OPP Agrees To Look Into Amber Alert Guidelines
Posted May 26, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a question that kept coming up over the course of the Tori Stafford disappearance: why didn’t police call an Amber Alert?
Doing so would have resulted in relevant information being broadcast on radio and TV, posted at gas stations, on electronic highway billboards, and lottery terminals in the hopes someone would spot the missing youngster.
In this particular case, the response was always the same, whether you asked officers from the Oxford Community Police or the Ontario Provincial Police, both of which were eventually involved: the case didn’t meet the guidelines for an Amber Alert. The main reason here was that police didn’t have a description of a possible abductor, nor did they have any information on a suspect vehicle.
Now O.P.P. say they’re going to review the current rules governing Amber Alerts and see if they need changing in the wake of the tragic case.
“To ensure that the Amber Alert program protects the most vulnerable members of our society, our children, the O.P.P. has taken the initiative to coordinate the review,” said Commissioner Julian Fantino in a release.
The province has said it will take any recommendations coming from the review very seriously.
“Our government is supportive of any measure that proposes to make Ontarians safer, and in particular, that protects children,” notes Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci. “I look forward to seeing the results of the review of the Amber Alert program and if there are recommendations for change, we will certainly look at those.”
An online petition, under the name Tori’s Law, circulated this week, calling for changes that would make it easier for police to issue the advisory, and so far the appeal has gathered more than 22,000 names.
New Democrat MPP Rosario Marchese has promised to deliver it Wednesday at the Ontario legislature – it was started by a woman in Marchese’s riding.
“It appears that there’s a great deal of emotion surrounding some of these issues, particularly the issue of Tori Stafford, and people are saying that perhaps a review might be necessary in terms of the criteria that is used,” Marchese noted.
Last week police charged a man with murder in the case, news that left little question as to Tori’s fate. The youngster’s body still hasn’t been located, and on Monday the search for her remains moved to two lakes in the Guelph area.
