Late Thursday night an Amber Alert was issued across Ontario for a missing 11-year-old girl from Mississauga. Peel police issued the alert just after 11:00pm, several hours after 41-year-old Roopesh Rajkumar failed to return his daughter, Riya, to her mother.
Shortly after the alert was issued, someone who had seen the Amber Alert come through on their cell phone, spotted Rajkumar’s vehicle driving on Hwy. 400 near Orillia and called police. About an hour after the alert was issued, Riya was found dead at a residence in Brampton, Ontario, and her father was arrested.
Peel police say their switchboard received numerous phone calls after the siren-like alert was issued... But, it wasn’t the welfare of the missing girl the callers were concerned about.
On Friday, between 6:00am and 8:30am, over 40 calls came into 911, complaining about the Amber Alerts, though Sgt. Matt Bertram of Peel police said he imagines there was over 100 calls between when the alert was issued late Thursday and early Friday morning.
Social media also lit up with complaints.
Amber Alerts are rarely issued. Before complaining, it is important to understand that in the rare instances that they are issued they are vital in the recovery of an abducted child.