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An AMBER Alert is a Child abduction alert system, issued to the general public by various media outlets in Canada and in the United States, when police confirm that a child has been abducted. AMBER is the acronym for "America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response", and was named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas in 1996. Exceptions are in Georgia, where it is called Levi's Call, Hawaii, where it is called a Maile Amber Alert , and Arkansas, where it is called a Morgan Nick Amber Alert. Those plans were named after children who went missing in those states.

AMBER Alerts are distributed via commercial radio stations, satellite radio, television stations, and cable TV by the Emergency Alert System (where they are termed "Child Abduction Emergency"), as well as via e-mail, electronic traffic-condition signs, All Walgreens Drug Store electronic readerboard road signs and wireless device SMS text messages. Those interested in subscribing to receive AMBER Alerts in their area via SMS messages can visit Wireless Amber Alerts . In some states, lottery terminals are also used. The decision to declare an AMBER Alert is made by the police organization investigating the abduction. Public information in an AMBER Alert usually consists of the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and license plate number of the abductor's vehicle, if available.

Activation criteria

The alerts are broadcast using the Emergency Alert System, which had previously been used primarily for weather bulletins. Alerts usually contain a description of the child and of their abductor.

To avoid both false alarms and having alerts ignored as a "wolf cry", the criteria for issuing an alert are rather strict. Each state's or province's AMBER alert plan sets its own criteria for activation, meaning that there are differences between alerting agencies as to which incidents are considered to justify the use of the system. However, the U.S. Department of Justice issues the following "guidance", which most states are said to "adhere closely to":

1. Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place
2. The child must be at risk of serious injury or death
3. There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor's vehicle to issue an alert
4. The child must be 17 years old or younger

Many law enforcement agencies have not used #2 as a criterion, resulting in many parental abductions triggering an Amber Alert where the child is not known or assumed to be at risk of serious injury or death.

It is recommended that immediate entry of AMBER Alert data be entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation'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.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP) requirements in Canada are nearly identical to the above list, with the obvious exception that the RCMP instead of the FBI is normally notified. One may notify the other if there is reason to suspect that the border may be crossed.

When investigators believe that a child is in danger of being taken across the border to either Canada or Mexico, border patrol agents are notified and are expected to search every car coming through a border checkpoint. If the child is suspected to be taken to Canada, a Canadian Amber Alert can also be issued. Mexico does not have a system similar to the Amber Alerts.

History

In January 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was riding her bicycle on a warm Saturday afternoon when a neighbor heard the girl scream. The neighbor saw a man pull Amber off her bike at the closed-down Winn Dixie Store on Abrams Street, throw her into the front seat of his pickup truck, and drove away at high speed. The neighbor called Arlington, Texas police, and Amber's brother Ricky went home to tell his mother and grandparents what had happened.

Donna Whitson, Amber's mother, called Amber's father Richard Hagerman at work, who rushed home. Richard Hagerman had seen Marc Klaas, Polly Klaas's father, on TV and contacted him, asking what to do, since Marc Klaas had experienced the same thing when Polly was abducted from her slumber party in California and then murdered by Richard Allen Davis, a convicted sex offender who was on parole.

At that time, Richard and Donna called the news media and the FBI. The Whitsons and their neighbors began searching for Amber. "It was a cold winter that year and I (Bruce Seybert) was with a few people searching the Trinity River's bottom just north of Arlington with the others. Amber Hagerman was in Girl Scouts with my daughter, so this hit very close to home. I stopped in and talked with Donna and Richard and the grandparents, and helped deal with the press and news reporters."

During this time, neighbors and citizens of Arlington, Texas and all over the Dallas, Fort Worth Metroplex and Texas started a shrine at the abandoned Winn Dixie store near the loading dock where Amber Hagerman had been abducted. Four days later, a man walking his dog found her body in a storm drainage ditch. At that time, peoples' hearts fell out. The community mourned and questions turned to anger after the autopsy showed 9-year-old Amber Hagerman had been sexually assaulted, then murdered. At this, Donna and Richard Amber's parents started the Organization P.A.S.O., People Against Sex Offenders, Amber Hagerman. "We ran P.A.S.O. out of my pickup truck with a camper shell on the back at the shrine at the abandoned Winn Dixie loading dock. We had freezing temperatures and even snow that year! We collected all the signatures we could to take to then-Governor George Bush Jr., for tougher laws to protect the children." During this time, President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton called to express their feelings of sorrow and loss to Donna and Richard. They gave them the phone number to the Chief of Staff, and were assured if they called the President, their call would be returned within 24 hours. "During this time, Governor George Bush Jr.'s office contacted us and conveyed that the Governor felt Texas had tough enough laws and all they needed was better enforcement. God's Place International Church then came forward after seeing us on the news working out of my pickup truck, and donated office space for us to use!"

After we had an office space for P.A.S.O. things began to grow and happen fast. The newspapers, live news on television and radio featured our cause in the news daily, trying to catch the killer of Amber Hagerman. I became the office manager, handled press releases and was the spokesman for P.A.S.O. We had Laurie, a computer genius, join us. Then AST Computers donated a computer system to P.A.S.O. and Microsoft donated software. Thus, learning how to use a computer began. Internet service was donated, so now knowledge was a click away! We contacted then-Congressman Martin Frost, and, with Marc Klaas' help, we drafted the Amber Hagerman Child Protection act, which was signed into law October 1996 by President Bill Clinton. During this time Marc Klaas and I had talked about what needed to be done when Polly was abducted and what was not done. Thus the idea of the AMBER ALERT was born. After a trip to Washington DC in July 1996, we were asked to attend a Media Symposium at the Arlington Convention Center that month. All the TV stations, newspapers and radio stations were in attendance. Richard Hagerman had a speech prepared to give, but upon our arrival we were notified that I was the one they wanted...they were honoring the top community leaders of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex! With nothing prepared but what was on my mind, I was given 20 minutes to tell the media what they needed to do and what needed to be done. Thus the Amber Alert was born. I went into detail about what the police needed to do and what the media could do to get info out faster on abducted children, since the first 24 hours is the most important. The Helicopter news and traffic reporter from KRLD Radio took what I had to say to the Dallas Police Chief, and the rest is history.

The first trial of the Amber Alert was at KRLD Radio in Arlington Texas at its studio at the Ball Park in Arlington, those there were Rick Roberts, Richard Hagerman (Ambers Father) and Bruce Seybert.**History Facts Posted by Bruce Seybert. Suported by Media Paper Clippings and News Coverage from 1996,This is the Facts and True History! a lot of miss information had circulated that the NCMEC, had to do with releasing the the Amber alert, this is very False, Earnie Allen from the NCMEC came to Arlington, TX. as Part of a Press release But had nothing to do with the Amber Alert. Mark Klaas is the Concept Creator of the Amber Alert. Following the automation of the Amber Alert with ANS technology, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2002 expanded its role to promote the Amber Alert and has worked aggressively to see alerts distributed using the nation's existing emergency radio and TV response network. Various U.S. states and communities followed suit, developing similar systems named after Amber Hagerman.

The NCEMC's involvement has led to alerts being issued for parental abductions as well as those by strangers.

National growth

In October 2001, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children launched a campaign to have Amber Alert systems established nationwide. In February 2002, the Federal Communications Commission officially endoresed the system. In 2002, several children were abducted in cases that drew national attention. One such case, the kidnapping and murder of Samantha Runnion, prompted California to establish an Amber Alert system on July 24, 2002. According to Senator Dianne Feinstein, in its first month California issued 13 Amber alerts; 12 of the children were recovered safely and the remaining alert was found to be a misunderstanding.

By September 2002, 26 states had established Amber Alert systems that covered all or parts of the state. A bipartisan group of over 20 US Senators, led by Kay Bailey Hutchison and Dianne Feinstein, proposed legislation to name an Amber alert coordinator in the U.S. Justice Department who could help coordinate state efforts. The bill also provided $25 million in federal matching grants for states to establish Amber alert programs and necessary purchase equipment, such as electronic highway signs. A similar bill was sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jennifer Dunn and Martin Frost. The bill passed the Senate unanimously within a week of its proposal. The bill passed the House several weeks later on a 390–24 vote. At an October 2002 conference on missing, exploited, and runaway children, President George W. Bush announced improvements to the Amber Alert system, including the development of a national standard for issuing Amber Alerts.

The alerts were offered digitally beginning in November 2002, when America Online began a service allowing people sign up to receive notification via computer, pager, or cell phone. Users of the service enter their zip codes, allowing the alerts to be targeted to specific geographic regions.

International expansion

The program emigrated to Canada in December 2002, when Alberta launched the first province-wide system. At the time, Alberta Solicitor-General Heather Forsyth said "We anticipate an Amber Alert will only be issued once a year in Alberta. We hope we never have to use it, but if a child is abducted Amber Alert is another tool police can use to find them and help them bring the child home safely." The Alberta government committed to spending mroe than CA$1 million to expanding the province's emergency warning system so that it could be used effectively for Amber Alerts. Other Canadian provinces soon adopted the system, and by May 2004 Saskatchewan was the only province that had not established an Amber Alert system. Within the next year, the program was in use throughout the country. Ontario furthered its reach by offering Amber Alerts on the province's 9,000 lottery terminal screens.

The Australian province Queensland implemented a version of the Amber Alerts in May 2005.

In September 2007, Malaysia implemented the Nurin Alert. Based on the AMBER alert, it is named for a missing eight-year-old girl, Nurin Jazlin.

False alarms

Advocates for missing children are concerned that the public is becoming desensitized to AMBER Alerts because of a large number of false alarms — where police issue an AMBER Alert without strictly adhering to the U.S. Department of Justice's activation guidelines.

A Scripps Howard study of the 233 AMBER Alerts issued in the United States in 2004 found that most issued alerts did not meet the Department of Justice's criteria. Fully 50% (117 alerts) were categorized by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as being "family abductions," very often a parent involved in a custody dispute. There were 48 alerts for children who had not been abducted at all, but were lost, ran away, involved in family misunderstandings (for instance, two instances where the child was with grandparents), or as the result of hoaxes. Another 23 alerts were issued in cases where police didn't know the name of the allegedly abducted child, often as the result of misunderstandings by witnesses who reported an abduction.

Only 70 of the 233 AMBER Alerts issued in 2004 (30%) were actually children taken by strangers or who were unlawfully traveling with adults other than their legal guardians.

U.S. postage stamp

The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp commemorating AMBER Alerts in May 2006. The 39-cent stamp features a chalk pastel drawing by artist Vivienne Flesher of a reunited mother and child, with the text "AMBER ALERT saves missing children" across the pane. The stamp was released as part of the observance of National Missing Children's Day.

Retrieval rate

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, of the children abducted by strangers and murdered, 75% of them were killed within the first three hours. Amber Alerts are designed to inform the general public quickly when a child has been kidnapped and is in danger so that "the public additional eyes and ears of law enforcement". As of August 2002, the National Center for Missing aand Exploited Children reported that 17 children had been successfully recovered after an Amber alert was issued, including one case in which the abductor released the child after hearing the alert.

By September 2002, Amber alerts were used by all or part of 26 states and had helped to recover 27 children.

Other "amber alerts"

The color amber is a frequent component of color coded systems, and by extension, of alert state systems, especially outside of the U.S. where yellow or orange would more typically be used. The BIKINI state of the UK Ministry of Defence has an "amber alert" status, and other "amber alerts" are known to be in use by hospitals for patient emergencies, weather bureaus for storm warnings, etc.

See also

• Code Adam

References

1. "Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert". Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
2. "MAILE AMBER Alert". Hawaii Department of Attorney General.
3. "Morgan Nick Amber Alert". Arkansas State Police. 2006.
4. "Wireless AMBER Alerts".
5. ^ Irsay, Steve (August 5, 2002), Cold War technology helped save lives of abducted teens, CNN.com, retrieved August 8, 2008
6. ^ "Senate approves national child abduction alert legislation", USAToday, September 10, 2002, retrieved August 8, 2008
7. "Guidance on Criteria for Issuing AMBER Alerts (PDF)" (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice. April 2004.
8. "AMBER Alert". Government of Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
9. Davis, Kristina (July 16, 2005), "But nobody alerted Mexico of Amber Alert", East Valley Tribune, Phoenix, AZ, retrieved August 8, 2008
10. ^ Lawmakers push national Amber alert system, CNN.com, September 4, 2002, retrieved August 8, 2008
11. House Passes Amber Alert Measure, FoxNews.com, October 8, 2002, retrieved August 8, 2002
12. Bumiller, Elizabeth (October 3, 2002), "Bush Unveils Upgrade of Amber Alert System", The New York Times, retrieved August 8, 2008
13. Mainelli, Tom (November 21, 2002), "AOL Puts AMBER Alert Service Online", PC World, retrieved August 8, 2008
14. ^ Alberta launches 'Amber Alert' kidnap system, CTV.ca, December 3, 2002, retrieved August 8, 2008
15. B.C., N.S. to begin using 'Amber Alert' system, CTV.ca, May 25, 2004, retrieved August 8, 2008
16. Ontario extends Amber Alert to lottery terminals, CTV.com, April 4, 2005, retrieved August 8, 2008
17. Waters, Jeff (May 13, 2002), Amber Alert, Stateline Queensland, retrieved August 8, 2008
18. "False alarms endangering future of Amber Alert system". Scripps Howard News Service.
19. "U.S. Postal Service issues new stamp promoting social awareness". United States Postal Service.

External links

• U.S. government AMBER alert site
• Our Missing Children (Government of Canada)
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on Amber Alert program technology
• Child Rescue Alert - UK equivalent of Amber Alert

• 1996 establishments
• Child safety
• Emergency communication
• Law enforcement in the United States
• Law enforcement in Canada