Amber Alerts Going National?

Oct. 2, 2002 -- In front of a group of parents with missing children, President Bush announced his plan to put federal money and muscle behind Amber Alert systems across the nation.

Bush announced that $10 million in federal money would be distributed to communities using the Emergency Alert System to inform residents of kidnappings within hours after they happen.

The money will be used for training and equipment upgrades for each system.

No Nationwide Program

There are 24 statewide Amber plans operating throughout the country, including state, local, and regional plans, but Attorney General Ashcroft told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that the president has no plans to take the program national.

"We think a varietyof states have already expressedthemselves with what they think works best in their area and howit can best function to protect children there," Attorney General John Ashcroft told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America

"There's no reason for us to havesomething that is national that doesn't recognize the values of particular areas, but if we havea coordinated set of alerts across America that recognize these individual capacities, we think that's the maximum potential, and that's the reasonwe're encouraging states to act."

The president also revealed plans to establish a Amber Alert coordinator at Justice. The coordinator is expected to support and increase cooperation among state and local alert plans.

Bush made the announcements at the first White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. Parents of missing children, police, experts and government officials are attending the daylong meeting.

Immediate Notification

The Amber Alert system, which works through a partnership between law enforcement and the media in many communities throughout the nation, has often been praised for its ability to immediately notify a large number of people about possible kidnappings in their area.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has guided the Amber Alert system, credits it with the recovery of 31 children nationwide.

About 800,000 children are reported missing to policenationwide each year, according the Justice Department. Most, however, turn out to be runaways or children taken by a parentor other family member.

Amber Alert Criteria

When law enforcement officials are notified that a child has been abducted, it is their responsibility to determine if the case meets the criteria set by the NCMEC.

Before Amber Alerts are sent to primary radio stations, designated by the Emergency Alert System, and to local radio and television stations for immediate broadcast, the abduction must be confirmed. The child must also be in danger of serious harm or death, and there must be enough descriptive evidence available about the child and the abductor.

A White House fact sheet from the conference revealed there is support for a national standard for the rapid-response electronic notifications. The idea is to limit the alerts to "rare instances of serious child abductions" and ensure their effectiveness is not undermined. The NCMEC has established guidelines for issuing alerts that are based on the original Amber Plan developed in 1996.

Beginning in early November, the flashing alerts, which have shown up on televisions and freeway signs, will also be transmitted on the screens of computers, pagers and cell phones.

Subscribers to the America Online Internet Service, which costs around $20 per month, can volunteer to receive the alerts about possible abductions in their community.

The NCMEC is also expected to contact other Internet companies, including Microsoft, TerraLycos and Yahoo, about taking part in the online Amber Alert system.

The Amber Alert system is named after Amber Hagerman, a little girl who was kidnapped while riding her bike around her Arlington neighborhood in 1996. She was found dead four days later.

The NCMEC aims to recover children quickly. Statistic show that nearly 75 percent of all children who are kidnapped and murdered are killed within three hours of their abduction.

More information about Amber Alert systems can be found at www.missingkids.com.