Rotary Club of Meriden

 

Amber Alert

---

The AMBER Alert™ Program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry, to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the child.   

The AMBER Alert™ System began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children.  AMBER stands for America's Missing": Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered.   Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation.

How does it work?

Once law enforcement has determined that a child has been abducted and the abduction meets AMBER Alert criteria, law enforcement notifies broadcasters and state transportation officials.  AMBER Alerts interrupt regular programming and are broadcast on radio and television and on highway signs.  AMBER Alerts can also be issued on lottery tickets, to wireless devices such as mobile phones, and over the Internet.  Through the coordination of local, state and regional plans, the Department of Justice is working towards the creation of a seamless national network.

What are the criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts?

Each state AMBER Alert plan includes its own criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts.  The PROTECT Act, passed in 2003, which established the role of AMBER Alert Coordinator within the Department of Justice, calls for the DEpartment of Justice to issue minimum standards or guidelines for AMBER Alerts that states can adopt voluntarily.  The Department's Guidance on Criteria for Issuing AMBER Alerts is as follows:

• Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place
• The child is at risk of serious injury or death
• There is sufficient descriptive information of child, captor or captor's vehicle to issue an Alert
• The child must be 17 years old or younger
• It is recommended that immediate entry of AMBER Alert data be entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center.  Text information describing the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the child should be entered, and the case flagged as Child Abduction.

 

NOTE: Some information taken from the Department of Justice's Official AMBER Alert website which can be found at http://www.amberalert.gov/

  |    |    Share