(File photo/paNOW)

By Teena Monteleone

alert confusion

RCMP explain confusion over initial emergency alert

Sep 7, 2021 | 1:34 PM

Questions are being raised about an emergency alert issued Sunday night that caused confusion and for some, panic in the province.

Around 8:45 p.m., RCMP sent out a SaskAlert advising residents to ‘avoid the community’, but it didn’t specify which one. It also wasn’t immediately clear what crime had been committed but advised the public to ‘not leave a secure location.’

It wasn’t until half an hour later, that the SaskAlert was reissued and the public was told about the search for a suspect involved in a shooting on James Smith Cree Nation.

A screenshot of the initial emergency alert from RCMP failed to indicate which area it was for. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

In an email to paNOW, Saskatchewan RCMP said, “At 9:05 p.m, the Saskatchewan RCMP became aware that not everyone was seeing the location information in the broadcast’s immediate alert issued at 8:46 p.m. on September 5. The Saskatchewan RCMP quickly identified what was causing the issue and an updated SaskAlert with the location information was issued at 9:13 p.m.”

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Saskatchewan RCMP did not offer any other details on what may have caused the lack of information in the first place.

They did say, however, there are currently thirteen RCMP employees trained within the division to independently issue SaskAlerts.

“They complete quarterly mandated training to maintain their alert issuer status and provide feedback for continuously modifying and enhancing our divisional procedures/response. Saskatchewan RCMP employees (police officers and civilian employees) at all ranks, including our Senior Management Team, participate in the quarterly training to strengthen employee knowledge of the role of the public alerting system in critical incidents,” the email said.

The uncertainty about the alert was widespread, with people from as far away as Martensville wondering if the alert affected them. The Saskatoon Police Service received multiple calls and were forced to clarify the incident was not related to the Saskatoon area.

Adding to the confusion was the fact that not everyone received the alert on their phones.

In an email to paNOW, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said the emergency alert issued by the RCMP through SaskAlert was restricted to specific regions and was not a province-wide alert. However, anyone in the province with the app installed on their phone who have chosen to receive province-wide notifications may have also received it.

Radio and TV broadcasters will also issue all critical alerts issued by federal, provincial and local alerting authorities.

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**This story was amended to include more information from Saskatchewan RCMP in regards to how they train and utilize the emergency alerting system.

teena.monteleone@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MonteleoneTeena