NCJ Number
197865
Date Published
2001
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This videotape and Law-Enforcement and Broadcaster's Training Guide describe the America's Missing: Broadcast Emergence Response (AMBER) Alert program designed to help law enforcement officials quickly locate missing children.
Abstract
America's Missing: Broadcast Emergence Response (AMBER) Alert program is a unique partnership between law-enforcement officials and broadcasters to quickly disseminate information upon learning of a child's abduction. This videotape and training manual set introduce the AMBER Alert program, describe how it works, and present a series of steps for implementing the AMBER Alert program in local communities. The 12 minute videotape opens with a series of news clips discussing how many parents' worst nightmare is the abduction of their child. John Walsh, founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, introduces the AMBER program, referring to it as an innovative community-based program designed to quickly locate missing children. Begun in 1996, AMBER Alert teams law enforcement officials and the media by broadcasting special alerts on TV and the radio airways in the event of a child abduction. The videotape discusses an example of how the AMBER Alert program works, by re-enacting a case that occurred in Arlington, Texas. Following a parent's call to the police to report a missing child, police officers interviewed the parents in order to determine if an AMBER Alert was needed. Although police officers were unsure if the child was in immediate danger, they continued to investigate leads to determine when an AMBER Alert might be needed. After activating the AMBER plan, phone banks were opened, radio and television news stations were faxed information concerning the child and possible abductors, and the media began broadcasting alerts every 15 minutes, interrupting regular programming when necessary. Citing 80 AMBER Alert activations, resulting in 16 returned children, this program boasts a 20 percent success rate. The Law-Enforcement and Broadcaster Guide reiterates much of the videotape's background information concerning the AMBER Plan, but also presents a series of success stories, details the Emergency Alert System, and offers 11 steps for creating an AMBER plan in local communities. After discussing law-enforcement officials' and broadcasters' responsibilities at the time of a child abduction case, the Guide provides a series of resources and appendices listing important contact information and criteria for starting an AMBER Alert plan.