What Are Amber Alerts?

The Amber Alert System started in 1996 to help findFederal law requires every state has Amber Alert
abducted children. It all happened when Dallas-Forttechnology in place. These systems are required to be
Worth broadcasters and the area police agenciesuniform. Standardized for things like what triggers an
wanted to develop a system. They wanted to createalert. However according to an article released by The
an early warning system to aid and assist in findingAssociated Press reveals a vast gap in what triggers
abducted children.an alert from state to state.
The name AMBER is the acronym for America'sIn the report they continue to say there are at least
Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. It was giventwelve states that will not issue the alert if it is phoned
this name in memory of nine-year-old Amberin by a parent in a custody battle. While other states
Hagerman. Amber was kidnapped and murdered whiledeem this to be sufficient reason to issue the alert.
out on a bike ride in Arlington, TX. As usual a goodSomething else in the article that may disturb you it
idea spreads quickly and pretty soon other statesinvolves the same number of states twelve. Twelve
were setting up their own AMBER alerts as thestate issue alerts for adults with mental or physical
sentiment for what happened swept across the nation.disabilities. The rest of the states reserve the alerts for
To make a long story short AMBER Alerts arechildren only.
supposed to be used when a child is missing orThey went on to reveal some states make little or no
abducted. By getting as much info as possible over theeffort to keep track of alerts they issue. This provides
airwaves they will have a better chance of saving thelittle help proving what's working and where they could
child. By relying on the public to be observant theyuse improvement.
hope to find the child.It's a shame the states haven't managed to work
The next few paragraphs may surprise you. Let metogether and create a uniform standardized system.
share something with you.