Ontario woman launches petition targeting 911 Amber Alert complainers

[SchlongConery]

PUT. YOUR. PHONE. ON. SILENT.

It’s not hard at all. I got the alerts last night as well. They did not bother me because my phone was on silent. Yes, your alarm still works in silent mode. At this point, it’s your own fault if one of these alerts wakes you up.

What kind of phone do you have?

I have an iPhone running the current IOS and I have it on Do Not Disturb and also switch the Ringer to Silent, yet I got both claxon Nuclear Bombing Alerts at 3:00 am.

I have done some research over the past weeks and it seems that the Amber Alerts cannot be switched off in iOS in Ontario.


Any help is appreciated.

 

[black booty lover]

What kind of phone do you have?

I have an iPhone running the current IOS and I have it on Do Not Disturb and also switch the Ringer to Silent, yet I got both claxon Nuclear Bombing Alerts at 3:00 am.

I have done some research over the past weeks and it seems that the Amber Alerts cannot be switched off in iOS in Ontario.


Any help is appreciated.

I have iPhone 8 running current IOS, keep my phone on silent. I get the alerts but the same way I phone calls and such. The phone just vibrates.

 

[Grimnul]

I have an iPhone X with current IOS as well. Just switched the ringer to silent, didn’t even put it on do not disturb. Didn’t get the alarm, just saw the notices when I woke up. Rolled my eyes knowing I’d see complaints about it here.

 

[kugel2]

No the issue is the ABUSE of the Amber Alert process

Our last 3 Amber Alerts were:

1- A lost grandfather
2- A woman who lied to police (domestic dispute, no kids involved)
3- A general Alert (total violation since no info on suspect, vehicle etc, it was a lady on a bus, kids were again not involved)

4- Was an actual legit Alert (husband took kids, then killed kids plus himself)
5- An alert sent out more than 12 hours after person was missing



An Amber Alert for those who know anything about it is meant to locate abducted children who are in danger when police have a known suspect
The bullshit they keep sending is garbage and we have every right to complain

(I actually got idea to call 911 from the web but I have been sure to do so and keep them on my call as long as I can)

1) Go to www.alertready.ca , and you'll see that the alert system is for a host of things, not just finding children.

2) The 9-1-1 system is NOT a complaint line. It is for emergency use. If there are any questions what those uses might be, go to the nearest police station or fire station and they will probably have free colouring books WITH crayons (but just the small pack) to help make the point. When a 9-1-1 operator is tied up dealing with nonsense (ice cream trucks or my pizza arrived cold), someone who may actually need emergency attention may be delayed in getting it.

3) Calling 9-1-1 to complain about the Amber Alert system makes no sense at all. They do not issue the alerts, control the alerts, or have anything at all to do with them. In the case of a missing child, if you really want to give 'em hell, by-pass 9-1-1 and ask for the missing persons unit. They are the ones who create and ask for permission to use the system. If the child is still missing, I guarantee that there will be someone there to answer the phone, because they are waiting for tips and information. Calling 9-1-1 to complain about an Amber Alert makes as much sense as calling the weather network to complain about high water levels.

 

[Fathammer]

I use my phone as my alarm clock. I dont have the option to put it on silent for that reason.

Im all for the Amber alerts.

At 3am when approx. 70% of the people are sleeping, I see no real proof that the system works.

My idea would be that you get one, 8 hour span to set the alert system to snooze. After that span, the alert system goes on at 100%. That way, while im sleeping, I dont get bothered because there is really fuck all I can do from bed at that time, nor would I be interested to.

Second option would be to change the fucking sound it makes and the robo narrator!! If it gave me an option to lower the sound or change the hair raising sound at 3am from a deep sleep, id be all for it!

Third option, fix the justice system. Most of these alerts are by divorced parents that use their children as pawns for their own gains. Any caring parent that has their children used against them WILL go ape shit!! A better system must be implemented for child sharing instead of always favoring one parent over another.

As for emergencies, my phone has never went off when a severe weather situation was happening. The system is broke and the police dont care to better it. They are nothing but a bunch of lazy over paid sunshine list leaches who would rather be on paid suspension for life than to do honest police work to keep us safe!

 

[rhuarc29]

I have an iPhone X with current IOS as well. Just switched the ringer to silent, didn’t even put it on do not disturb. Didn’t get the alarm, just saw the notices when I woke up. Rolled my eyes knowing I’d see complaints about it here.

People use their phones for sleep purposes. Some use them for wake-up alarms. Some use them for white noise. Some use them because they're on-call for emergencies they can actually do something about.
Setting on silent is not a fix-all solution.

 

[MuffDiver]

My two cents on what I believe:

Amber Alerts, when used correctly, can be effective.
People who call 911 to complain should be fined. Two wrongs do not make a right and the 911 system did not cause the problem.
Some tweaking needs to be done so people can get a good night's sleep and be productive at work the next day. After all, there is nothing a single guy can so from his apartment at 3 AM regarding an abduction that happened 2-3 hours and 200+ km away from my bed in the middle of the night. I would be happy to read about it when I wake up however, so I can be alert to this issue during my day and help however I can given the opportunity.

On the Samsung 9+, the setting to disable Amber Alerts does not work. I found this out last night, since I disabled Amber Alerts the last time I was awakened twice in the middle of the night.
After I was awakened the first time last night, I then turned my volume all the way down and that did the trick, as when the 2nd message came in ~30 minutes later, that noise did not come from my phone, but a vibrate signal was sent to my smartwatch and that woke me again, so now I have a new challenge.

I am fine with receiving alert when I am awake, but when I am going to bed, I should be able to disable them. I'm a taxpaying adult and I should be able to choose when I want to be disturbed. I would like to be able to receive important calls or messages when I am asleep, just in case. I imagine for parents or caregivers, this is especially important. I want to be able to monitor my sleep patterns too. Sure, I can shut my phone off, or remove the sim card, or take off my watch, but I should not have to.

I've read revoking all permissions from the native messaging app will stop the amber alerts and then you can install some other messaging app, such as Textra. I may try this next, or just start removing my sim card before bed every day and then putting it back in when I wake up.

Anyone else have any good ideas on how to safeguard a good night's sleep?

I wonder how long before there is an article on the corporate cost to this. Having what I imagine to be at least 200,000 people awakened 1 or more times in the middle of the night can't be good for work or safety the next day. I assume there are a lot of drivers on the road today that did not get a good night's sleep last night.

 

[TeeJay]

Anyone who is afraid to stand up for their rights is a tool

If they bug me with false Amber Alerts I will bug them with complaints

I actually told the last dispatcher a promise that even if I witnessed an Amber Alert suspect I would never call them to tell them so stop harassing me

The issue is they are abusing the system at this point

 

[Grimnul]

People use their phones for sleep purposes. Some use them for wake-up alarms. Some use them for white noise. Some use them because they're on-call for emergencies they can actually do something about.
Setting on silent is not a fix-all solution.

Ok, but 95% of people can fix the problem by just setting it on silent. The alarm is not an issue. Your alarm will still go off if your phone is set on silent. I don’t know if it’s that way with all phones, but on iPhones it definitely works that way, I do that all the time, and my friend who has an android phone does the same thing. I think probably a lot of people are just assuming their alarm won’t work on silent and have never actually tried it.

Point remains, calling 911 is fucking idiotic and won’t solve anything. The dispatchers aren’t the ones issuing the alert, they can’t stop the alert, the only thing you accomplish is tying up emergency lines. If you have such a problem with it, go harass your MPP or something, someone who’s actually in a position to do something about it.

 

[Grimnul]

Anyone who is afraid to stand up for their rights is a tool

If they bug me with false Amber Alerts I will bug them with complaints

I actually told the last dispatcher a promise that even if I witnessed an Amber Alert suspect I would never call them to tell them so stop harassing me

The issue is they are abusing the system at this point

It’s not a rights issue, you absolutely ridiculous person. It’s that you’re abusing an emergency service that can’t solve your problem anyway, and potentially endangering other people who may have a real emergency and can’t get through because idiots are tying up the lines to complain about amber alerts. But then, you clearly don’t give a shit about other people.

 

[james t kirk]

PUT. YOUR. PHONE. ON. SILENT.

It’s not hard at all. I got the alerts last night as well. They did not bother me because my phone was on silent. Yes, your alarm still works in silent mode. At this point, it’s your own fault if one of these alerts wakes you up.

I'm on call and need my phone to be on. It is not unusual for me to receive calls at 2 am.

But those are things I can do something about.

I can't do anything about a custody dispute at 3 am in Brantford when I live in downtown Toronto.

The Amber Alert system needs to be revised so people can set times they are not willing to receive these Amber alerts. For me, that would be between 22:00 and 07:00 hours. If I'm asleep, I'm not able to do anything, nor am I about to do anything about a kid who is missing.

If I'm out and about and happen to see something, I will call 911, but I'm not typically out at 3 in the morning.

These kind of things are happening on a weekly basis and it's a bit much already.

 

[basketcase]

I use my phone as my alarm clock. I dont have the option to put it on silent for that reason....

You need to learn how your phone works.

 

[basketcase]

Anyone who is afraid to stand up for their rights is a tool...

By calling 911?

 

[james t kirk]

What kind of phone do you have?

I have an iPhone running the current IOS and I have it on Do Not Disturb and also switch the Ringer to Silent, yet I got both claxon Nuclear Bombing Alerts at 3:00 am.

I have done some research over the past weeks and it seems that the Amber Alerts cannot be switched off in iOS in Ontario.


Any help is appreciated.

Put your phone on airplane mode.

 

[Grimnul]

I'm on call and need my phone to be on. It is not unusual for me to receive calls at 2 am.

But those are things I can do something about.

I can't do anything about a custody dispute at 3 am in Brantford when I live in downtown Toronto.

The Amber Alert system needs to be revised so people can set times they are willing to receive these Amber alerts. For me, that would be between 22:00 and 07:00 hours. If I'm asleep, I'm not able to do anything, nor am I about to do anything about a kid who is missing.

If I'm out and about and happen to see something, I will call 911, but I'm not typically out at 3 in the morning.

These kind of things are happening on a weekly basis and it's a bit much already.

See, I can understand this being a problem if you’re on call and need to keep your phone on, but again, that doesn’t apply to 95% of people, and calling 911 to complain is still pointless and shitty.

If you think there should be changes, cool. I agree there probably should be too. Harassing the 911 dispatchers doesn’t accomplish that, though. Talk to your MPP. Call city hall. Use the correct avenues. Calling 911 does nothing, and I honestly hope they start charging people who do that with misusing emergency services.

 

[John Henry]

Anyone who is afraid to stand up for their rights is a tool

If they bug me with false Amber Alerts I will bug them with complaints

I actually told the last dispatcher a promise that even if I witnessed an Amber Alert suspect I would never call them to tell them so stop harassing me

Canada is so lucky to have such civil minded people like you . You're a credit to society .


OK . I'm standing up for my rights in giving my opinion . I really hope that they continue with the Amber Alert alarms . Reason being just to piss people like you off . The air waves are public , not private . Just because you have a phone doesn't mean that you own the air waves . You pay a fee in using the air waves . If you don't like the service that is provide than cancel your phone and go back to the way things were before . Get a land line .

If you can't get back to sleep if you are awakened in the middle of the night than too friggen bad . Suck it up and deal with it . Looks like many people have never worked shifts and had to sleep during the day . Oh my goodness , my precious sleep time was disturbed . LMFAO .

What did you do not long ago when these fancy phones were not around . Go ahead and keep on complaining to the operators . I'm sure they love listening to idiots complain . I hope the government starts fining people who abuse the 911 call system . Maybe that will make them to shut up .

Yea to the amber alerts . Keep them coming . I love hearing these cry babies complaining about being awaken in the middle of the night

Yes . Amber Alerts when needed . Just to piss people like you off . LMFAO

 

[james t kirk]

See, I can understand this being a problem if you’re on call and need to keep your phone on, but again, that doesn’t apply to 95% of people, and calling 911 to complain is still pointless and shitty.

If you think there should be changes, cool. I agree there probably should be too. Harassing the 911 dispatchers doesn’t accomplish that, though. Talk to your MPP. Call city hall. Use the correct avenues. Calling 911 does nothing, and I honestly hope they start charging people who do that with misusing emergency services.

I would not advocate, nor have I ever advocated calling 911 to complain about these Amber Alerts.

But it needs to be dialed back to reality already.

 

[Grimnul]

I would not advocate, nor have I ever advocated calling 911 to complain about these Amber Alerts.

But it needs to be dialed back to reality already.

Yeah, that’s sensible, I agree. There have been a few alerts that were a bit dodgy and maybe didn’t need to happen. Maybe they should be a little more selective about what they use the system for. I’m just more concerned about the absolute mouthbreathers tying up emergency lines to complain.

 

[Wappa]

I keep my phone on at night in case of emergency...in the event that a family member or friend has to contact me. That being said...

1) people who tie up 911 to complain about things (amber alerts, ice cream trucks, etc) are stupid.
2) police are abusing the system and using it too frequently.

But, aren’t smartphones supposed to be SMART? Like, shouldn’t it be able to filter out an amber alert from fucking
Brantford by virtue of my phone being located in Toronto and me (asleep) at my home location? Is there an app for that?

 

[Smash]

I have a S9+ and like it but I do miss my iPhones silent/vibe switch on their side