems through wireless providers, or atleast not right now, as the province continues to test and tweak its emergency alert system, the most recent one happening in May.
Instead they rely on information reader boards on highways, media partners, and policing partners to get the word out.
No matter how the warning is communicated, RCMP can’t stress enough the important role the public plays plays in then keeping their eyes peeled to find missing children.
19 amber alerts have been issued in BC since 2004, involving a total of 24 children.
18 of those were spotted and located by people in B.C.
To learn more about BC’s Amber Alert system, click here.