B.C. 911 call takers field weekend Amber Alert complaints

B.C.’s 911 call takers say Saturday’s Amber Alert prompted a lot of tips, but also people calling the emergency line to complain when they shouldn’t.

From the time the Amber Alert was issued just after noon to when the kids were found safe, E-Comm 911 says its call volume doubled.

“From a time period of 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. we would usually get about 125 calls. We got upwards of 250 calls within the time frame,” said E-Comm police call taker Farisha Buksh.

While most of those calls were people with tips – or what they hoped was useful information – Buksh says some people were calling because they were confused with the alert or angry about the brief noise and notification.

It can be scary to hear an emergency alert. We are grateful to those who called in with tips on Saturday, but we also received many complaints/questions. During an alert, only dial 911 if you are experiencing an emergency, or have critical info to share about the alert. #911BC pic.twitter.com/4sCOsub2yJ

— E-Comm 9-1-1 (@EComm911_info) March 29, 2022

On Saturday, the Amber Alert was issued at 12:15 p.m. after RCMP said they believed Jason Dalrymple abducted his four-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter and the children’s mother from the Fort St. John area.

Three hours later, Ontario Provincial Police confirmed they found the suspect vehicle and Dalrymple, along with the children and mother in Kenora, Ont. just east of Manitoba. Police say a man was taken into custody and charges are pending.

In an E-Comm 911 video posted to social media about the event, Buksh says call takers understand this was also the first time B.C. used the emergency alert system to issue an Amber Alert.

“A lot of people initially were quite frightened, a little scared not knowing what to do with that alert,” Buksh said. “We do appreciate all the valuable information and tips we did get over the phone, but we do really want to stress that there (are) active emergencies happening. We want to try our best to keep the 9-1-1 emergency lines open for active emergencies.”

Related: Amber Alert cancelled after two B.C. children found safe in Ontario

E-Comm 911 wants to remind people Emergency Management BC is responsible for managing the alerts, and any non-emergency calls related to the Amber Alert should go through that department.

Police files aren’t created for nuisance calls, so the organization doesn’t know exactly how many complaints were made.

“This is unfortunately consistent with what other 911 centres across the country have experienced,” E-Comm wrote in a statement.

In 2019, an early-morning Amber Alert for a two-year-old girl issued in Ontario prompted several complaints to 911 and to local police email inboxes. Another that year in Toronto pushed police to issue a statement asking people not to call 911 to complain.

Similar stories have come out of Alberta and Manitoba.

“We would like to stress that this is simply not an acceptable use of emergency lines and means our call takers, like Farisha, are unable to answer other 9-1-1 calls from individuals who may have critical information related to the alert or from people experiencing unrelated emergency situations,” E-Comm wrote.