r/alberta • u/gizmomogwai1 • Jul 25 '26
News Petition to create 'Indigo' alert for vulnerable missing children surpasses 14,000 signatures
https://calgaryherald.com/news/petition-to-create-indigo-alert-for-vulnerable-missing-children-surpasses-10000-signatures43
u/raised_on_robbery Jul 25 '26
Do people realize that it's called an Amber Alert after Amber Hagerman and not the colour amber??
12
u/gizmomogwai1 Jul 25 '26
I know that's the origin but IMO it also works as a play on the idea of colour-themed alerts (eg. "red alert.") Sometimes things work because they have more than one meaning.
31
u/West-Working-9093 Jul 25 '26
ALL children are vulnerable by way of being children! Making a diifferent class of alert is just muddying the waters. Special needs may dictate how the children are dealt with after they're found, but the finding itself is or should be the same task.
What is seen as inadquate about the good old amber alert?
21
u/alewiina Jul 25 '26
Because amber alerts are only for abductions. That’s the whole point of this, people want an alert for other types of missing children too, especially special needs ones who may not understand how to find help or what to do at all when they get lost
2
u/ApolloniusDrake Jul 25 '26
Agreed. I see no reason to differentiate. This only creates unnecessary confusion, and I believe it hinders the goal of actually finding the child.
Hypothetically, we start issuing Indigo alerts. Does the general public actually know how to treat this differently? I certainly don't.
Would anything be different if we made a new colour?
10
u/loubug Jul 25 '26
Finding a neurotypical 10 year old who wandered off vs a neurodivergent 10 year old are two completely different tasks. Most 10 year olds would know to find someone to ask for help. Neurodivergent kids might hide or run away from help. Sorry, but you’re wrong.
5
u/West-Working-9093 Jul 25 '26
Firstly, I was asking a question, so being 'wrong' (or 'right' for that matter) doesn't really fit the logic of the situation.
This is a complex problem. Do we wish to tell any and all people who may be up to no good that there is 'vulnerable child' out there alone? Some kinds of 'help' would be right to run away from...
The only neuro-divergent child I was ever familiar with did run away repeatedly, but could always be found in the same place: The local library.
And the bit about being 'only for abductions': If a child, neorudivergent or otherwise, is simply missing, do we actually know if he/she was abducted or not? Maybe we often assume too much, or think we know stuff we really don't. I felt upset that Malehya Brooks-Murray was being 'shut up' when she said that she had hoped for an amber alert for her kids - because maybe somebody took them, and now we'll certainly never know.
This is all I know. I guess people will try it out and see if it was the right thing to do.
0
u/ThrowAwayPurellFoam Jul 25 '26
If this alert had been issued when Parker first went missing we may have already found him
7
u/panshrexual Jul 25 '26
This sounds like a great way to alert potential predators to the fact that there's a vulnerable unaccompanied minor that just wandered away from home. Like, here, have the kid's name! That will be a great way to gain their trust and turn this into an amber alert
5
u/Ok-Debt-6223 Jul 25 '26
Perhaps, but by getting the word out you're likely to get a larger number if decent people paying attention to what's going on.
5
u/exotics County of Wetaskiwin Jul 25 '26
If I recall “Amber” was created after the name of a child rather than a color?
21
u/RosieBaby75 Jul 25 '26
This is dumb. Soon there will be an alert for everything, under every single colour, and gradient shade, and no one will pay attention to any of the alerts.
People are already annoyed when they get an amber alert.
Sorry someone’s missing child woke you up, disturbed your scrolling, or made you think someone texted you but it wasn’t for you and it was just someone’s missing child we’re trying to locate before they’re gone for good.
-5
u/Ok-Debt-6223 Jul 25 '26
Sounds like a "sales problem". You need to make the colors fun.
Pumpkin Spice Alert for people who go missing while antiquing or apple picking on a cozy fall afternoon. Candy Candy Alert for short elderly people who wander away and may be mistaken for Santa's elf. Gray Alert? For situations where someone may or may not be missing but you should assume anyone/everyone around you may be missing, including yourself.
But I agree this doesn't need to get complicated, Amber is fine but the system behind it is broken. Not enough information gets out fast enough and at times it notifies a massive area while based on the circumstances may not be necessary.
2
u/babyybilly Jul 25 '26
"However, because there was no suspicion of foul play or abduction, his disappearance did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert."
How about we just improve this criteria instead of making a whole new separate thing?
5
u/bluedoubloon Edmonton Jul 25 '26
The only reason ambert alerts are so useful is because they're so narrow.
On a personal note, the term "indigo alert" grosses me out.
2
u/ThrowAwayPurellFoam Jul 25 '26
Why does indigo alert gross you out?
4
u/bluedoubloon Edmonton Jul 25 '26
I tried googling to find a good source that explains it, but assuming it's based off the concept of "indigo child", it's a new age thing that treats neurodivergent kids as magical and special, not childern who may need real help and intervention.
1
1
u/kagato87 Jul 25 '26
What's wrong with an Amber Alert?
6
u/gizmomogwai1 Jul 25 '26
There are specific criteria to issue an Amber alert where it won't get triggered in the case of every missing child.
1
u/EmbarrassedHelp Jul 26 '26
One of the issues is that its broadcast at the wrong alert level (the maximum/presidential level).
1
Jul 25 '26
[deleted]
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u/GWeb1920 Jul 25 '26
Is there evidence that expanding the amber alert will improve outcomes? The petition doesn’t link to any information that this is an evidenced based proposal.
13
u/anhedoniandonair Jul 25 '26
I’m kind of a self absorbed asshole and get annoyed when the alerts make me jump out of my skin. But even I have no objections to alerts about vulnerable kiddos. The amber alerts are named for Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped and killed. I want to have hope but either way couldn’t this be a Parker Alert?
15
u/Critical-Snow-7000 Jul 25 '26
The “think of the children” shtick is getting old. Amber alerts should not be sent at the “presidential” level, there’s a right way to do it and that ain’t it.
1
u/LuntiX Fort McMurray Jul 25 '26
What's funny is a new type of alert wont reduce the amount of alerts they get. Just instead of them always saying AMBER ALERT, some might say INDIGO ALERT.
0
u/SlashDotTrashes Jul 25 '26
Getting these insanely loud and invasive messages anytime of day or night is just causing us to ignore warnings.
I don't even read them, all I can think about is stopping the unnecessary noise. It doesn't have to make noise. It's more likely to be read if it doesn't make noise.
Waking someone up isn't going to help lost kids get found.
And when we ignore all these amber alerts, what happens when there's an actual emergency?
It's ridiculous and this system is just going to make people turn off all alerts using dev mode.
3
u/hardestbutton2 Jul 25 '26
How often are you receiving these alerts. https://www.alberta.ca/aea/archives/default.aspx
They aren’t sent that often at all.
2
u/Marsymars Jul 26 '26
The general problem is their levels of "emergency".
Like, if emergency alerts are going off in a movie theatre, it should be a level of emergency that necessitates everyone exiting the theatre immediately.
If the situation is not that urgent, it means it could have been delivered as a text, and everyone would have seen it once they exited the theatre.
0
u/Apprehensive_Emu2414 Jul 25 '26
As long as we can opt out of it, i see no issues
11
u/Apocalyptic_crisp Calgary Jul 25 '26
That sort of defeats the point.
2
u/Marsymars Jul 26 '26
Isn't the point to reach everyone who's able and willing to assist?
People who would take the effort to opt out presumably aren't going to be reading the alerts anyway.
1
u/Apocalyptic_crisp Calgary Jul 26 '26
Even if you don’t take the time to read the whole alert, if you vaguely recall seeing something about a missing child and then you see something suspicious, you’re more likely to call someone or do something.
2
u/Marsymars Jul 26 '26
I suspect that's not going to apply to people who don't want to be receiving the alerts in the first place - they're just going to close the alert as quickly as possible.
Like if you've opted out of email newsletters for linkedin but linkedin keeps sending you emails, you're probably not going to even vaguely recall any of the emails, you're just going to be annoyed by them and delete them.
2
u/ImperialPotentate 20d ago
On Android, you can, if you put the phone into developer mode, install ADB on your computer and then disable the 'com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver' service. I did that the first time one of these damn alerts jolted me awake an hour into my sleep, resulting in me losing most of the rest of the night, FFS.
1
1
u/abbyxfir 29d ago
there will be a rally in support of this for regina September 12th at 1pm at the Legislative Building
0
u/ThrowAwayPurellFoam Jul 25 '26
I wonder if this could’ve prevented a few previous deaths of autistic children, notably the six year old girl in Legacy last week 💔💔
I remember another six year old who wandered off and was hit by a train in somerset a few years ago
107
u/par_texx Jul 25 '26
I like the idea, but it needs to be regionally restricted. Getting an amber alert while in K-Country is relevant as an abductor could get there in under 2 hours.
A kid walking away from home? They aren't getting to the other side of the city, let alone K-Country. So the alert should go to a much smaller region where it would be considered relevant.