AMBER Alert

In the USA and Canada, an AMBER alert is a notification to the general public by commercial radio, broadcast television, e-mail, or electronic traffic-condition signs, regarding a confirmed abduction of a child. The decision to declare an AMBER alert is made by the law-enforcement organization investigating the abduction. Public information in an amber alert usually consists of the name and description of the abductee, the description of the suspected abductor, and the description and license plate number of the suspect vehicle (if available).

The AMBER Alert is named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was abducted and murdered in 1996 in Arlington, Texas near Dallas (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has since renamed the alert to stand for "America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response"). After Amber was murdered, citizens of her community learned that local law enforcement had information that might have helped locate her shortly after she was abducted, but they had no means to distribute this information to the community. As a result of this tragedy, Richard Hagerman Amber's dad, Bruce Siebert and Ray Roberts approached local law enforcement agencies and broadcast media to encourage them to form a voluntary association whereby information about a child abduction could be quickly broadcast to the child's community and the community could help look for the abducted child. This alert was modeled after Texas tornado and hazardous weather alerts and used the emergency radio and TV response network. The nation's first AMBER Alert system was put into operation in Arlington in the summer of 1997.

Although each regional AMBER Alert sets the criteria for activation, most alerts follow guidelines similar to the Houston Regional Amber Plan [1] which are:

1. The missing child must be 17 years of age or younger and the law enforcement agency believes the child has been abducted.
2. The agency believes the missing child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death.
3. A law enforcement investigation has taken place that verified the abduction or eliminated alternative explanations.
4. Sufficient information is available to disseminate to the public that could assist in locating the child, suspect, and/or the suspect’s vehicle.

See also

• Hue and cry