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'Big improvements' coming to Amber Alerts

Police will soon have the ability to send alerts directly to your smartphone 'whether you want them or not'
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From left to right OPP Acting Sgt. Pierre Gautier, Paul Temple, Doug Bingley, Kathleen Griffin, Peter Amoogam. Sue Sgambati/BarrieToday

ORILLIA — Upgrades to the Amber Alert system will allow police to preview audio messages before being broadcast.

"Enhancements to the system will give us the ability to review text, check for spelling errors and grammar, fix it before it's submitted for broadcast," said Acting Sgt. Pierre Gautier, the OPP Amber Alert coordinator. "There will also be a higher quality voice message."

The OPP held a conference at its headquarters in Orillia Thursday with its Amber Alert partners: Paul Temple of Pelmorex, Doug Bingley of Central Ontario Broadcasting. Kathleen Griffin of the Ontario Media Relations Officers Network and Peter Amoogam of the Ministry of Transportation.

Investigators from various police services were in the audience and the media was invited to sit in on a panel discussion.

"In this new system, there will be big improvements," said Bingley.

Temple told the crowd that one of the tricks is to avoid abbreviations and acronyms.

"No system is going to be perfect," Temple said. "We will always have issues with pronunciation but it's far better than what we're experiencing now." 

A spectator asked the panel if the repeated Amber Alerts on television would be changed after a flood of complaints from viewers.

The conference was told the system is complicated but the problem is being addressed.

"It's being worked on now," said Bingley. "Is it fixed? I don't believe so. In radio it is much better but it will probably be another year before it is fixed."

Panel members addressed questions often raised by the media and public about the amount of time it can take to sound an Amber Alert.

Griffin said certain criteria must be met and police don't want to sound the alert prematurely. 

"For the criteria to be met, there has to be some investigation," said Griffin. "They've got to dot their Is and cross their Ts before an Amber Alert is issued."

Griffin said there are other avenues to put the word out while investigations meet the threshold. 

The conference discussed how rapidly-changing technology can impact the Amber Alert system.

Amoogam says the province is participating in a pilot project that would allow police to target alerting to smartphones in specific geographic areas.

"Police can bring up a map, draw a circle around the area they want to target and all cell companies will activate phones in that area," he said.

"You'll get them on your smart phone whether you want them or not."

The partners also vowed to ramp up public education about Amber Alerts and why they are called in order to address public misconceptions about the system. 

"It's only when a child is in danger," said Bingley.

"It really is a matter of life and death."


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Sue Sgambati

About the Author: Sue Sgambati

Sue has had a 30-year career in journalism working for print, radio and TV. She is a proud member of the Barrie community.
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