NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Amber Alert

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 abducted. AMBER is a backronym 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^[1], Hawaii, where it is called a Maile Amber Alert ^[2], and Arkansas, where it is called a Morgan Nick Amber Alert^[3]. Those plans were named after children who went missing in those states. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 400 Ã— 600 pixels Full resolution (515 Ã— 772 pixel, file size: 146 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): AMBER Alert Metadata This file... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 400 Ã— 600 pixels Full resolution (515 Ã— 772 pixel, file size: 146 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): AMBER Alert Metadata This file... Laura Lane Welch Bush (born November 4, 1946) is the wife of the forty-third and current President of the United States George W. Bush and is thereby the First Lady of the United States. ... â€œKidnapperâ€ redirects here. ... A backronym (or bacronym) is a phrase that is constructed after the fact from a previously existing abbreviation, the abbreviation being an initialism or an acronym. ... Amber Hagerman Amber Hagerman (November 25, 1986 - January 17, 1996) was a young girl who became a victim of an abduction and murder. ... Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas (USA) within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of...

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, 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 ^[4]. 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. A radio station is an audio (sound) broadcasting service, traditionally broadcast through the air as radio waves (a form of electromagnetic radiation) from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. ... // A satellite radio or subscription radio (SR) is a digital radio signal that is broadcast by a communications satellite, which covers a much wider geographical range than terrestrial radio signals. ... This article is about a television transmitting location or company. ... Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (and often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio waves transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional... The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national system in the U.S. put into place in 1994, superseding the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) and is jointly coordinated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Emergency Managemant Agency (FEMA), and the National Weather Service (NWS). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Sign in Penn Station railway station, New York City A variable (also changeable, electronic, or dynamic) message sign, often abbreviated VMS or CMS, is an electronic traffic sign often used on roadways to give travelers information about special events. ... For other uses, see Wireless (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see SMS (disambiguation). ... A lottery is a popular form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. ... // Introduction A license plate, number plate or registration plate (often referred to simply as a plate, or colloquially tag) is a small metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle for official identification purposes. ... Car redirects here. ...

History

In January, 1996, after Amber Hagerman was abducted, raped, and murdered, citizens of her community learned that local law enforcement had information that might have helped locate her shortly after she was abducted, but had no means to distribute this information. Amber Hagerman Amber Hagerman (November 25, 1986 - January 17, 1996) was a young girl who became a victim of an abduction and murder. ...

The original plan was focused entirely on radio and used for stranger abductions, and modeled after Texas tornado and hazardous weather alerts where, during an alert, the police were instructed to fax the information to two primary radio stations. Those two primary contacts would in turn verify the receipt and accuracy of the fax and then alert other participating radio stations through subsequent fax transmissions. Although effective, it was a manual process, repetitive and time consuming.

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 radio and TV response network. ^[5] Various U.S. states and communities followed suit, developing similar systems named after Amber Hagerman. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national system in the U.S. put into place in 1994, superseding the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) and is jointly coordinated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Emergency Managemant Agency (FEMA), and the National Weather Service (NWS). ... Amber Hagerman Amber Hagerman (November 25, 1986 - January 17, 1996) was a young girl who became a victim of an abduction and murder. ...

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 alarms and having alerts ignored as a "wolf cry", the criteria for issuing an alert are rather strict. A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the phony report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources (such as fire engines) to a place where they are not needed. ... The Boy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology For other uses, see Cry Wolf (disambiguation). ...

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"^[6]: The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ...

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. F.B.I. and FBI redirect here. ... The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is the United States central database for tracking crime-related information. ...

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.^[7] One may notify the other if there is reason to suspect that the border may be crossed. RCMP redirects here. ...

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. Scripps Center, the corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. ... The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, non-profit organization established in the United States in 1984 under United States government mandate. ...

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. ^[8]

Nurin Alert

The Nurin alert was established in Malaysia in September 2007 based wholly on the AMBER alert after an 8 year old girl named Nurin went missing in 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 Wangsa Maju is a major township in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ... Nickname: Motto: Mesra, Cepat, Tepat (English: Friendly, Expedient, Precise) Country Malaysia State Selangor Establishment 1954 Granted city status 2006, June 20 Government - Mayor Tn. ...

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.^[9] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... USPS and Usps redirect here. ... A selection of Hong Kong postage stamps A postage stamp is evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services. ... This 1998 stamp of the Faroe Islands marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Etan Kalil Patz (October 9, 1972 â€“ possibly c. ...

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. Amber is an orange-yellow color that got its name for the material known as an amber. ... A color code is a system for displaying information by using different colors. ... An alert state is an indication of the state of readiness of the armed forces for military action or a State against terrorism. ... Information has been received about an attack on a specific target. ... The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ...

Contents

History

Activation criteria

False alarms

Nurin Alert

U.S. postage stamp

Other "amber alerts"

See also

References

External links