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Ontario police investigating Amber Alert system malfunction

An Ontario Provincial Police spokesperson says the service is investigating after Thursday’s early morning Amber Alert was not sent to cellphones across the province. Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press/File

An Ontario Provincial Police spokesperson says the service is investigating after Thursday’s early morning Amber Alert was not sent to cellphones across the province.

Shortly before 5 a.m., an Amber Alert was issued as police were looking for a three-month-old girl and her father who had last been seen in the village of Roseneath in Alnwick-Haldimand Township, which is located between Peterborough and Cobourg.

Police then issued a release at around 6:50 a.m. that reported that the child had been found unharmed and her father was in custody.

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While in most cases many people across the province would be woken by the screeching of their phones, the system malfunctioned on Thursday and the alert was only issued to those who live in the area, including Peterborough residents.

“The Ontario Provincial Police is aware that an Amber Alert message was not transmitted to all cellphones across the province,” OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson said in an emailed statement.

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“The Amber Alert was successfully received by those in the area where the child had last been seen prior to her abduction.”

Dickson said police used another system in an effort to get the message out to those in the area of the incident.

“We are working to determine the cause of the problem and ensure it is resolved as quickly as possible,” he said.

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