[quote]Missing 13 Year old Located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
The search for missing 13 year old Austin LARGE ended happily this morning after he was located alive and well in Port Edward, British Columbia - a small community 15 kilometers east of Prince Rupert.
Background: (Hamilton Police Services)
On September 22, 2008, the Hamilton Police Service commenced a missing person’s investigation after receiving information that Elias LARGE and his 13 year old autistic son, Austin had failed to return home from a fishing trip. Hamilton Police Service’s investigation revealed that Elias LARGE was suffering from stress related to the break up of his marriage and behaving abnormally prior to his departure. An AMBER Alert was issued for the boy and his father.
Update:
Shortly after 9am on Saturday, September 27th, 2008, an extremely perceptive citizen contacted Prince Rupert RCMP to report the whereabouts of Elias and AUSTIN LARGE. This citizen became suspicious of the two after having a conversation with them in the small community of Port Edward. Her intuition led her to a website containing the AMBER ALERT where she recognized the photographs posted as the father and son she had just previously spoken to. Recognizing the urgency of the situation she immediately called police and provided them with the vehicle’s description and direction of travel. Her quick response paid off less than twenty minutes later when police located the vehicle occupied by both Elias and AUSTIN LARGE.
Austin LARGE is presently with British Columbia’s Ministry for Children and Families who are making arrangements for his return home to Ontario. Elias LARGE has been detained by police and the Prince Rupert RCMP will continue to work in close partnership with Hamilton Police Services in this investigation.
The RCMP would like to commend the citizen responsible for locating Austin LARGE. This is a classic example of how concerned community members truly are the eyes and ears of the police. The return of Austin LARGE can be credited to the Amber Alert entry and the concern and resourcefulness of one individual who listened to her intuition and provided all of the necessary information to police. The information she provided is directly responsible for this happy outcome.[/quote]
Wow, that is awesome! Whenever I hear an amber alert, I always think “Oh, I’d better keep an eye out!” but then, I think “naw, there’s no way that these people would be all the way out here”
I hate to play Devil’s Advocate here, but is it possible that people are eager to jump to conclusions? Perhaps, in a case like this, the boy and his father had to decided to head West to try and catch some late Coho or something in more tidal areas of the Skeena (IANAF, this may be complete bollocks), and a slightly neurotic mother phoned in a missing child?
I’m not saying that the Amber Alert system is completely flawed, I just worry that we are being encouraged to give ourselves up to a police state, to reconcile ourselves to living in a state of constant surveillance.
To continue my play at Devil’s Advocate: If I, a 24 year old with no biological offpsring of my own (that I know of, giggity), were to phone the RCMP about my fictitious child being abducted, could I whip the entire province into a frenzy?
At least from my angle, it appears to be an interesting corollary of privacy vs. security.
Disclaimer: It’s 6:22am, so my coherence may vary.
6:25am edit: I totally only read the first half of CrazyMike’s post, but using your awesome powers of imagination, you can totally come up with your own hypothetical situation like the one upon which I was speculating.
Man, this is a tough issue, and one to which I will be the first to admit that I don’t have all the answers.
But even if we are one child’s last hope, is it worth giving up all sense of personal privacy to protect that child? I mean, we might as well all implant GPS transponders in ourselves so that the government has an easier time finding us, in case we abduct children. Right?
I’m sorry if my sarcasm comes across as condescending, but I would draw a the 9/11 analogy: Is it worth trading freedom for security?
I guess that what I’m saying is that the line between the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ has become awfully blurry to me.
It’s like what MiG posted in the wheelchair vs. museum thread: The picture of Mrs. Lovejoy from the Simpsons, with the “But won’t somebody please think of the children?” caption.
I mean, if I may play Devil’s Advocate one last time, isn’t saying that a deadbeat dad shouldn’t have “alone time” with his children because he may harm them, the same as saying that people in motorized wheelchairs shouldn’t be allowed near playgrounds because they might harm them? If you have to write a blank cheque to cover one possibility, don’t you have to write a blank cheque to cover all possibilities?
6:37am: I realize that in the particular case that spawned my entire tirade, the Amber Alert may very well have been entirely justified. I’m just sayin’…
There’s a little more to the story than what was posted here.
The father and son didn’t show up at the lake they were supposed to go fishing at.
This would raise concern not only for the son but the father too.
The son is autistic and was without his medication…another reason for concern.
Was there a custody order in place? If the mother had custody then the father could
be in violation of that order by removing the child from the jurisdiction.
Many children who are abducted by non custodial parents suffer mental harm, physical abuse, sexual abuse and in a very few cases, death.
I agree with provincial legislation that puts the welfare of the child before family
autonomy.
Some good points made on both sides. To err on the side of caution, in this case check the AMBER ALERT website and see that there was in fact an alert.
it really is not up to us to decide about the amber alert, the authorties OPP and or RCMP decide on what neccestates such an alert. I agree that the I SPY in the Sky network is alive and well, but I would take the chance that I may be wrong, better safe than sorry.
Yeah, thumbs up to whoever it was that spotted that kid. Even if it turns out to be an innocent father and son fishing trip.
Better safe than sorry when it comes to the safety of a child.
It’s the citizens of our community that stand up and take their rightful place in society by making a contribution as opposed to being part of the problem, that make Prince Rupert a great place to live.
I can only imagine how grateful I would be to the person who spotted my child if they were missing.
