Discussions

Last night my husbands phone got an amber alert for a child last seen on the 401 which is Toronto area. It then came again at 11:22 pm.  
 
I did not know we were to get amber alerts. like you get for tornados.  
 
I understand urgency, but chances of a Manitoba person seeing her at 10:30 at least 20 hour drive away is slim.  
 
It woke us up twice.  
 
It did not come on my phone which is same model and same carrier. So it is another glitch in the system.  
 
This summer my husbands phone never did get the alert tests when mine did.  
 
Also my condolences to the family and friends of the girl.

I got the alert too.  
 
In the settings of your phone you likely have that feature turned off.  
I stumbled across that setting once.

The little girl from the amber alert, was found dead at the hands of her father.  
 
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/police-investigate-death-of-11-year-old-brampton-girl-in-amber-alert-1.5020744

How do they know that MB residents aren’t on vacation elsewhere or that the abductor hasn’t traveled?  
 
Someone’s child was missing, then murdered.....an alert on our phones really isn’t anything to complain about in the grand scheme of things. I am saddened that people felt the need to call 911 to voice their complaint....over a noise....  
 
RIP sweet child!

As if it wasn't bad enough that he kills her, but on her birthday custody visit no less, I want to call him worse things but lets just leave it at scum, as sammy said, RIP little one

Alerts from other areas of Canada will just detract from when there is one that is relevant to our area. The 401 heading east will not impact me in Brandon at 11:00 pm.

Where did you read/hear that people were calling 911 to complain about the noise?  
 
I think everyone would agree that this is a terrible tragedy but as others have already stated in the post an Amber alert for residents in Manitoba to watch for a vehicle on the 401 is not a proper use of the system. If I was identified as being in the area because of my location detector on my phone is on then I could see receiving it but as mentioned in a previous post the effectiveness of the alert system will be lessened if alerts for a specific area go out nationally.

It is in the articles online about how people were calling 911. It’s also all over fb with people complaining about the alert and how it’s too loud and woke them up

The system works great and is targeted appropriately. Let's not assume that people don't travel! You could be on vacation in Ontario driving on the 401, does it not make sense to get the alert. It's great we have this national alert system and People ought to not complain about it!

Nope, its stupid we got it here. 401 heading east, towards quebec. Yet manitobans got woken up for nothing. Don't get me wrong, terrible that girl was killed but with technology now they can target so much better than they are.  
 
Its to the point i've disabled LTE now so i wont get them as there is no other option to opt out or turn it off on my iphone. I got 2 in a row making my phone and watch vibrate for almost a full minute. Hour later, another one saying its cancelled, waking me again. I woke up and saw the first 2 and saw 401 and went back to sleep.  
 
The government needs to use technology properly if they are trying to force this down our throats. Any smart phone that has LTE has GPS and we all know the government can track our phones and likely does. They can easily target the alerts based on location, SO if you are travelling in Ontario then yes based on the location you would get it. Me, however, 20 hours west of the location, shouldn't get it.

Interesting. I didn't get it on either of mine (Telus phone & tablet). Wonder if it was carrier specific (eg. Rogers or Bell only), or if Telus dropped the ball again.

Also, I'm pretty sure there is a way to disable amber alerts in the settings of both droid and iOS. The only one's you can't drop are the highest level priority (what my tablet labels as presidential, bases on its main target market). I haven't changed any of them since I haven't really had any amber alerts (aside from the one from months ago).

So what's the geographical restriction then that you put on sending out an alert? 500km, 1000km? Then what if that missing person ends up out of that alert bubble and now what, send another alert to a new bubble? Sounds complicated, time wasting and unnecessary. Better to just blast everyone give everyone a heads up and hope that one of the millions of people that get it know something or see something. Very, small inconvenience I would say getting the alerts. I am sure most people woke up fine this morning after losing a little bit of sleep. And if it bothers you that much shut your phone off!

What was interesting about this is that I have NEVER received any of the "Test" Amber alert messages (same phone), but I DID get this one for the Toronto area. I put my phone on silent overnight, so I only received it this morning.  
 
Samsung Galaxy S7 on Rogers.

Will I receive emergency alerts on my wireless device if I’m travelling to another province or territory within Canada?-  
 
 
Yes. Emergency alerts are issued to a defined geographic area, such that only people in the defined area will receive the emergency alerts. If you are travelling and happen to be in another province when an emergency alert is issued, your compatible wireless device will receive the emergency alert within seconds of being issued, provided your phone is powered on and connected to the LTE cellular network. There is no need to enable the location services on your wireless device to receive alerts.  
 
Will I receive emergency alerts on my wireless device relevant to where I live while I am travelling away from home?-  
 
 
No. If you are travelling, you will only receive emergency alerts that occur where you are.  
You can keep track of emergency alerts occurring in specific areas (e.g. where they or other family members live) through a number of available apps and online services.  
 
I think the system needs work. No one is saying it should not be in place and is not a benefit. If I lived in that area I understand but there were children missing in Saskatchewan in the summer and I never got alerts for them. And I was with in 3 hours not 20 hours as was the case this time.  
 
Also it obviously is flawed if not every phone got the message. As I mentioned 2 iphones with bell and only one got the alerts in the same house.

I disabled LTE so now they cant blast me over problems 20+ hours away.  
 
The government can set a rough distance of who/where should get these alerts.  
 
Im not saying they are useless or the events arent important, they just serve 0 purpose so far away when multiple police agencies are already looking for the person and the local area residents are as well thanks to this alert.  
 
The system sort of works, just not nearly as well as it should. Half the people dont get the alerts and the ones who do are wondering why something from Toronto is being blasted to Brandon MB.  
 
Edited by Suckie, 2019-02-15 10:36:20

I am saddened adults on here are complaining about a message that woke them up when it is someone's child that is in danger. Please take a moment and think about if it impacted a loved one of yours. You would want all measures to be taken to get them home safely.  
 
Don't care that the 401 isn't anywhere near us, but you are not aware of the circumstances or details of this little girl's disappearance. Even though we were alerted late at night, you don't know the amount of time she was already missing for already.  
 
A slight interruption into your evening can be forgotten about when it could potentially help someone.

The news had stories already about it, the local police waited something like 3-4 hours before issuing the amber alert when they knew this guy was unstable and threatening himself and the little girl.  
 
I'm not heartless and dont care someones daughter was killed, my comments have nothing to do with that. Its these alerts they force on us, the system is flawed and needs improvement. I dont think anyone bashing the alerts is saying what happened wasn't horrible.  
 
Edited by Suckie, 2019-02-15 10:39:57

I can see that there are flaws based on what people in this forum are bringing up, and I can imagine over time it should get better. For people to complain, call the system ridiculous and (not here ) but call 911 to complain is a bit much. Send feedback to the alert ready site and your carrier help them improve it and in the mean time don't let it bother you so much when you do get an alert, even when it has nothing to do with you. We should be grateful that we are adopting this national alert system using cell technology.

Well said Your Majesty.  
 
I would much rather have a text alert than a child at risk, no matter where in the country. Travel can and will happen fast and easy if need be.  
 
I did not see the text alert until very early this morning as my cell is set to mute notifications from 10 pm - 7 am, but it's all a good thing for the sake of the safety of a child.  
 
Anyone who complains might have a different perspective should it be their own family member in a dangerous situation.

I did not receive the amber alert notification (also with Telus). I am perturbed I did not get it. Amber alerts are only issued in very specific cases (5 in 2018). This is a valuable tool and, yes, they are only relevant to a small number of people. The point is people travel great distances quickly and often change directions. Consider the 30 second interruption a luxury tax on living in a country where we only needed 5 amber alerts last year.

I'm with Telus and I received all the alerts

I realize that some people are upset, but if there was even a .001% chance that this alert could have helped find the little girl in time, I think it was worth doing.  
 
What if it was your little girl that was missing?  
 
Edited by JoshuaP, 2019-02-15 12:46:15

We got the alert, too, as well as seeing it on the news. The odds were slim that this child was in Manitoba, but if I knew she was in my area, I would have walked up and down every street in town to find her. What if it had been your child or a child you loved?????? People complaining about these alerts are truly heartless. I prayed she would be found safe, sadly this morning I learned that it ended in tragedy. This mother lost a child, the world lost a dear little soul, and you are bitching about a bit of lost sleep? Give your head a shake.

I imagine the child's mom was grateful to.havebthe alert sent everywhere, just in case-and I suspect most of you complaining about getting the alert would complain if it were your child and the alert went out only to a restricted area (easy to deny that as long as you are not in that position!!!) We have 2 Roger's phones in the house, one got the alert and then the cancellation, the other got nothing at all. The alert did not wake me up-and it would have been okay if it had. People complain far too much about anything and everything.

The Amber Alert, sadly, didn't save the little girl, but it did result in the arrest.  

Our communications bureau is receiving numerous calls to 9-1-1, complaining about the late hour of the Amber Alert. As a direct result of someone receiving the alert, we were able to locate the suspect &: his vehicle. The system works. Thank you to all those that called with tips.

&mdash: Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) February 15, 2019

Sorry to use this post as an example hisluvmonkey but I feel the point of a few posters on here has been missed. You said you got the alert last night as well. You said you realized the chances were slim that the child could be in Manitoba but if you knew she was in the area you would walk up and down every street. So did you? Did you get bundled up and walk up and down every street? Or did you do like every other single person did in Brandon who received the alert: say "Oh my. that's awful" and go back to what you were doing. Not judging, but the fact is you realized that the alert was not for anything even remotely close to where you live and your search would have been in vain.  
 
The point that pinkflamingos and others are trying to make is the Amber alert system is an exceptionally good thing and we have the technology available to make it work very effectively but the more it is used incorrectly the less effective it is going forward.  
 
Let me give another example.....(continued)

In the spring of 2018 an RCMP officer was shot outside a home in Onanole. The shooter and a 2 or 3 other perpetrators were armed and at large for a number of hours after the shooting. Word spread very quickly on social media, here n eBrandon and by text messages/emails all of which was very helpful and worked to make people in the area aware, alert and stay safe. You know what didn't happen? There was never an Amber Alert.  
 
My point again is this can be a wonderful system and we have the technology to have targeted areas that are effective for Amber Alerts to go out but it is not being used effectively or consistently and if that doesn't improve it will lessen the impact it could have and won't save lives like it has the potential to do.  
 
I guess by some of eBrandon's panel of exerts that makes me "heartless" and insensitive.

I felt as though my insults were necessary because my thought is that the OP was stating their sleep for an extra minute was more important than alerting the public about an 11 year old girl. This whole post shouldn’t have been posted as it is ignorant and heartless.