Police, government working to improve N.L.'s public alert system

Following last month's deadly mass shooting in Nova Scotia, police and government officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are working together to address the province's public alert system.

"The all-around collaborative approach here in the province between the RNC and the RCMP, and certainly government officials here, has been immediate," RNC Const. James CadigantoldThe St. John's Morning Show. "To recognize and understand how we can better and more efficiently provide information to our community."

"Any time that we can take advantage of a resource that's going to get information to our community quickly, in a time of crisis, we're going to take advantage of that," Cadigan added.

The close look into the province's public alert system comes after officials in Nova Scotiafailed to issue an emergency alert to cellphonesbefore a 51-year-old man killed 22 people on April 18 and 19.

Since its inception, Newfoundland and Labrador's public alert system has been used three times.

The first use was in January, advising of an amber alert in Corner Brook. Since then, the province has issued two COVID-19-related alerts.

Municipal Affairs and Environment Minister Derrick Bragg said the government has been working to make the public alert system more accessible and easier to use, with remote access being a main focus. Before recent changes, only one person in the department had the authority to send alerts.

"We've made some great changes since [January]," Bragg said.

"Now we're working with the RCMP and the RNC so that they can either issue it [directly], or we can issue it from our office. And we've trained everyone in our office or [are] in the process of training everyone in ouroffice on issuing an alert. It's not dependent on one person anymore."

Bragg says at least 80 per cent of workers in the department have now been trained to issue an alert.

RCMP Sgt. Paul Peddle, who has worked to improve the alert system, said it now serves as another tool for law enforcement to use to help get information out to the community.

"We have so many tools at our disposal that we can use in these types of situations. But I believe this provides us with a stronger insight to the situation," Peddle said. "We're very fortunate and we're looking forward to working with the government on this initiative."

Members of both the RCMP and RNC will also be trained in issuing alerts, allowing them to limit delays and streamline their response to emergencies.

Still issues to address

While Bragg said the system has been improved in previous months, he said there are still pieces that need to be looked at. For example, those who have their cellphones shut down when an alert is released would not receive it.

"If you were in a dead zone, and your cellphone wasn't able to pick up service, you would not have gotten that alert," Bragg said.

"There are some drawbacks to it. It's going to be almost impossible, if not impossible, to reach 100 per cent of the people, 100 per cent of the time."

The system also has a character limit, something Cadigan said must be considered when trying inform the public of a threat.

"It's important to consider what information is the most important information to provide to the community, and how we can get that out quickly," Cadigan said.

"Obviously social media is an important tool and of course this emergency alert system and the ability to reach the community will certainly promote the ability to reach our community in a time of crisis."

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