Cell phones get Amber Alert access
WASHINGTON – AMBER Alert, the public notification system that has helped return 201 abducted children safely since 1997, was set for expansion Monday so most people with a cell phone or other wireless device can get alerts in their area.
“The best way to find children who are at the greatest risk is to mobilize the eyes and ears of the public,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va., which worked with the wireless phone industry to expand alerts to customers.
More than 182 million people use cell phones or other wireless devices, such as BlackBerries. About 90 percent of the users around the nation, those who subscribe to big carriers, can get an alert on an abducted child free by signing up at www.wirelessamberalerts.org. They can select the areas for which they want notification.
Subscribers to smaller phone services will be able to sign up in about two months, said Steve Largent, president of CTIA-The Wireless Association.
The cell phone alert builds on the existing AMBER Alert system that broadcasts descriptions of the missing children and the suspects who may have taken them in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Under the system, law enforcement officials work with local radio and television broadcasters to issue emergency messages when a child is missing and thought to be in danger. Some states issue the alerts on electronic highway signs.
The highway text messages are similar to what cell phone users would receive. The missing child center will issue text messages when notified by law enforcement. The messages will be routed to participating carriers such as Verizon or Sprint. The companies send the messages to subscribers. The process can be completed in minutes, Allen said.
“Time is the enemy in the search for a missing child,” Allen said. “You have to move fast.” In 74 percent of abduction cases, Allen said, the child is killed within the first three hours.
AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. It was created after Amber Hagerman, 9, was abducted in 1996 from her neighborhood in Arlington, Texas, and killed. Allen credits the system with the rescue of 201 children. Last year, the center tracked 252 alerts.
Last week, police issued a nationwide AMBER Alert for a New Mexico toddler reported missing on Mother’s Day. The child was found unharmed Friday in Mexico.