The tragic case of Taliya Marsman in Calgary has been difficult for people across the country to deal with.
But one of the questions some have been asking is why an Amber Alert in her case, and not in many other cases of missing children?
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According to Saskatoon police, it’s a tough decision.
“Amber Alerts are rarely used,” says Alyson Edwards, director of public affairs for Saskatoon Police Service. “It’s very strict criteria.”
Edwards told Global News that at least four conditions have to be met.
She said there has to be evidence of an abduction.
“That’s a huge red flag,” she said. “And you have to have a child who is vulnerable … and you need to feel that they are in some danger.”
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In addition, she said police need to have some information that they can share with the public, in order to get more information back.
“That’s key,” she said. “The whole reason that Amber Alert was created, first in the States and then brought to Canada, was because law enforcement needed to be able to work together to share their messaging, but also to incorporate the media and get them on board as quickly as possible, with as much urgency as possible.”
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Edwards said she is not aware of Saskatoon police ever issuing an Amber Alert – even though they deal with some 2,300 missing persons cases every year.
“That’s the third highest type of case that we investigate throughout the year,” she said.
“Many of them are persons who are habitual runaways, which makes them more vulnerable … you need to get the information out there, but it doesn’t necessarily trigger an Amber Alert,” she said.
“We don’t want to do them too often, or even to send out missing persons releases too often, because we don’t want people to sort of tune it out.”
Edwards said when police Chief Clive Weighill came to Saskatoon, one of his top priorities was revamping how the service handled missing persons cases.
“We took a lot of the hoops that had to be jumped through out, and so now they’re streamlined. We take them very seriously,” she said.
“But we also want to keep the public engaged and want them to help as much as possible, so we do a lot of discussions around missing persons news releases, and notifying the media and that kind of thing,” Edwards said.
She said these kinds of cases can hit hard.
“You never get used to it, it’s just an awful way to end the investigation,” she said. “As their (Calgary’s) chief said, those officers have spent many sleepless nights and long days looking for this little girl.”
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