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ciroccojWho here knows what Code Adam means?
Here's the blurb from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
Code Adam, one of the country's largest child-safety programs, was created and promoted by the Wal-Mart® retail stores and named in memory of 6-year-old Adam Walsh whose abduction from a Florida shopping mall and murder in 1981 brought the horror of child abduction to national attention.
When a customer reports a missing child to a store employee, a "Code Adam" alert is announced over the public-address system. A brief description of the child is obtained and provided to all designated employees who immediately stop their normal work to search for the child, and monitor all exits to help prevent the child from leaving the store.
If the child is not found within 10 minutes of initiating a store-wide search, or if the child is seen accompanied by someone other than a parent or guardian, store personnel contact the local police department and request assistance.
Since the Code Adam program began in 1994, it has been a powerful preventive tool against child abductions and lost children in more than 45,000 stores across the nation. Wal-Mart®, with the help of NCMEC, has generously offered other retailers the opportunity to implement this powerful tool against child abduction."
For more information, go to
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/ServiceServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=588
I've seen the Code Adam decal in Wal-Mart stores in Kingston, Ottawa, and London. I've also seen it at several other malls in all three cities.
Why am I going on about this?
Chris and the boys called me yesterday from Toronto. Their flight had been delayed, but according to airport personnel they were still going to make it to Ottawa at 4:25. While we were on the phone, their plane started to board, so they had to go.
Fast forward to 4:15. I got to the airport, which has been rebuilt in the last year, and I asked where arrivals were, since I couldn't find any signs pointing the way. I was directed to an area with baggage carousels and a big group of people waiting at the bottom of a set of escalators. Apparently that's where passengers are met.
I couldn't find a display showing which flights were late, on time, arrived, etc. I asked a passing Air Canada employee, and she said, "No, there isn't one. Anywhere in the airport. It's ridiculous."
I asked a few of the people waiting which flight they were waiting for, and they said, "The Toronto flight" or "The Calgary flight." The display over one baggage carousel showed a flight from Calgary, another from another city, and SG144 Toronto, Chris's flight.
So I waited. Passengers started to come down, and were met by their friends and family. Lots and lots and lots of passengers. They moved to the carousels and picked up their luggage. Lots of luggage. I kept waiting. Finally I was the only person left waiting, and it looked like everyone was off the plane. I found a uniformed person, asked if that was all the passengers from the plane, and was told he didn't know and had no way to find out. Finally, about 10 minutes after everyone else had come out, one lone passenger came down and I asked, "Are you coming in from the JetsGo Toronto flight?"
"Yeah."
"Is anybody else coming?"
"I don't think so - I think I was the last one."
By this point, the carousel was empty.
I went to another uniformed person, starting to get worried. They told me to go to the information desk, and ask the person there to page a JetsGo representative to meet me.
Went to the Info desk, getting more and more upset.
"Why don't you go up to the JetsGo desk? It's on the third floor." (We were on the first floor, BTW).
"Can you page a JetsGo rep to come meet me?"
"Ma'am, your best bet would be to go to the third floor."
"But I don't know my way around and I don't know where my children are - they're 3 and 6, they were supposed to be on the plane-" (by this point I was really getting worried, and quite irritated at this person; I'd been listening to her paging people who'd left their lights on, people who'd misplaced luggage, etc, etc. I figured letting her know there were children involved might light a fire under her.)
"Ma'am, go to the JetsGo desk."
"Well, can you page security?"
"Ma'am, your best bet is to go and check with JetsGo-" and at this point panic started to set in. She was completely calm and firm, and the fact that I'd told her my children were missing, and that it didn't seem to make any difference whatsoever, got to me in a very visceral way.
"Could you please page security? My children are 3 and 6, and they were supposed to be on that plane-"
"The elevator is over there," she pointed in a vague direction (the elevator, BTW, was around a corner, and there were no large signs pointing the way. At least, none that I could see in the state I was in).
I gave up on her and hurried across in the direction she'd indicated. Saw a desk for "Air Porters" or something, and asked them for help. Told them my children weren't on the plane they were supposed to be on, and I didn't know where the JetsGo desk was, or where the security desk was-
"Why don't you go to the Info counter?"
"She wouldn't help, she wouldn't page anybody. Can you page anybody, or get security, or..."
Blank looks. They had no idea how to get in touch with anybody. One of them pointed the way to the elevator, and one of them agreed to let me leave my belongings with him while I went to search for security or JetsGo. When I asked, "Well, what do you normally do when a child is lost in the airport??!" they looked very blank, and were unable to answer.
Keep in mind that at this point I'd told nobody that my children were supposed to be with their father. I figured that would cause everybody to just relax and pat me on the head, and tell me I had nothing to worry about. Which, in retrospect, was no different from how they were reacting to me not saying their father was with them.
At this point, a security guard showed up. Ambling, because it couldn't be called walking, towards me. Very calm, very disinterested. I don't know if somebody had called him, or if he just noticed the fuss and came over to investigate.
I was going into full panic mode and other passengers were starting to notice. I was starting to make a scene - in part because I was genuinely panicked, but also in part because I hoped that somebody would go into "scene containment" mode and remember what to do when a child got lost. Since none of them seemed to care about the safety of my children, I thought they might at least care about not letting a scene get out of hand, and not have some woman breaking down in front of the other passengers, panicking about her children and letting the other passengers see that Ottawa Airport has no procedures in place to deal with missing children.
No such luck. The guard was completely blase, listened to me repeat my story, said, "Well, then, let's go to the JetsGo counter," and started to slowly make his way to where I assumed the elevators were. I asked if we could please hurry, and he smiled and said, "Don't worry, miss, we'll get you there."
Went up the elevator. He got out, pointed to the JetsGo counter, far away, and started ambling over. I sprinted and left him behind.
Got to the counter. Repeated my story. Asked them to check to see if Chris and Daniel Rae had indeed gotten onto the flight.
"Did they call you?"
"YES! I just told you that! They called me as the flight was boarding!"
"Um, OK, sure, let's see what we can do here..." and they looked up the passenger list. Found Chris and Daniel.
"Did the flight land? Are all the passengers off?"
"Well, you'd have to see down there-"
"Can't you find out?! My kids were supposed to be on the flight, everybody waiting down there met whoever they were waiting for, the luggage is gone from the carousel, the sign over the carousel doesn't even list their flight number any more-"
"Well, ma'am, I'm not sure what else we can do for you... it says here that they got on."
"But can't you call security or something, or find out if everybody on the plane got off-"
"I'm not sure what you'd like us to do... maybe you can talk to somebody in security..."
At this point I was completely freaked out, crying and pretty hysterical. I had no idea what was going on, was getting no help from anybody, nobody seemed the slightest bit upset that two small children were missing, and I didn't know what else to do. I pulled out my phone, running back downstairs to see if I could find a security desk myself, and called my mother. Told her what was going on, told her I didn't even know where I could find a security guard, told her nobody would give me any information - and then I saw Chris and the kids coming down the stairs.
I can't describe how I felt at that point. I was completely unglued, and couldn't stop crying. At least twenty minutes had passed since I'd started trying to find my family. I don't think the situation itself would have been so frightening if it hadn't been for the growing realization that anything could have happened to my children, and nobody in the airport had a clue what to do, or any inclination to even try to figure out how to help me, or them.
As far as I can figure out, the problem was that there was another flight coming in from Toronto, and that's the one that came in at 4:20 or so. With no displays showing what flights were arriving, there was no way to tell which plane had deboarded. Chris's flight apparently had very few people on it, and came in half an hour late, but there was no way for anybody to find that out.
In a way, all's well that ends well, although I was quite rattled for the rest of the night. But I called the Media Relations rep for the airport last night and told her what had happened. I'm speaking to her later today, after I have some facts on my side re. child abductions, Code Adam, etc. I'm drafting up a letter to send to airport security, airport media relations and publicity, and the Ottawa Citizen.
It's just horrifying to me that malls have procedures to protect children, but an INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT does not. And it's sickening that they have so many excellent security measures that went into place after September 11 to prevent people from bringing nail scissors or shaving razors on board, but nothing to prevent children from being kidnapped or lost.
Well. Off to work on that letter now.
Here's the blurb from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
Code Adam, one of the country's largest child-safety programs, was created and promoted by the Wal-Mart® retail stores and named in memory of 6-year-old Adam Walsh whose abduction from a Florida shopping mall and murder in 1981 brought the horror of child abduction to national attention.
When a customer reports a missing child to a store employee, a "Code Adam" alert is announced over the public-address system. A brief description of the child is obtained and provided to all designated employees who immediately stop their normal work to search for the child, and monitor all exits to help prevent the child from leaving the store.
If the child is not found within 10 minutes of initiating a store-wide search, or if the child is seen accompanied by someone other than a parent or guardian, store personnel contact the local police department and request assistance.
Since the Code Adam program began in 1994, it has been a powerful preventive tool against child abductions and lost children in more than 45,000 stores across the nation. Wal-Mart®, with the help of NCMEC, has generously offered other retailers the opportunity to implement this powerful tool against child abduction."
For more information, go to
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/ServiceServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=588
I've seen the Code Adam decal in Wal-Mart stores in Kingston, Ottawa, and London. I've also seen it at several other malls in all three cities.
Why am I going on about this?
Chris and the boys called me yesterday from Toronto. Their flight had been delayed, but according to airport personnel they were still going to make it to Ottawa at 4:25. While we were on the phone, their plane started to board, so they had to go.
Fast forward to 4:15. I got to the airport, which has been rebuilt in the last year, and I asked where arrivals were, since I couldn't find any signs pointing the way. I was directed to an area with baggage carousels and a big group of people waiting at the bottom of a set of escalators. Apparently that's where passengers are met.
I couldn't find a display showing which flights were late, on time, arrived, etc. I asked a passing Air Canada employee, and she said, "No, there isn't one. Anywhere in the airport. It's ridiculous."
I asked a few of the people waiting which flight they were waiting for, and they said, "The Toronto flight" or "The Calgary flight." The display over one baggage carousel showed a flight from Calgary, another from another city, and SG144 Toronto, Chris's flight.
So I waited. Passengers started to come down, and were met by their friends and family. Lots and lots and lots of passengers. They moved to the carousels and picked up their luggage. Lots of luggage. I kept waiting. Finally I was the only person left waiting, and it looked like everyone was off the plane. I found a uniformed person, asked if that was all the passengers from the plane, and was told he didn't know and had no way to find out. Finally, about 10 minutes after everyone else had come out, one lone passenger came down and I asked, "Are you coming in from the JetsGo Toronto flight?"
"Yeah."
"Is anybody else coming?"
"I don't think so - I think I was the last one."
By this point, the carousel was empty.
I went to another uniformed person, starting to get worried. They told me to go to the information desk, and ask the person there to page a JetsGo representative to meet me.
Went to the Info desk, getting more and more upset.
"Why don't you go up to the JetsGo desk? It's on the third floor." (We were on the first floor, BTW).
"Can you page a JetsGo rep to come meet me?"
"Ma'am, your best bet would be to go to the third floor."
"But I don't know my way around and I don't know where my children are - they're 3 and 6, they were supposed to be on the plane-" (by this point I was really getting worried, and quite irritated at this person; I'd been listening to her paging people who'd left their lights on, people who'd misplaced luggage, etc, etc. I figured letting her know there were children involved might light a fire under her.)
"Ma'am, go to the JetsGo desk."
"Well, can you page security?"
"Ma'am, your best bet is to go and check with JetsGo-" and at this point panic started to set in. She was completely calm and firm, and the fact that I'd told her my children were missing, and that it didn't seem to make any difference whatsoever, got to me in a very visceral way.
"Could you please page security? My children are 3 and 6, and they were supposed to be on that plane-"
"The elevator is over there," she pointed in a vague direction (the elevator, BTW, was around a corner, and there were no large signs pointing the way. At least, none that I could see in the state I was in).
I gave up on her and hurried across in the direction she'd indicated. Saw a desk for "Air Porters" or something, and asked them for help. Told them my children weren't on the plane they were supposed to be on, and I didn't know where the JetsGo desk was, or where the security desk was-
"Why don't you go to the Info counter?"
"She wouldn't help, she wouldn't page anybody. Can you page anybody, or get security, or..."
Blank looks. They had no idea how to get in touch with anybody. One of them pointed the way to the elevator, and one of them agreed to let me leave my belongings with him while I went to search for security or JetsGo. When I asked, "Well, what do you normally do when a child is lost in the airport??!" they looked very blank, and were unable to answer.
Keep in mind that at this point I'd told nobody that my children were supposed to be with their father. I figured that would cause everybody to just relax and pat me on the head, and tell me I had nothing to worry about. Which, in retrospect, was no different from how they were reacting to me not saying their father was with them.
At this point, a security guard showed up. Ambling, because it couldn't be called walking, towards me. Very calm, very disinterested. I don't know if somebody had called him, or if he just noticed the fuss and came over to investigate.
I was going into full panic mode and other passengers were starting to notice. I was starting to make a scene - in part because I was genuinely panicked, but also in part because I hoped that somebody would go into "scene containment" mode and remember what to do when a child got lost. Since none of them seemed to care about the safety of my children, I thought they might at least care about not letting a scene get out of hand, and not have some woman breaking down in front of the other passengers, panicking about her children and letting the other passengers see that Ottawa Airport has no procedures in place to deal with missing children.
No such luck. The guard was completely blase, listened to me repeat my story, said, "Well, then, let's go to the JetsGo counter," and started to slowly make his way to where I assumed the elevators were. I asked if we could please hurry, and he smiled and said, "Don't worry, miss, we'll get you there."
Went up the elevator. He got out, pointed to the JetsGo counter, far away, and started ambling over. I sprinted and left him behind.
Got to the counter. Repeated my story. Asked them to check to see if Chris and Daniel Rae had indeed gotten onto the flight.
"Did they call you?"
"YES! I just told you that! They called me as the flight was boarding!"
"Um, OK, sure, let's see what we can do here..." and they looked up the passenger list. Found Chris and Daniel.
"Did the flight land? Are all the passengers off?"
"Well, you'd have to see down there-"
"Can't you find out?! My kids were supposed to be on the flight, everybody waiting down there met whoever they were waiting for, the luggage is gone from the carousel, the sign over the carousel doesn't even list their flight number any more-"
"Well, ma'am, I'm not sure what else we can do for you... it says here that they got on."
"But can't you call security or something, or find out if everybody on the plane got off-"
"I'm not sure what you'd like us to do... maybe you can talk to somebody in security..."
At this point I was completely freaked out, crying and pretty hysterical. I had no idea what was going on, was getting no help from anybody, nobody seemed the slightest bit upset that two small children were missing, and I didn't know what else to do. I pulled out my phone, running back downstairs to see if I could find a security desk myself, and called my mother. Told her what was going on, told her I didn't even know where I could find a security guard, told her nobody would give me any information - and then I saw Chris and the kids coming down the stairs.
I can't describe how I felt at that point. I was completely unglued, and couldn't stop crying. At least twenty minutes had passed since I'd started trying to find my family. I don't think the situation itself would have been so frightening if it hadn't been for the growing realization that anything could have happened to my children, and nobody in the airport had a clue what to do, or any inclination to even try to figure out how to help me, or them.
As far as I can figure out, the problem was that there was another flight coming in from Toronto, and that's the one that came in at 4:20 or so. With no displays showing what flights were arriving, there was no way to tell which plane had deboarded. Chris's flight apparently had very few people on it, and came in half an hour late, but there was no way for anybody to find that out.
In a way, all's well that ends well, although I was quite rattled for the rest of the night. But I called the Media Relations rep for the airport last night and told her what had happened. I'm speaking to her later today, after I have some facts on my side re. child abductions, Code Adam, etc. I'm drafting up a letter to send to airport security, airport media relations and publicity, and the Ottawa Citizen.
It's just horrifying to me that malls have procedures to protect children, but an INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT does not. And it's sickening that they have so many excellent security measures that went into place after September 11 to prevent people from bringing nail scissors or shaving razors on board, but nothing to prevent children from being kidnapped or lost.
Well. Off to work on that letter now.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 09:42 am (UTC)That's horrible that an airport wouldn't have anything like that (or employees who don't know about it), let alone no monitors with flight details.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:39 pm (UTC)See, Wal-Mart, I can understand - there's plenty of exits, lots of kids there, one kid could easily get lost in the crowd and spirited out through any exit. No wonder they have procedures in place.
If a kid was lost in Home Depot, they could be taken out through one of the doors, but there aren't that many. And (comparatively speaking) not that many people take their kids to Home Depot, so it's not like a lost child situation is likely to come up all that often. And yet Home Depot still thinks kids are important enough to spend an hour of training time on Code Adam.
But then the Ottawa International Airport, where there are plenty of kids running around, who could be taken off in a plane to another country, doesn't think the topic merits any attention whatsoever?
WHAT??!!
Re: *slobber*
Date: 2004-01-09 06:28 pm (UTC)There are quite a few exits (though I'm not sure how many compared to WalMart) - exit, entry, seasonal (all the plants and stuff), receiving, and the lumber doors.
But yeah, I agree with you totally :)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 09:52 am (UTC)What a nightmare. I'm truly appalled at their attitude.
I hope that between you and the media relations person, you can cause enough of a stir to make a difference.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 10:26 am (UTC)I can't believe the attitudes of the people you had to deal with yesterday. I mean-- judging from their lack of concern and action-- it's almost like you were reporting a pair of lost gloves instead of a couple of missing kids.
Still, glad to hear that it all ended well. Give 'em hell in that letter! ;-)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:43 pm (UTC)Yeah, that was a big part of what freaked me out. Smiling and nodding and brushing off a passenger who's lost their favourite pair of gloves is one thing, but... CHILDREN??!!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 12:21 pm (UTC)Having spent a vast percentage of my employment fielding questions from the public, hearing stuff like that pisses me off to no end, especially since your kids were involved. ::growls at asshats::
Wield the pen! The pen of anger and righteous indignation! Because that shit? Is unforgivable.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:46 pm (UTC)I wonder what battle cry this would engender ;)
Yeah, I'm wielding the pen. So far I'm just in contact with the Media Relations person at the airport, but I'm giving her a little while to come up with something, and then I'm going to the paper. I only hope this is something they'd find newsworthy. "Ottawa International has no idea how to deal with lost children, nor any interest in securing the safety of same." That should raise a few eyebrows... I hope.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 03:36 pm (UTC)I don't suppose this will make you feel any better, but believe me, here it would have shut the place down, and been on the 6 o'clock news.
Glad everyone's safe and sound.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:54 pm (UTC)Yeah, see, most of the time I'm pretty grateful to live in the Land of the Relatively Laid Back. We seldom get too worked up about much. Gay Scout leaders? Prayer in the schools? They (mostly) get met with a resounding, "Meh." And people don't generally worry that their actions or inactions will result in serious consequences like a lawsuit or negative publicity or anything, because generally, they won't.
But yeah, last night I would've been thrilled to sense some good old American Fear of the Overly Litigious. Just to get somebody, anybody, to MOVE.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:59 pm (UTC)Thanks. So far I've only contacted the Media Relations person at the airport. We'll see how that goes.
It's clear to me
Date: 2004-01-09 04:49 pm (UTC)Wish I could.
You're handling it very proactively. I'm proud of you.
Sarah
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 04:58 pm (UTC)LOL!!
Thanks ;)
Actually, I realized just how rattled I still was last night because of my alcohol consumption. I generally have one glass on wine with dinner if Chris is there to offer it, and don't drink more because I start to feel the effects after two.
Last night I had three glasses of wine and didn't feel any intoxication at all. Felt slightly steadier, and that was it. Scary.
You're handling it very proactively. I'm proud of you.
Thanks :)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-10 04:52 pm (UTC)But we have access to the paging systems and I've never been afraid to use it. A few days ago I had a lost little boy who had wandered away from his parents come to my counter crying - I tried to calm him down and paged his parents, using the "full airport" code. And I know the number for the airport police by heart. (And had my hand on the phone when his parents finally arrived)
We're not all that uncaring, really, we're not. At least I'm not.
But we need a procedure like that, and I think I have something to talk to my Manager about tomorrow.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-10 06:15 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's what my mom said after I talked to her about what had happened. She's a ticketing agent at Ottawa Airport. Said basically the same thing; it's a passing-the-buck mentality that leaves everything up in the air and everyone clueless.
The thing was, though... I've worked at jobs where the employees weren't adequately prepared for emergencies. And I can imagine what my reaction would have been, had a child been lost at, say, Fort Henry (major tourist attraction in Kingston). I would have been frozen at first, then roundly cursed my employers for not having the sense to realize that, DUH, with this many kids running around, someone is bound to get lost... and then I would have tried to do what I could. Even if it was just call 911 and try to keep the parent from freaking out. I would have done something. Not just stared blankly at them and hoped they'd take their unplanned problem elsewhere.
But we need a procedure like that, and I think I have something to talk to my Manager about tomorrow.
Good luck with that. Please let me know if anything comes of it, because I want the Ottawa Airport to get something in place and it might be nice to be able to say, "Look, the following airports have these simple procedures... why don't you?"
no subject
Date: 2004-01-10 07:09 pm (UTC)Exactly. That's part of our jobs! (your mom would probably agree with me on that) Some of the best moments I've had at my job - the few moments of job satisfaction I get - are when I actually help someone by taking control of a problem rather than shuffling it off on someone else or hoping it will go away. Too many of the people I work with do just that, too often.
And I promise to let you know if I have any luck!