Critical Amber Alert

[CaptainCrunch]

The one weird thing. I have my android phone sync'd to my fitbit. I get emails and texts on my watch. But the Amber Alert doesn't notify to my watch. I had my phone charging in the other room when the alert came in, and yeah its loud. But syncing to a wrist device would be nice.

[Acey]

Seeing hundreds of people almost simultaneously checking their phones at the airport was really something to see. At least the thing works.

[Acey]

6:01 am "The situation has been resolved"

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Acey

6:01 am "The situation has been resolved"

Is true

[Acey]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1106894538155716608

[metallicat]

I don't get the alerts on my phone if my phone is on silent, so for maybe precious little ducay, give that a try.

[keratosis]

Apparently found in Okotoks around 5:30 am.

[keenan87]

Originally Posted by metallicat

I don't get the alerts on my phone if my phone is on silent, so for maybe precious little ducay, give that a try.

Comeon now, he admitted it is done for a good purpose.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Was coming out of the dome the first time, but the second one just now was a bit much. Max volume at midnight is no fun

edit: Realize they noted in Calgary, but man, scared the #### outta me.

That's a very fair point. I think the system needs to be tweaked as well. I know for a fact my fast-asleep 12-year-old daughter wasn't going to hop out of bed and solve this crime, so we didn't need to wake her up. My phone was set to 'do not disturb', which this system was able to circumvent to disturb me, too.

Instantaneoulsy virtually deputising the entire population of Alberta to stop a kidnapper is awesome, but last night illuminated some flaws. Maybe if a phone hasn't been accessed for 60 minutes between 10pm and 7am the system would assume the person is sleeping or something? IDK, but there will be a solution I'm sure.

[Fuzz]

I almost wonder if a silent alert would work just about as well. These days people who are awake tend to look at their phones every 5 minutes anyway, and would see the alert. Otherwise, they'd see it when they wake up.

[agulati]

I'm glad to see that the boy was found safe.

My phone was on silent and did not ring at all, so worked like a silent alert. I'm not sure why.

But I pretty much got to know about it right away. Your way might actually work.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Sliver

That's a very fair point. I think the system needs to be tweaked as well. I know for a fact my fast-asleep 12-year-old daughter wasn't going to hop out of bed and solve this crime, so we didn't need to wake her up. My phone was set to 'do not disturb', which this system was able to circumvent to disturb me, too.

Instantaneoulsy virtually deputising the entire population of Alberta to stop a kidnapper is awesome, but last night illuminated some flaws. Maybe if a phone hasn't been accessed for 60 minutes between 10pm and 7am the system would assume the person is sleeping or something? IDK, but there will be a solution I'm sure.

I'd agree, I think there could be some balance in figuring out a happy middle ground. Would be nice if the system respected "do no disturb" or "silent" for certain alerts (Amber), but then didn't for grave emergencies (tornado, fire, flood) where you'd want to alert everyone, including those sleeping. Sounds like it depends on the phone model if it respects the silent/DND mode (Galaxy S9 did not), but would be good to build the different levels into the system itself (likely difficult given I understand its a global model)

Its a powerful system clearly, so it is difficult to argue that an amber alert isn't "critical", but as you mentioned, sleeping people or people at home likely could make do with a silent notification and still be aware so they can be on the lookout when they're actually awake or out and about.

[Duruss]

I was playing music on the TV when the alert game on and it was like 3x louder all of a sudden. No missing that wow. At least the alert seemed to work and the kids safe.

[8sPOT]

These situations are potentially life and death, and for a child no less.

You get that alert out to as many people as possible. Sorry if a critical situation interrupts your beauty sleep. If that's my kid missing I don't give a flying #### about the minor inconvenience to people. I think this system is great.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

These situations are potentially life and death, and for a child no less.

You get that alert out to as many people as possible. Sorry if a critical situation interrupts your beauty sleep. If that's my kid missing I don't give a flying #### about the minor inconvenience to people. I think this system is great.

Hey Einstein. Nobody is saying the system isn't valuable. We're saying it could be improved.

[8sPOT]

What needs to be improved? The goal is to alert as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Mission accomplished.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

What needs to be improved? The goal is to alert as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Mission accomplished.

Well I'm not going to type the same thing twice. Just look up a few posts.

[8 Ball]

I pretty sure the point of an alert system is to alert people lol. People seeing a silent alert several hours after it was issued would be useless.

[Jiri Hrdina]

How often do these alerts happen? A couple times a year (thankfully) at most?
Given the stakes - I think indeed its ok if the system is blunt.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by 8 Ball

I pretty sure the point of an alert system is to alert people lol. People seeing a silent alert several hours after it was issued would be useless.

Waking up people in the middle of the night is useless and unnecessarily disruptive. Why not just be useless at that point? I'm not going to throw on my coat and start driving around. Should my kids hop on their bikes and start searching, too?

I think people should be allowed to disable these alerts during certain hours. Maybe everyone is allowed to pick 8 or 10 hours within a 24-hour period where they're allowed to be undisturbed.