Someone launched a petition to fine people who complain to 911 about Amber Alerts

A Toronto woman just launched a petition issued to Doug Ford in support of fining people who call 911 for non-emergencies.

Since the petition launched two week ago, it has over 58,000 signatures and hopes to reach 75,000.

After seeing the umpteenth reminder made by @TPSOperations not to call 911 to complain about Amber Alerts, I got fed up and created this petition to start fining the "complainers".@AMBERAlert #AmberAlert
Please, sign! @CP24 @TorontoPolicehttps://t.co/2TLYuU3GgM

— Dalia Monacelli (@dalya_aylad) July 16, 2019

The petition was triggered by the abduction of 11-year-old Riya Rajkumar from Brampton. In February Rajkumar was abducted by her father and an Amber Alert was sent out across the province in hope of finding her.

Rajkumar was found an hour after the alert was disseminated, but it was too late. She was discovered dead in her father’s basement.

Torontonians’ phones projected a jarring noise alerting them of the desperate situation when Rajkumar went missing. Yet, many people called 911 to complain about the alert.

This incident was not isolated.

After the most recent Amber Alert a couple of weeks ago, again, people called to complain and were “abusive,” according to Cst. Andy Patterson.

In response, Torontonian Dalia Monacelli, a mother herself, launched this petition.

Ontario (generalization), shake your head... An amber alert and ice cream trucks are not 911 emergencies https://t.co/cDRviBHsQ1

— John Hegenbarth (@JHegenbarth) July 21, 2019

Amber Alerts are not the only instance for which Torontonians have inappropriately called 911. Just this past weekend, Peel Regional Police received an emergency call from someone complaining about an ice cream truck.

Hopefully this petition is a wake-up call for the province.