About the AMBER Alert Program
The AMBER Alert program was created as a result of the 1996 abduction of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman from Arlington, Texas. A stranger kidnapped her while she was riding her bike near her grandparents’ house, and she was discovered murdered four days later. Over the course of those four days, there was a massive manhunt underway that relied heavily upon television news and radio stations covering the story and capturing the community’s attention. Although a neighbor provided police with a possible suspect description, a man walking his dog days later found her body in a creek bed. News and radio were very effective in alerting and notifying the public. Today, the AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response Alerting System) program relies on the media for the widespread distribution of AMBER Alerts.
The world of technical communications has expanded greatly in the years since Amber’s abduction, and today, AMBER Alerts can be broadcast through the Emergency Alerting System (used largely for weather alerts) on digital traffic signs, wireless phone alerts, e-mails and web portals such as www.AmberAlert.com. The U.S. House of Representatives put into action H.R. 605 in 2000, which set forth a nationwide initiative to implement the “AMBER Plan” and in 2003, President George W. Bush signed the AMBER Alert legislation making it a national program. The Emergency Alerting System guideline was put into place, acting as an alert distribution system for all states to use.
This system is used across the country as a weather alerting technology system sending voice recordings to radio and television stations. Some states still use the EAS as their system to broadcast AMBER alerts. Other states have adopted more technologically advanced alert distribution systems, such as The AMBER Alert Web Portal, operated by AmberAlert.com. This service is free to AmberAlert.com’s participating states.
There are also organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.MissingKids.com), founded in 1984, that work with the states and alerting companies to coordinate information and serve as a national resource along with the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (www.amberalert.gov) that coordinates the states’ efforts in AMBER Alerting, Child Exploitation and much more. These agencies provide resources and leadership across the country and the world on child-centric safety issues. As trusted agencies, they cannot and do not endorse any particular product or service regarding child safety, including this website, but lend their support to programs and citizens nationwide.
There is a common misconception that a “National AMBER System” exists, when in fact, the Department of Justice requires each state to coordinate and implement their own AMBER Plan, generally lead by a state law enforcement agency with a coordinator and advisory committee, including the state’s broadcasters and other concerned members of the community. Although the PROTECT ACT, signed in 2003 provided a total of $25 million in FY 2004 to the states for implementation of the AMBER Alert program, each state is challenged to find, develop and maintain its own alert distribution partners and channels.
