Editorial - Desensitized

Normally, an incident such as a child going missing has a way of uniting communities to act. But this time when an amber alert was broadcasted across radio and television platforms this past Sunday about a child potentially being taken in Orillia people complained about it interrupting their regularly scheduled television programming.

According to Durham Police, there were about 60 to 70 9-1-1 calls to complain about the alert. Nationally, The Ontario Provincial Police fielded many similar calls.

Not only were people tying up a very important emergency line, but more disturbingly they were showing how much they just don’t care.

Yes, don’t mind that there was a child that potentially could have needed people’s help, please worry instead that you may miss a bit of Downton Abby.

Of course, it did end up to be a false alarm, the boy was found safe with his father. But people didn’t know that at the time. What if it was a real emergency? Most of all though, if it was their child it most likely would be an entirely different story.

Part of the human experience is empathy, putting yourself in the shoes of someone like the child’s parents and imagining the fear that they might have been feeling at the time. But instead, this time humanity hit an all time low.

Orillia O.P.P. Inspector Patrick Morris said he won’t apologize for using “all of the tools available” to help locate a missing child and he shouldn’t apologize because they did the right thing. Even if it was a false alarm, this shows that the O.P.P. took all precautions in this very serious situation. You shouldn’t have to say ‘sorry a potential emergency inconvenienced your life.’

This was the first time that this type of technology has been used, and it is a good thing that it has the range to alert everyone of a potential emergency.. Next time, these people should show some empathy, because the next emergency could be closer to home, and at that time they will need the police’s help.