The AMBER Alert Plan is a voluntary, cooperative partnership between law-enforcement agencies and local radio and television broadcasters to broadcast an emergency bulletin to the public when a child has been abducted and it is believed that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death.
All 50 states now have a statewide AMBER Alert plan, creating a network of plans nationwide.
Under the AMBER Alert Plan, area radio and television stations interrupt regular programming to broadcast information about the missing child using the Emergency Alert System, EAS, formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System.
While EAS is typically used for alerting the public to severe weather emergencies, it is also the warning system for civil and national emergencies.
The federal government requires all radio and television stations and most cable systems to install and maintain devices that can monitor EAS warnings and relay them rapidly and reliably to their audiences.
The idea behind the AMBER Alert Plan is a simple one: if stations can broadcast weather warnings through EAS, why not child abductions? It is hoped that this early warning system will coerce a kidnaper into releasing the child for fear of being arrested, but also, serve as a deterrent to persons from committing this type of crime in the first place.
Oregon’s new AMBER Alert Plan was rolled out yesterday. It includes text messaging and other features from RAINS (Regional Alliances for Infrastructure and Network Security). That technology was also used for creating the nation s first real-time tsunami warnings with evacuation routes.
Governor Kulongoski explains the site also blasts out electronic messages to blackberries, e-mails, cell phones and pagers, allowing Oregonians to effectively police their own streets.
Todd Sander, the director of the National Amber Alert System, explains that getting an alert out as quick as possible is extremely important; a study by the US Attorney General’s office found that three quarters of abducted children who are murdered, are killed within three hours.
The Oregon State Emergency Communications Committee has strict Amber Alert Guidelines.
- The child should be 17 years or younger, or with a proven mental or physical disability.
- Police must believe the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death.
- There must be enough descriptive information to believe a broadcast will help.
- The activation must be recommended by the local law enforcement agency of Jurisdiction.
The Oregon Broadcast Engineers web site explains that Oregon and Washington are part of Oregon EAS Operational Areas, are ready for “CAE” Child Abduction Emergency (Amber Alerts). The Oregon State Relay (Oregon Public Broadcasting) uses the EAS CAE event code, “so we won’t be seeing any “CEM” (Civil Emergency Message) alerts for Amber Alerts again”.
The Amber Alert system was put in place to honor Amber Hagerman, an Arlington, Texas, girl who was abducted and killed while riding her bike in 1996. Since then, 39 states have adopted Amber Alert systems. Oregon’s was launched Nov. 15, 2003, by executive order of then-Gov. John Kitzhaber. There have been a few bugs to work out along the way.
Oregon’s First Amber Alert Yields Quick Success, blared headlines in The Oregonian two years ago. Just 97 minutes after State Police first broadcast an abduction notice over the state-wide emergency alert system, a Klamath County sheriff’s deputy stopped a pickup carrying the 10 year old girl toward California.
A case of bureaucracy and technology working together for a successful outcome? Not quite.
