(CAÑON CITY, Colo.) — The Cañon City Police Department (CCPD) has received complaints from neighbors in the area over its use of the Everbridge Alert System in the overnight hours of Thursday, June 22 for two missing girls who were presumed endangered.
According to a press release from CCPD, around 10:50 p.m. on June 22, officers responded to the home of a woman who wanted to report her two granddaughters missing. The two girls were 11 and 12 years old, and had last been seen by their grandmother around 11 a.m. when they said they were walking to the park.
CCPD said as part of standard response to this kind of incident, officers began researching the history of the family and trying to find friends of the girls, as well as checking all area parks. CCPD said there was no information at the time that suggested the two girls were runaways.
After several hours of searching, CCPD said information was gathered that suggested the missing girls might be with people who would put them at risk of being exploited or trafficked, and out of “an abundance of concern” for the girls’ well-being, CCPD instructed that an Everbridge Emergency Communication be sent out to help find the girls.
Shortly after the notification was sent, a Fremont County deputy found the girls in Rouse Park, and a follow-up notification was sent via Everbridge to advise the public that the previous alert had been cancelled.
On Monday, June 26, CCPD said the department was notified of several complaints from community members that the notifications unnecessarily woke them up, and some were requesting to be removed from the Everbridge notification program, citing that two runaways were not an emergency.
“While we can understand the desire not to be bothered in the early morning hours, it is the police department’s position and belief that two young girls, aged 11 and 12, who had been missing for more than 12 hours, were assuredly an emergency concern,” said CCPD in its press release.
CCPD Chief Schick apologized for the temporary inconvenience, but implored the community to consider the situation the two girls could have found themselves in had they not been located in a timely manner.
“The circumstances not only warranted the emergency communication, but it also warranted calling out all of our available off-duty personnel to assist in the search and rescue efforts. Anytime that we have young children missing in similar circumstances we are going to use every tool in our PD toolbox to find them as quickly as we can,” said Chief Schick.
CCPD said the decision to use the Everbridge system was not made lightly, and assured the public that the department will not use it in every case of a missing child.
“So far this year, the police department has responded to 52 runaway complaints and all of the kids that have been reported to be missing have been located,” said CCPD. “This incident was the first time with missing children that we elected to solicit help from the public through the Everbridge system this year.”
The Everbridge system is vital to sharing emergency information with the public, and CCPD strongly encourages everyone in the community to register, and to remain registered if they have already done so.
“Please help us to keep you and your loved ones safe,” asked CCPD.
