An Amber Alert has expired for five children who police alleged were taken by their father from Jordan, Ont.
The children were found safe by Niagara Regional Police on Wednesday.
The alert was issued by the Ontario Provincial Police at the request of Niagara Regional Police just before 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Police said the children, who range between five and 14 years old, were last seen in Jordan, west of St. Catharines. Officers alleged the children were taken from the family home by their father sometime between Sept. 19 and Sept. 25.
“The children are subject to a temporary custody order and their father is currently in contravention of the order by failing to return them. Detectives are concerned for the welfare and safety of the children,” Const. Phil Gavin told reporters Tuesday evening.
He said a missing person report was filed by Family and Children’s Services Niagara some time up to 24 hours before the alert was issued.
WATCH: How do Amber Alerts work?
In an statement released Wednesday morning, police released an updated vehicle description as a result of information received after the Amber Alert was issued.
Police said the father was seen in the Niagara Region on Tuesday, but the children weren’t observed to be in the vehicle.
Just after 10:10 p.m. ET, Amber Alert Ontario said on Twitter that the alert was cancelled.
“Children have not been located, investigation continues,” the agency wrote.
Gavin told Global News Wednesday morning that there is an expiry time limit of five hours to the alert because if it’s left on for a longer period of time, it loses its urgency.
“I think one of the reasons for that is we never want the Amber Alert to become gray noise, where people just don’t pay attention to it,” he said.
“As you can imagine, your phones are affected, your TVs, your radios, the road signs.”
Comments