VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We’re taking a look at why a text message alert was sent an hour after the initial Amber Alert regarding three-year-old Alvin Barnett.

“The authorization is given by the law enforcement agency. The messages should be received instantly. I haven’t heard of any problem with the system last evening,” says Marc Choma with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. “They control when, how and the content in which the wireless alert is sent out.”

He says just 30-thousand people in this country have signed up for these texts and he wants that number to grow.

Corporal Darren Lagan with E Division says a lot of issues need to be approved in order for texts and highway alerts to be given the OK. “We take the time required, as quickly as possible, but we must take the time to ensure that the right information is going out. It is not an immediate process.”

The Amber Alert first aired on News1130 at 4:35 p.m., the text wasn’t received until 5:37 p.m., and a Montana alert wasn’t put out until 6:30 p.m.

Alvin was went missing from a hotel near Fernie, BC during a supervised visit with his father Robert, yesterday around 3:15 p.m. The pair were located in Montana this morning.

The young boy is back in Canada, his father is in police custody. He has been charged with abduction and theft and remains in the US.