Complaints about the Amber Alert issued to cellphones across Ontario during the early hours on Thursday have started popping up on social media as well as complaint calls to 911 and police services.
“Surviving on only a few hours of sleep thanks to heart attack inducing 3 a.m. Amber Alert wake up call. Is there a way to disable them?” wrote one user on Twitter.
The alert, which was broadcast just after 3 a.m. on Thursday at the request of Brantford police, said a two-year-old girl had been taken from her home by a 37-year-old suspect believed to be her father. The two were last known to be leaving Brantford at around 12:18 a.m, according to police who called the situation a child abduction.
At 4:15 a.m., an update on the Amber Alert Ontario Twitter page announced the alert was cancelled and the child was “located safe.” Police said she was found in Hamilton.
Brantford police issued a statement that they received numerous phone calls to their communications line, to 911 and messages to a public email account about the alerts.
“Unfortunately, people have taken the time to show their displeasure with the Amber Alert program,” wrote police in a news release.
Here is a list of comments released by Brantford police from their public email account:
- “Why did you have to send two Amber Alerts for the same event? My phone received at 3:04 a.m. and 3:36 a.m.”
- “You guys are absolutely crazy with your Amber Alerts. I live six hours drive away, in another province and you feel waking me up at 3 a.m. is required.”
- “Perhaps if you do your job, we could sleep.”
- “Yes, I leave my phone on, but not because I want to be harassed by law enforcement, because I have [an] elderly parent who may have a legitimate need for help.
- “Respectfully, do your job and stop harassing citizens.”
- “Please, please work on technology to stop unnecessary and health damaging alerts to people asleep. Soon people will find solutions that negate any good that might come from Amber Alert program.”
- “3 o’clock in the **** morning- no- I haven’t seen her. This went off five **** times. I am in Oshawa . What in the **** are you thinking?
- “Please stop sending the Amber alerts to our phones in Ottawa. Since the abduction is in Hamilton, there is no way that the suspect is up in Ottawa, six hours away. We have things to do in the morning and this is the second time this night that the phone has woken us up, and it seems Brantford Police Services appear disproportionately on our phones here.”
With the middle-of-the-night alert came more complaints on social media. One person took to Twitter, criticizing the system as a whole: “The #AmberAlert system in Canada is ineffective. It needs a serious, thoughtful overhaul. There are lots of flaws in its implementation, and no one should be content with a flawed system being used to track down missing children.”
Another user wrote: “#AmberAlert is it really necessary to break through the Do Not Disturb setting at 3:30 a.m.?”
Earlier this week, a petition was launched asking that fines be implemented for people who call 911 to complain about Amber Alerts.
Dalia Monacelli, the petition’s creator, says she plans on sending the petition to Premier Doug Ford’s office and the Ontario attorney general, according to Change.org.
“People have to understand that when they dial 911, they are taking time and personnel away from actual emergencies and that these actions could COST LIVES!” Monacelli wrote on the petition.
“Please, take a moment to sign this petition and make sure these non-emergency callers get fined for their crime!”
WATCH: Niagara police release 911 complaint call over Amber Alert (May 16, 2019)
An Amber Alert at the request of Peel Region earlier this year after police said a father had abducted his daughter ended with the young girl being found dead.
“I can’t even begin to describe how disappointing and upsetting it is to read the comments, emails and calls to our communications bureau complaining about receiving an Amber Alert late at night,” Peel police media relations officer Const. Akhil Mooken said in February after an Amber Alert was issued for 11-year-old Riya Rajkumar.
Many others have taken to social media to defend the Amber Alert system and criticize those who complain or call 911.
“An Amber Alert is an emergency, an emergency deserves an alert when a child’s life is on the line,” wrote one user on Twitter.
— With files from Ryan Rocca and Nick Westoll.
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