P.E.I. police forces face delay in being able to send emergency alerts

Work to allow P.E.I.'s police forces to have access to the province's emergency alert system has been delayed until June.

Training for the police from the provincial Emergency Measures Organization, or EMO, on how to use the Alert Ready system was supposed to begin in February, but the process proved more time consuming than expected.

"We had to make sure that we could support them and provide enough training opportunities to get everybody that needed to get it done," said Tanya Mullally, P.E.I.'s emergency management co-ordinator.

"So it's been more of a process."

The province uses Alert Ready Canada's emergency alertsystem to deliver emergency notifications by means of radio and television bulletins as well as text messages. So far on Prince Edward Island, those alerts can be issued only by EMO officials.

P.E.I. RCMP as well as the province's three municipal police departments in Charlottetown, Summerside, and Kensington will all have access to the system and need to be trained, said Mullally.

"It just adds another layer of complexity," said Mullally.

"Just our whole training package that we have to do, instead of teaching maybe eight or 10 people now, we're going to be having to teach upwards to 30 or 40."

Soon after the mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020, New Brunswick allowed RCMP to issue alerts through the Alert Ready system on behalf of all police agencies in that province.

Only the RCMP issues alerts there, however, such as one that went out this morning to the Moncton area after shots were fired in a park there.

P.E.I. RCMP Sgt. Chris Gunn said that having access to the alert system will make it easier for his force to get critical information out to the public more quickly.

"Time in these matters, as we all know, is very crucial, and the quicker that we can inform the public what's going on, the safety of everyone improves vastly," said Gunn.

Training planned for June

Right now, the alert system is tested twice a year on P.E.I. by the EMO.

A real alert was only sent out once, in August 2020, when there was a suspected abduction in Summerside.

Training for P.E.I.'s police forces on the Alert Ready system is set for the first two weeks of June.

The four police forces also need to set their own policies and procedures around usage of the system, and Mullally said access won't be handed over until both the training and the paperwork components are complete.

"We're really looking forward to being able to work with policing agencies in this way," said Mullally.

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