Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says changes are coming to the Amber Alert system.
On her Saturday call-in radio program, Your Province, Your Premier, Smith revisited the decision to call an Amber Alert two days after the disappearance of 11-year-old Parker Wells, an autistic boy whose situation didn’t initially fit the criteria required to call an Amber Alert.
“I think it’s very key to have local law enforcement have the latitude to make that call,” she said in response to a question from show host Wayne Nelson, “and they (Calgary Police) asked us and we immediately did the Amber Alert.”
Parents question use of Amber Alert
As the search continues, Parker’s July 16 disappearance has continued to fuel discussion about Canada’s alert system when vulnerable children go missing.
Some have questioned why an Amber Alert was not issued until two days after Parker disappeared.
“I believe that if the Amber Alert went out when it should have, he would have been home,” said Deanna Daher, who has assisted with the search effort.
The Alberta government says police only activate an Amber Alert if four criteria have been met:
- A child or an adult with a proven mental or physical disability has been abducted;
- The child or adult is in danger of serious harm or death;
- There is enough descriptive information to enable the public to identify the child or adult, abductor and mode of transportation; and
- There is a reasonable expectation the abductee could be returned, or the abductor could be apprehended.
Smith suggested to Nelson that in extraordinary cases such as Wells, who functions at the level of a three-year-old, there needs to be some latitude to issue an Alert even if it doesn’t fit into the four criteria.
“Not every case requires this level of intensity,” she said, “but they’ve tried everything. I can tell you there’s been 400 police officers involved, they’ve brought in the fire department, Alberta Fish and Wildlife, Alberta Health Services, trained search and rescue, the (Alberta) Sheriffs, and Calgary bylaw and peace officers.
“(We’ve also had) CPKC -- our rail line -- has been involved, as has the Missing Children’s Society of Canada – and so they’ve gone to extraordinary measures to search homes, to search for over 5,500 search hours, hundreds of hours of CCTV and residential security cameras.
“It really was, at that moment, it (issuing an Amber Alert) felt like the one last thing they needed to get everybody searching,” she said.
Missing Persons Team
Sunday morning, Calgary police posted an update from Lee Wayne of the Missing Persons Team, who detailed the police force’s efforts since Parker was reported missing on July 16.
Search shifts to Nose Hill Park
The west parking lot and trail entrance to Nose Hill Park are closed this weekend as police continue to search for missing 11-year-old Parker Wells.
Police said in a Saturday morning release that the parking lot and pathway entrance off Shaganappi Trail N.W. will be closed throughout the weekend.
“The closure will allow search teams to safely and efficiently conduct operations in the area,” police said.
They added that “the closure should not be interpreted as an indication that Parker has been located or that investigators have information placing him in this area.”
Smith said she’s still hopeful that Parker will be found safe.
“Sadly, he hasn’t been found yet,” she added. “I think we’re still hopeful that he will be, but I think the bottom line is, we have to give law enforcement this additional tool in the event that they need it.”
“And we’ll have to make changes to make that happen in the fall.”
With files from CTV News’ Kathy Le
