(ORILLIA, ON) – The Ontario AMBER ALERT was instrumental in assisting members of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Orillia Detachment to confirm the safety of a child in the City of Orillia last night.
Concerned citizens reported to the OPP that they had witnessed an abduction, reporting a man physically taking charge of a young boy and forcibly placing him in a vehicle – a rare occurrence that is every parent’s and child’s worst nightmare. Immediately, police took all possible investigative steps to acquire more information that would locate the boy. These steps included a canvass of the area, uniform patrols, canine tracking, and interviewing witnesses. All steps were also taken to locate possible vehicle matches. Police engaged in an immediate traditional media release and took to its social media channels to alert the public. Unfortunately, all investigative steps led to no additional awareness of the location of the young boy.
“As police, we were concerned and public safety is our top priority. Time is never on our side in matters of this nature – and with time comes an expanding geography of concern,” says Detachment Commander Inspector Pat MORRIS. Therefore, the OPP engaged the Ontario AMBER ALERT program, which has been enhanced in the past year to include notifications through the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) system.
The decision to utilize the Ontario AMBER ALERT is based on established criteria, and is not taken lightly. In the past 13 years, the Ontario AMBER ALERT program has been used just 33 times — never in the Orillia area until yesterday.
“In this case, the Ontario AMBER ALERT led to numerous calls from concerned citizens who provided us with information on the whereabouts of the young boy. Immediate follow-up confirmed his location and well-being. I would personally like to thank the numerous citizens who called and used their social media channels to assist with this matter,” adds Inspector MORRIS.
“I also thank the vast majority of the public for their support for the use of the NAAD system for this AMBER ALERT. However, I am disappointed with the numerous calls and social media postings that have expressed anger and frustration with the personal inconvenience caused by the NAAD system messages. While I will apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, we won’t apologize for using all of the tools available to us to find a missing child,” says Inspector MORRIS.