Edmonton police are looking for a father and his two children who have not been heard from in 12 days.
Scot MacDermid, 42, was last seen with his children, George and Lesley, in north Edmonton.
MacDermid has been unreachable, Edmonton Police Service said, and he and his children have not been seen or heard from since Friday, Aug. 28.
“As a result, police are concerned for their welfare,” said an EPS news release issued Tuesday night.
Police said their last known whereabouts were the Manning Town Centre shopping complex in northeast Edmonton, near 155 Avenue and 37 Street.
Scot MacDermid is five-feet, five-inches tall and weighs about 160 lbs. Police said he has brown hair and blue eyes.
His son George, who is six, is described as being four-feet, two-inches tall and weighs about 45 lbs. George has short, curly brown hair and brown eyes.
His daughter Lesley, who is nine, is described as four-feet, four-inches tall and also weighs about 45 lbs. She has medium-length curly brown hair and brown eyes.
While children are missing, police did not issue an Amber Alert in this case.
“The EPS can confirm that an Amber Alert was considered in this investigation; however, the activation criteria are not met at this time,” a police spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“An activation may be reassessed if new information is received or there is a relevant change. As this remains an active investigation, we are unable to provide further details regarding that assessment.”
Amber Alerts are high-level public notifications, generally for abducted children, that can only be issued under specific circumstances dictated by provincial law.
The four criteria, according to the Alberta government, are:
- A child or an adult with a proven mental or physical disability has been abducted.
- The child or adult is in danger of serious harm or death.
- There is enough descriptive information to enable the public to identify the:
- child or adult
- abductor
- mode of transportation
- There is a reasonable expectation the abductee could be returned, or the abductor could be apprehended.
There is a push in Alberta to add a new kind of alert, after a non-verbal boy with Autism went missing in Calgary this past summer and was found dead in a culvert pipe system nearly two weeks later.
His mother is pushing for a notification similar to an Amber Alert, but for missing neurodivergent children. It would be called an “indigo alert,” since the deep purple colour is associated with autism awareness.
Edmonton police said if Scot, George or Lesley is spotted, they should not be approached.
Instead, anyone who has seen or knows of their whereabouts is asked to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone.
Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.