By Harriette Halepis
Source acquired via the Vancouver Sun, April 29, 2010, Vancouver, Canada – The Vancouver company that manufactures the Amber Alert GPS tracking system has been caught using false information in order to sell trackers. The Amber Alert website states that more than 60,582 children disappeared in Canada in 1997, though this isn’t entirely true.
What the website neglects to state is that nearly 76% of the 60,582 cases reported during 1997 were teenage runaway cases – not child abduction cases.
This is an important distinction, since the Amber Alert system is targeted at parents of young children. The owner of the Amber Alert company, Ken Corey, told press that “it most certainly is not or was not our intention to mislead visitors to our website…by no means do I want to appear to be selling fear, but more of selling ‘peace of mind.’”
Corey went on to tell press that he intends to clarify the numbers listed on his site. According to Corey, the numbers listed on the Amber Alert website were taken directly from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police website. While the RCMP website does list these numbers, the site also states that most children who disappear are teenagers who simply run away from home.
The Amber Alert website does state that 285 parental abductions took place in 1997 – a true fact. Whether or not Corey meant to twist the facts remains unseen. Still, many argue that the Amber Alert device is unsafe. Since this device was devised in order to allow parents to listen-in on and track children (the device is equipped with a microphone that can be activated via cell phone), various child advocates believe that the device is unsafe.
Those who want to stop the sale of the Amber Alert system in Canada argue that this system could put children in danger if it slipped into the wrong hands. Amber Alert claims that the systems are only sold to parents of children, but this doesn’t provide any comfort, since many children are abducted by parents. The Amber Alert GPS tracker will be reviewed by the government of Canada within the next few weeks.
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Amber Alert Canada is the worst company I’ve ever dealt with.
Horrible horrible customer service.
A completely fraudulent company. The owner Ken Corey will take your money and send you a piece of crap that doesn’t work. Then won’t give you a refund.
Blames all the problems on the supplier.
Do I care? You’re a theif!
You should be aware that this company is not, in fact, the manufacturer of the tracking device at all. They only have permission to sell in Canada. The real manufacturer, in Utah, is a highly trustworthy company that honestly has the saftety of children at heart.
I have done business with these Canadian guys and was HUGELY disappointed. I will never do business with them again.
I will only deal with the original and real company in Utah.