Late night Amber Alert shows Ontario’s worst side

Late last night, Peel Regional Police used Canada’s Emergency Alert system to issue an Ontario-wide Amber Alert to secure assistance finding 11-year-old Riya Rajkumar after she was abducted by her father.

Many received the text alert just after 11:00pm EST. Shortly afterwards, Ria was found deceased.

Several people took to social media to voice their frustration that the emergency alert woke them up.

This push notification is a great idea and should stay, but the execution is awful. I thought it was a nuclear attack or something, heart still pounding. Doubt I’ll be sleeping tonight #AMBERALERT #heartattack

— magisa233 (@magisa233) February 15, 2019

Worst tweet of the year…How do you call an amber alert a dick move?!?!? pic.twitter.com/hDRUlmSipe

— Youtube: MJS.TV (@mjstv_fr) February 15, 2019

Who the FUCK wants to be waken up from an amber alert at 12AM?! I’m not John Wick, I’m not gonna hop out of bed, suit up and searching the streets.

— devon (@IlIIIIIIIIlll) February 15, 2019

WTF #AmberAlert it’s 11:30 PM and some of us sleep…@TELUS how to I opt out?????

— Sonny (@browninfosecguy) February 15, 2019

Okay the “yay, amber alert is over” notification really doesn’t need to be an emergency alert with an alarm. It really doesn’t.

— Martin Zarate (@Pxtl) February 15, 2019

Following the complaints, the police service tweeted: “Our communications bureau is receiving numerous calls to 9-1-1, complaining about the late hour of the Amber Alert. As a direct result of someone receiving the alert, we were able to locate the suspect & his vehicle. The system works. Thank you to all those that called with tips.”

As of April 6th, all Canadian carriers are required to support the CRTC-mandated wireless public alerting (WPA) system. The WPA allows various public safety agencies to issue nation-wide messages to warn of various emergency situations, including fires, flooding, tornadoes and Amber Alerts.