Opinion

Dear Editor:

     Hi Gail. I enjoy your town talk articles and the passion and spirit that accompany them. There are times that you ask a number of questions on given topics or incidents. I am not sure if people write to you in response to provide you some answers to those questions.

   As a young man born and raised in the Pass and one who has also delivered the Pass Herald as a youth, I thought perhaps I should make an effort to help add some clarity to your questions and make a contribution to the Herald based on my 20 years of experience in Law Enforcement.

   The Pass Herald is an institution in the Crows Nest Pass and I thank you and your staff for allowing us to access some of the contents of the paper through the internet. It provides former residents an opportunity to keep current with events and issues that develop within your community.

   Although I live on Vancouver Island, many of the challenges and concerns facing the pass residents are not unique to your community particularly when it comes to the Criminal Justice System and issues relating to Law Enforcement.

   In your article, you were wondering why it took three hours for police to issue an amber alert in the investigation involving the kidnapping of a 6 year old by an 18 year old. I don’t know the facts of the case and can only speculate like others, however I have certainly been involved in a significant number of cases where children have been reported missing by parents or relatives with a happy ending. In these instances, if there is any evidence that leads to the facts that the child was abducted then the amber alert would be activated immediately. The Amber Alert system is a North American alert system and readers can find all the information they need on the topic on the internet.

   They can also go to their local police department and ask about the program there. In short, an amber alert notifies the public throughout North America through media outlets that a child has been abducted. If however, the only information available is that the child did not come home as scheduled, or didn’t show up at a given location as expected, that is not enough information to activate an amber alert. It would take away the effectiveness of an amber alert if it was activated without due diligence. There are identical protocols for activating the Amber Alert in both Canada and the United states. I have attached them from the internet.

To avoid both false alarms and having alerts ignored as a "wolf cry", the criteria for issuing an alert are rather strict. Each state's or province's AMBER alert plan sets its own criteria for activation, meaning that there are differences between alerting agencies as to which incidents are considered to justify the use of the system.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice issues the following "guidance", which most states are said to "adhere closely to"[5]:

1. law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place

2. the child must be at risk of serious injury or death

3. there must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor's vehicle to issue an alert

4. the child must be 17 years old or younger

   As investigators, we are required to examine every possible scenario to make certain it is an abduction rather than that the child has simply decided to be elsewhere due to a breakdown in communication between the child and the parents or relatives. I continue to respond to a number of these calls and to date have always located the child somewhere other than where they are supposed to be. We live in a world now where in many cases; both parents work outside the home (dayshift and nightshift) and rely on other support services to help take care of their children.

   Inevitably, there is a breakdown in communication. Adding to the mix, are those youths who in anger refuse to come home after a morning dispute with their parents but decide not to tell their parents as a form of punishment. There are also those parents who are involved in custody disputes where one interprets the court order differently than the other. As such, it is not uncommon for a parent to call me and emand an amber alert because their ex- husband or wife refuses to return the children pursuant to a court order. I am confident that without these strict protocols we would be in constant amber alert mode given today’s dynamic world. Having said that, there are incidents when children are abducted and although the ratio is very low, the fact that it does happen, keeps us all on “alert” and thinking the worst when a child is not accounted for. We simply have to look at our local schools to show how we as a society have evolved when it comes to protecting our children. When I grew up in the Pass, most of us walked to school and only when the bitter cold hit, were we driven. Today, traffic congestion is such a problem at our schools everywhere that we have officers assigned to assist in the safe flow of traffic in the morning and afternoons.

   When new schools are being built, traffic flow receives significant consideration. I hope this helps clear up your enquiry about the amber alert and perhaps it may stimulate your readers to also learn about the program. I wish you and your staff a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous new year.

Rick Maillot