The AMBER Advocate, Issue IV 2018

• NCJ Number: 252575
• Date Published: January 2019
• Length: 16 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description; Instructional Material; Case Study

Annotation

In this issue, the Telecommunications Best Practices for Missing and Abducted Children course (TELMAC) is profiled as a means of training law enforcement first responders on how to proceed from the first report of an endangered, missing, or abducted child; the work of an AMBER Alert partner from New Hampshire is described; and a case study is presented on how an Ohio AMBER Alert brought a child home safely.

Abstract

"Training the First Responders" explains the purpose and content of TELMAC, which provides comprehensive training in law enforcement's response to a 911 call about a missing or abducted child, which begins with the telecommunicator who answers the emergency line. TELMAC is delivered through a flexible online learning platform that is completed in a self-directed manner, enabling telecommunicators to work on the course anytime 24/7 in increments of time that fit their demanding schedules and workloads. "Faces of the AMBER Alert Network" features the work of Sara Hennessey, who has been the New Hampshire AMBER Alert Coordinator since Septembers 2012, beginning her service with the New Hampshire State Police as a trooper in 1998. She is a sergeant in the agency's Major Crime Unit and commands the Family Services Division. She describes the path that brought her to working with AMBER Alert, discusses the best and most difficult parts of her jobs, and explains various aspects of her AMBER Alert work in New Hampshire. Featured in "AMBER Alert in Indian Country" describes dialogue, networking, and collaboration at Fort McDowell, Arizona, marking the beginning of AMBER Alert training and technical assistance under the 2019 Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert Indian Country law. "AMBER Alert on the Front Lines" features how Ohio AMBER Alert prevented a child from being taken to Las Vegas by her grandmother via hitchhiking.