Have Your Say: Amber Alerts

To the Editors,

The July 18 report on AMBER Alerts in The Haldimand Press highlights controversy over the value of a top-down system. Clearly, when people complain that emergency alerts disrupt their sleep, the real question is: Do the results justify the nuisance? That sounds pretty simple. If the alerts have worked, complaints should stop.

But there’s the problem. The published statement says that of five instances so far this year, “four assisted in the safe return of the child/children and one with the apprehension of a suspect.” This confusing message leaves us with several unanswered questions, for instance:

First, how does the math work? Does the “one” alert refer to a case that is separate from the other four, or does it mean one of the four cases in which a child was also returned? If the latter, apparently one of the five alerts neither saved a child nor identified a suspect. Or perhaps not, but we cannot tell.