The City of Calgary says 911 operators broke rules leading to a delay of almost an hour before the alert went out for Parker Wells, a missing 11-year-old with autism who was non-verbal.
The boy’s disappearance in July sparked a massive search that went on for two weeks until his body was found in a system of pipes under a city freeway.
Foul play is not suspected.
Iain Bushell, the city’s head of emergency management, said in a statement Tuesday that 911 operators had the information they needed to alert police right away that July morning, but did not.
“Established procedures were not followed, resulting in a delay in how certain information was acted on,” Bushell said.
“That delay did not meet the standard of service we expect.”
He said disciplinary action has been taken against those involved, but declined to provide details due to privacy rules.
“Calgary 911 employees are deeply committed to public safety,” he added. “When an event has a tragic outcome such as this, they feel the weight of that responsibility.”
The city said it has made changes after a review on the 911 response that day — more supervisors, more checks, and more spot reviews, along with updated training reviews.
“We are committed to strengthening our processes and ensuring our employees have the support, training and tools they need to serve Calgarians effectively,” Bushell said.
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Calgarians band together to find missing 11-year-old -
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Calgary search and rescue crews still assume missing boy ‘waiting to be found’ -
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Efforts to find missing 11-year-old boy Parker ramped up, Calgary police say -
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Calgary Police Service conitnues to search for missing 11-year-old boy -
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Search for missing Calgary child stretches into day 6 -
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Search for missing 11-year-old Calgary boy with autism enters 6th day -
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Police remain focused on bringing a missing 11-year-old Calgary boy home
Parker walked away from his day home in north Calgary on the morning of July 16.
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A city review cited by Bushell found that when the initial call came in from the day home at 10:53 a.m., the 911 operator did not flag it as an emergency because the day home did not want to officially list Parker as missing.
The review found that regardless of what the day home wanted, the 911 operator had enough information to alert police, which would have triggered other emergency search procedures and notifications in those crucial early minutes.
Soon after, the review said, a 911 supervisor reviewed the call and didn’t take action.
“The supervisor should have more fully considered the totality of available information, specifically the child’s age and the inability of day home staff to locate the child,” the review said.
A half-hour after the first call, the day home called back to report the child missing. The alert then went out to police, but not until 11:41 a.m. — a total of 48 minutes after the first call.
The search for the boy captured the attention and emotion of the city. Hundreds of police and volunteers checked and rechecked homes, boats, sheds, garages and waterways trying to find the child.
It was a complex undertaking complicated by Parker’s neurological condition.
Police cautioned that the boy could become more scared if confronted by strangers. Searchers played some of Parker’s favourite Disney songs from patrol vehicles to try to draw him out. Some left out Goldfish crackers.
After two weeks, the search was called off.
A day later, Parker’s shoe was found near a culvert.
His body was found a short distance away in a network of pipes under the north end portion of the Deerfoot Trail expressway. The spot was about three kilometres from the day home.
In the days that followed, a makeshift memorial of flowers, stuffed toys and candles grew by a footbridge near where his body was found.
Parker’s plight has also prompted petitions to change Amber Alerts. Such alerts are broadly disseminated warnings for children believed to have been abducted and in serious danger. In Parker’s case, an Amber Alert was issued as a special exemption but not until the second day of the search.
The Alberta government is now reviewing criteria for Amber Alerts.
— More to come…
Delay of 1 hour..
Come-on people, lets be realistic. An extra hour was not going to save this young mans life.
The boy was missing for 11 days, and found deep in a pipe system where he had been gone for a while. Its a tragic loss of life but there was no malicious play, the amber alert being sent out an hour sooner would not have helped.
I hope they learn from this and take actions to make sure that this kind of delay does not happen again, but I dont believe this is grounds for any kind of lawsuit or culpability claim.
“Your next exciting conversation is waiting for you. join profile
Should be a criminal negligence causing death charge in my opinion
No need for a new alert. They need to use the alert system we already have!
PS i didnt just find the shoe, i begged them from day one to man the culverts. They didnt.
Now everyone keeps talking about needing a new alert when we already have missingVPer in the Alert Ready system… I have been advocating this all along.
@Les. Rest assured the top white trash inbreds were on the case
This little fellow could’ve been saved if not for DEI hires. These people are clearly NOT qualified.
They literally say who Iain Bushell is lol the editor isn’t the problem. The problem is this poor little boy is dead and there were issues. May he RIP 🌹
Who is Iain Bushell? What sloppy journalism lately. No wonder you’re failing.