AMBER Alert

In the USA and Canada, an AMBER Alert is a notification to the general public, by various media outlets, that a confirmed abduction of a child has happened. AMBER is an acronym for "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response," and was named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas in 1996.

History

After Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered, citizens of her community learned that local law enforcement had information that might have helped locate her shortly after she was abducted, but had no means to distribute this information.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Richard Hagerman (Amber's father), Bruce Siebert, and Ray Roberts approached local law enforcement agencies and Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters to encourage them to form a voluntary association whereby information about a child abduction could be quickly broadcast to the child's community so that the community could help look for the abducted child. This alert system, the nation's first, was put into operation in Arlington in the summer of 1997. It was modeled after Texas tornado and hazardous weather alerts and used the existing emergency radio and TV response network. Various U.S. states and communities followed suit, developing similar systems named after Amber Hagerman.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On April 30, 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the Amber Alert Bill requiring the creation of a national child abduction response network.

Related Topics:
April 30 - 2003 - President - George W. Bush - Amber Alert Bill

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~