CAÑON CITY — The Cañon City Police Department (CCPD) said it received complaints on Monday after issuing two Everbridge emergency alerts about two girls, 11 and 12-years-old, who went missing Thursday, June 22.
The alert was issued "hours" after officers were dispatched, according to a press release from CCPD. Officers initially responded around 10:50 p.m.
This was after the girls were reported missing and detectives received information "suggesting that the missing girls might be with people that would put the girls at risk of being exploited or trafficked," according to CCPD.
A Fremont County Deputy found the girls at Rouse Park after the first notification went out. A second Everbridge notification was then released.
Complaints detailed that users did not believe runaway children were an emergency and that users were unhappy about being woken up by the notifications. Some requested to be removed from the notification service list.
"Anytime that we have young children missing in similar circumstances we are going to use every tool in our PD toolbox to find them as quickly as we can," said CCPD Chief John Schick in response to the complaints.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
