Amber Alert worked in N.L., but police say emergency text alert could have been faster

A scary situation in Corner Brook, N.L., had a peaceful resolution on Thursday, but questions are being raised about why it took the provincial government so long to send an emergency message to cellphones.

Some Amber Alerts in other provinces prompted complaints from people about the loud, flashing emergency alerts on their devices, but people in Newfoundland and Labrador are asking why it took 2½ hours for the message to go out.

An Amber Alert was issued at 3:15 p.m. after a 12-year-old boy was allegedly abducted by his father. The emergency alert didn't go out over the cellular network until 5:35 p.m.

By then, police already had a lot of information from the public.

"When the media release went out at 3:15, immediately we started receiving a great number and volume of calls and tips on this," said Supt. Pat Roche, commanding officer of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in Corner Brook.

"That helped us lead to a very successful conclusion in this matter."

It's believed to be the first Amber Alert ever issued in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I think you'll always have some sort of a delay, but if we could improve on that it [would be] a step forward.- Supt. Patrick Roche

According to The Canadian Press, the man was arrested at the Marine Atlantic ferry terminal in Port aux Basques, where boats head to North Sydney, N.S.

According to police, he violated a custody order by taking the child. He is charged with parental abduction and stealing a car. Despite the fact he was arrested on the Newfoundland side of the ferry crossing, he is charged with violating a court order to stay in the province.

He appeared in court on Friday and will remain in custody at least until his next court appearance on Jan. 14. There is a publication ban on his name, to protect the identity of the child.

Timeline of events

The RNC began investigating after it received a call at 12:45 p.m. about a boy being abducted. Roche said officers worked fast to verify the information before sending an Amber Alert.

By 3:15 p.m., they were comfortable the information was accurate and issued an Amber Alert to the media, as well as on RNC and RCMP social media pages.

At 4:22 p.m., the RNC requested assistance from the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment to trigger the emergency warning system.

At 5:35 p.m., the warning was sent out.

Just before 7 p.m., the 47-year-old man and his son were found in Port aux Basques.

How does the warning system work?

Roche said his officers passed their information to a provincial government coordinator at the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment responsible for getting it out over the province's emergency alert systems.

The system is owned by Pelmorex, the parent company of The Weather Network. The province began using it in 2018, but this was the first Amber Alert in Newfoundland and Labrador since the system came online.

It is sent out over 4G and LTE networks. Anyone using 3G, or outside of network range, likely wouldn't get the message.

A spokesperson for the department said an Amber Alert doesn't automatically trigger the system; it has to be done manually by its Emergency Services Division.

CBC News asked the department twice for an interview with Minister Derrick Bragg, but instead was sent two separate e-mailed statements from a spokesperson. They did not clarify why it took more than an hour from the time police asked for assistance, other than to say they worked with the police to craft the message and that this was the first request from a police agency to use the new Pelmorex warning system, which the statement says is undergoing testing across the country.

Roche said police want to trim the time between Amber Alert and emergency text message in the future.

"In a perfect world I think that would be great," he said. "I think you'll always have some sort of a delay, but if we could improve on that it [would be] a step forward."

They also want to make sure it is sent out in both official languages, something that didn't happen Thursday.

"We are a bilingual country, we have a bilingual population within our province, and I think it's something we have to take into account," Roche said.

While people have voiced displeasure about the warning system online, Roche said police were "fortunate and happy" with the outcome of an intense situation.

A spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment did not answer whether or not government could tighten the time between getting a request and sending an alert.

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