June 13, 2006Its important to remember that, although the Amber Plan is named after Amber Hagerman, this national program is dedicated to all children nationwide who’ve been abducted. ~ Joanna
Terre Haute, Indiana
A 4-year-old boy and his 2-year-old brother were taken by their father at gunpoint and left in a stolen vehicle. Because of the violent abduction, an AMBER Alert was issued. A citizen saw the AMBER Alert on television, recognized the description of the vehicle by a lake, and notified authorities. When law enforcement arrived, they were able to safely recover the younger child. The suspect was apprehended.
April 26, 2006
Seymour, Indiana
A 2-year-old girl was abducted by her father after the man assaulted the child’s mother. Because of the violent abduction and the man’s threats to harm the child, an AMBER Alert was issued. A drive-through restaurant patron recognized the vehicle from the AMBER Alert and contacted authorities. Police arrived at the scene and the child was safely recovered.
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Reference: AMBER Alert Homepage (http://www.amberalert.gov/)
CodeAmber.org (http://codeamber.org/)
ABOUT AMBER HAGERMAN
In January 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was riding her bicycle on a warm Saturday afternoon when a neighbor heard the girl scream. The neighbor saw a man pull Amber off her bike, throw her into the front seat of his pickup truck, and drive away at a high speed.
The neighbor called police and provided a description of the suspect and his vehicle, but couldn’t recall much else. Arlington Police and the FBI interviewed other neighbors and searched for the suspect and vehicle. Local radio and TV stations covered the story in their regular newscasts.
Four days later, Amber’s body was found in a drainage ditch four miles away. Her throat had been cut. Her kidnapping and murder remain unsolved.
A concerned citizen contacted a Dallas area radio station, suggesting the idea that Dallas radio stations should repeat news bulletins about abducted children just like they do severe weather warnings.
The idea was presented to the Association of Radio Managers (ARM) composed of general managers of the major radio stations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The general managers agreed that such a program would provide an important public service and might help save the life of a child.
In April, 2003, President Bush signed the Amber Alert legislation making it a national program. While the Amber Alert system is now mandated across the country, some states are still trying to implement the procedures necessary in bringing the alerts to the public. Hampered by outdated Emergency Broadcast guidelines and different activation criteria in each state, the system needs a fair amount of fine-tuning to be optimally effective. Code Amber is on the cutting edge with the technology helping to make that a reality.
IN MEMORY OF ALL ABDUCTED CHILDREN
Although the Amber Plan is named after Amber Hagerman, this national program is dedicated to all children nationwide who’ve been abducted.
How often does it happen? According to the U.S. Department of Justice, up to 4600 children are abducted by strangers every year (about 12 children nationwide every day).
Several families and friends of abducted children have established their own non-profit organizations or foundations with extensive websites to assist, support, and educate all parents and children, such as:
- Laura Recovery Foundation
- Polly Klaas Foundation
In addition, many Missing Child Organizations and State Missing Child Clearinghouses have websites that provide information and photos of other childen who are still missing or have been recently recovered.
Code Amber Amber Alert Statistics
The following statistics reflect Amber Alerts carried on the Code Amber Ticker since August, 2002. There have been several additional Amber Alerts that were resolved before the Code Amber system was activated. The alerts that are resolved quickly are the best case scenario. We would like all future Amber Alerts to end quickly with the child found safely and never have to activate the ticker again. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen anytime soon so we will be here for a while. Details of each of the Amber Alerts we have published are available on our Previous Amber Alerts page.
As of July 28, 2007:
| Amber Alerts published by Code Amber: | 456 |
| Number of children involved: | 541 |
| Number of States issuing Alerts: | 43 |
| Number of Alerts resolved in a different state: | 101 |
| Percentage of Alerts resolved out of state: | 22% |
| Number of Canadian Provinces: | 5 |
| Number of children still missing: | 15 |
| Number of children never coming home: | 26 |
| Number of female children: | 317 |
| Number of male children: | 224 |
| Number of African American children: | 111 |
| Number of Asian children: | 8 |
| Number of Caucasian children: | 285 |
| Number of Hispanic children: | 132 |
| Number of Native American children: | 5 |
Note: Seven of the Amber Alerts listed as having been resolved in a different state were actually resolved in Mexico with the help of Mexican authorities. The above statistics do not include currently active Amber Alerts.
1 comment:
I've often wanted to explore the Amber Alerts...it seems like states are not consistent in how they report them.
I've always been troubled, as well, by things named after specific kids. I understand the idea and can appreciate them...but, sometimes, I've wondered if families feel their cases become secondary.
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