AMBER Alert 215423 225455181 2008-07-13T19:59:13Z 12.206.86.55 /* History */ This section is confusing as Hell, I tried to make sense of it but this really needs a re-write. {{main|Child abduction alert system}} [[Image:Amberalertlogo.PNG|right]] [[Image:Laura Bush & Rae Leigh Bradbury, 2007Apr04.jpg|thumb|215px|right| [[Laura Bush]] hugs Rae Leigh Bradbury Wednesday, April 4, 2007, in [[Austin, Texas]], after the 9-year-old introduced Mrs. Bush during the announcement of the future opening of the Texas Regional Office of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Rae Leigh was the first child in the United States to be recovered as a result of an AMBER Alert when she was 8 weeks old in November 1998.]] An '''AMBER Alert''' is a notification to the general public, by various media outlets in [[Canada]] and in the [[United States]], issued when police confirm that a child has been [[Kidnapping|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 [[murder]]ed in [[Arlington, Texas]] in 1996. Exceptions are in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], where it is called '''Levi's Call'''<ref>{{cite web|title=Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert|accessdate=|url=http://www.state.ga.us/gbi/levi.html|publisher=Georgia Bureau of Investigation}}</ref>, [[Hawaii (U.S. state)|Hawaii]], where it is called a '''Maile Amber Alert''' <ref>{{cite web|title=MAILE AMBER Alert|url=http://hawaii.gov/ag/mcch/main/maile_amber|publisher=Hawaii Department of Attorney General}}</ref>, and [[Arkansas]], where it is called a '''Morgan Nick Amber Alert'''<ref>{{cite web|title=Morgan Nick Amber Alert|date=2006|accessdate=|url=http://www.asp.arkansas.gov/asp/mnaa.html|publisher=Arkansas State Police}}</ref>. Those plans were named after children who went missing in those [[U.S. state|states]]. AMBER Alerts are distributed via commercial [[radio station]]s, [[satellite radio]], [[television station]]s, and [[cable TV]] by the [[Emergency Alert System]] (where they are termed "Child Abduction Emergency"), as well as via [[e-mail]], [[variable message sign|electronic traffic-condition signs]], All Walgreens Drug Store electronic readerboard road signs and [[wireless]] device [[Short message service|SMS text messages]]. Those interested in subscribing to receive AMBER Alerts in their area via SMS messages can visit Wireless Amber Alerts <ref>{{cite web|title=Wireless AMBER Alerts|url=http://wirelessamberalerts.org}}</ref>. 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 [[automobile|vehicle]], if available. == 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 drive 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! Since Governor Bush made it clear he was not going to do anything, 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. Although effective and definitely a step forward, the original trials and subsequent alerts over the next two years still took time to deliver to the participating radio stations in the surrounding areas as a result of being a manual effort. The first automated implementation of the Amber Alert was created by the Child Alert Foundation in 1998. This non-profit charity created a fully automated Alert Notification System (ANS) to notify surrounding communities when a child was reported missing or abducted. Alerts were sent to radio stations as originally requested but included television stations, surrounding law enforcement agencies, newspapers and local support organizations. These alerts were sent all at once via pagers, faxes, emails, and cell phones with the information immediately posted on the Internet for the general public to view. 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 Alert System|emergency radio and TV response network]]. <ref>US trademark # Serial # .</ref> Various U.S. states and communities followed suit, developing similar systems named after [[Amber Hagerman]]. Since the NCMEC has been involved in the Amber Alert System, most of the alerts have been for Parental Abductions rather than the original intended use for Stranger Abductions, resulting in a lot more Amber Alerts being issued. ==Activation criteria== To avoid both [[false alarm]]s 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"<ref>{{cite web|title=Guidance on Criteria for Issuing AMBER Alerts (PDF)|date=April 2004|accessdate=|url=http://www.amberalert.gov/docs/AMBERCriteria.pdf|publisher=U.S. Department of Justice}}</ref>: # Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place # The child must be at risk of serious injury or death # There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor's vehicle to issue an alert # 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.<ref name="Our Missing Children Canada">{{cite web|title=AMBER Alert|date=|accessdate=|url=http://www.ourmissingchildren.gc.ca/omc/news/amber_e.htm|publisher=Government of Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Police}}</ref> One may notify the other if there is reason to suspect that the border may be crossed. ==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. <ref>{{cite web|title=False alarms endangering future of Amber Alert system|date=|accessdate=|url=http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=MISSING-AMBER-|publisher=Scripps Howard News Service}}</ref> ==Nurin Alert== {{main|Nurin Jazlin}} The Nurin alert was established in [[Malaysia]] in September 2007 based wholly on the AMBER alert after an 8 year old girl named [[Nurin Jazlin|Nurin]] went missing in [[Wangsa Maju|suburban Kuala Lumpur]]. Recently in January 2008, it was activated for the first time for a 5 year old girl called [[Sharlinie]] who went missing from her home in [[Petaling Jaya]] ==U.S. postage stamp== [[Image:2006 USPS-AMBER Alert stamp.jpg|thumb|156px|USPS AMBER Alert postage stamp.]] The [[United States Postal Service]] issued a [[postage stamp]] [[Commemorative 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]].<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. Postal Service issues new stamp promoting social awareness|date= |accessdate=|url=http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2006/sr06_029.htm|publisher=United States Postal Service}}</ref> ==Other "amber alerts"== The [[amber (color)|color amber]] is a frequent component of [[color code]]d 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 (United Kingdom)|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== {{reflist}} ==External links== <!--see Talk page for external link policy--> *[http://www.amberalert.gov/ U.S. government AMBER alert site] *[http://www.ourmissingchildren.gc.ca/ Our Missing Children (Government of Canada)] *[http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/permalink/meta-crs-7629 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on Amber Alert program technology] *[http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?api_key=aa474a20522c8ebb9699b67bace6c50c Amber Alerts on Facebook] * [http://www.childrescuealert.com Child Rescue Alert - UK equivalent of Amber Alert] * [http://www.missingkids.co.uk UK Missing Kids Website] True Story of the Amber Alert & History Leading to it. * [http://www.cellblockradio.net/amberalert/ The Page By the Person that released the Amber Alert to the Media in 1996 in Arlington Texas at a media Symposium] * [http://www.cellblockradio.net/ambernews/ The Page By the Person that released the Amber Alert to the Media in 1996, News Articles From the Local Press!] [[Category:1996 establishments]] [[Category:Child safety]] [[Category:Emergency communication]] [[Category:law enforcement in the United States]] [[Category:law enforcement in Canada]] [[Category:Arlington, Texas]] [[fr:Alerte AMBER]] [[ko:앰버 경고]] [[ja:アンバーアラート]] [[fi:AMBER-hälytys]] [[sv:AMBER Alert]] [[yi:עמבער אלערט]] [[zh:安珀警戒]]