MovieChat Forums > Amber Alert (2012) Discussion > child abduction is a priority so why wou...

child abduction is a priority so why would there be no police


the amount of phonecalls made to the police and the ridiculous responses that there were no police to come and aid the couple with regard to the girl being abducted/amber alert is ridiculous and unrealistic

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I kept thinking the same thing the whole movie. Theres no way cops would take that long to get to an endangered child. This movie should have ended at the gas station.

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police incompetency happens alot you read about or see on the news all the time but you dont realise it. With massive budget cuts leading to lack of resources, police response can slack.

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I, also, was thinking this the ENTIRE movie. In real life, the cops would have arrived at the gas station immediately in an urban area. Second, the cops would have been there within five minutes at the end.

I lol'd and shook my head when the cop that pulled them over had never heard of the Amber Alert. Really?

Poor logic in almost every aspect of this student film.

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Unfortunately they do not respond as well or quickly in my area. We had a crazy thing happen that I think warranted police attention. My friends and I watched a man throw a woman out of a car moving over 40moh, she rolled off onto the shoulder, he sped off. We all 3 got out, was calling 911 (no one had a cell on us, we were lucky she was thrown out almost in front of a local car repair garage with a phone out front, we werent the only ones to see this happen-yet only who stopped) and getting help, she was barely moving or coherent (did not smell of alcohol etc).

The man had looped around, stopped grabbed the woman from us (we were 2 women and one elderly man) and threw her BACK into the car and sped off. I got the plate number , make, model, description of the man--this was before cell phones with cameras, around year this was supposedly made also.

The 911 operator then said since lady wasnt there anymore-she heard us screaming at the man!!-there was no reason to send help. We were still freaking so called police station 5 mins away, after 20 mins of being switched and switched to different cops, we finally got someone in charge and he thanked us for our concern but there was nothing he or they could do.

Seriously???

So the cops not around for this amber alert, not an impossibility.

I live in a medium sized area, not huge not small.


Not saying this happens everywhere...but I know in my area, police arent always very helpful. even with basic trespassing, theyre useless.

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pulled them over had never heard of the Amber Alert. Really?

Right? What about the part where they CANCELED the alert? Last time I checked they only cancel the alert with the child is in the custody of the police and parent(s). "Well it's been a hour. I say *beep* it she's on her own now. Let's go get some coffee."

Oh and what about the best neighbors ever? Windows get smashed, car alarms go off, gun shot in the middle of the street, people screaming and NO ONE calls the cops.

I also have to give it to the kidnapper for having natural night vision. That takes some stellar skills to be able to plant a bullet in the head of a moving target all while IN THE PITCH BLACK DARK. You know what I am? Impressed.

Who Cares.

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Yeah, with the fear the US has about children being victimized they would NEVER cancel an Amber Alert. It was an abducted child not a group of football players lost at sea.

To be fair, it's possible they did call the police, but the whole time I just pictured that scene in Reno 911 Miami where they forgot to plug in the phones so I guess it's forgivable.

The kidnapper must have read some books on zen when he wasn't bed intruding because he had to really "be the gun" to pull off that shot in the dark.

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Maybe because the film wasn't intended to serve as a document of real world police procedure?

What are words for when no one listens anymore

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no but its set in the real world

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no but its set in the real world
It's fiction. Fiction does not have to match the real world.

What are words for when no one listens anymore

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jesus. then lets switch off gravity in this movie as its fiction and doesnt have to match the real world

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You're being sarcastic but the reality is if they wanted to switch off gravity, that shouldn't be a problem unless you just have trouble conceptualizing fiction. Film makers can fictionalize anything. The problem lies in your expectations that fictional films necessarily match what you think the real world is like.

What are words for when no one listens anymore

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stop making up excuses for the film the film was set in our world it should have stuck to the real life poice procedures as it just comes off as bad writing

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I'm not making excuses. No excuse is even required. I'm merely pointing out that the error lies in your expectations, not the film.

What are words for when no one listens anymore

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Apparently you've never heard the old adage that fiction has to be more believable than the wildly chaotic possibilities of reality. That's not a hard and fast rule of course. It doesn't apply to surrealism. But some features, like thrillers, rely more crucially on internal logic than others. They can make up whatever "fictional" world they want but if it skews too close to recognizable reality the deviations will be question begging. Here the endless police delays at crucial moments fail to convince because they simply seems like inane and transparent excuses for the plot's action.

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i have to agree with the point about the police "calling off" the amber alert for the girl who is clearly still missing. so they have people calling in with an eye witness account of the man in question, AND VIDEO FOOTAGE OF HIM, yet they're calling off the search after less than 24 hours?

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Reality check.....NO, the police do NOT respond that quickly...in reality, if a cop had been there in under 30 min. I would have been surprised. They field HUNDREDS of calls and just don't have the resources to follow up that quickly. They don't just drop and run if they are on site somewhere else, at lunch, etc.....and that doesn't even include the time it takes to get someone on the phone and the call through to an officer who CAN respond and is hopefully nearby. It happens ALL the time and is scary. And how many of those calls just "slip" by? Unfortunately you hear on the news all of the time how the neighbors had to make 2,3, or maybe 4 calls before they were even taken seriously as someone is being beaten to death across the street. It scares me to think of how many you DON'T hear about.

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But if it was Obama's kids, the police would be there lickety-split.

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If it was Obama's kids, the police would be there lickety-split because his kid's lives are worth more than any other kids. Plus the police who rescued his kids would get a big reward and promotion.

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But in this case, it wasn't a random call from the public. The police initiated the Amber Alert themselves. They were actively seeking this vehicle. Furthermore, the main characters had the exact license number they were looking for, so the police knew it was really the kidnapper. For the most part they were traveling on big, busy streets through a major metropolitan area. It was really unrealistic that there was no evidence of a police response. In fact, IRL, there would have been a coordinated response between local and state PD.

Of course, maybe if the woman had actually stayed on the phone with the 911 operator instead of hanging up on her, the cops might have had a better chance of finding them.

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With no response from the cops, I would have reported a fire. In self defense classes, they warn you that many people won't respond to cries of "help" because they don't want to be involved. But the will to "fire" because fire spreads.

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[deleted]

i would think with the fact that it was an amber alert they would respond rather quickly. Unfortunately i wouldn't call it a plot hole. I've been on the phone while trying to escape someone shooting at me and i was in a downtown area. If I didn't run into a building, I'm sure i could have ran to a damn police car or police station before the cops arrived to the actual scene.

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