Each year, 725,000 children are reported missing to police, according to the Associated Press. That number breaks down to nearly 2,000 each day. From the Lindbergh baby in the 1920s to Elizabeth Smart, high-profile kidnappings have drawn national attention. The recent epidemic of kidnappings around the country has gotten significant press, much in the way shark attacks and school shootings have previously held the limelight as national issues.
The publicity of abductions like that of Smart, the 14-year-old girl from Utah who was taken from her bedroom earlier this year, has attracted the notice of the government as well. Accordingly, this week Gov. George E. Pataki has announced the implementation of the Amber Alert system throughout New York state, which will be operational by the end of this week.
"Amber" is both an acronym for "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response" as well as a reference to Arlington, Texas', nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, whose kidnapping and murder in 1996 gave rise to the system. The plan is already in effect in 16 other states.
It works by broadcasting messages describing the victims and the suspects on every television and radio station in the state, either as Emergency Alert System (EAS) message or as a crawl on the bottom of a television screen. In addition, electronic highway billboards and local law enforcement agencies will show vehicle descriptions; reports also indicate that information will be sent to toll booth collectors and lottery terminals.
To trigger an Amber Alert, three criteria must be met: the determination by police that an abduction has taken place; the child is in danger; and enough descriptive information exists about either the child or the suspect to make some sort of identification possible. If all three are met, the alert is set into motion.
That very ease of access to the alert, which has no qualifications for wealth or status in society, allows people with limited means the same opportunity to broadcast an alert as someone with ample resources. In the past, families that lacked the financial resources or connections had no chance of gaining the same kind of public attention that wealthy, influential families were given.
New York is taking a step in a positive direction with this move and on Thursday of this week, the entire state will be joining in what communities in Onondaga County and in the Albany area have already started. The benefit to a statewide system is exactly that - a way to ensure uniformity and quality within the system. Pataki has already announced that New York will use its 500 electronic billboards to broadcast suspect information over major highways.
"Minutes count, hours count," Pataki stated, echoing the sentiment of most child abduction experts, who say that time is a child's worst enemy while being held captive. Most importantly, the state has taken the right approach to this problem, since the theme behind Amber Alert is to minimize the time between an abduction and recovery. Pataki also expressed a desire to have the best, most comprehensive Amber Alert system in the country. Because kidnapping can happen to anyone, regardless of financial situation or status, a system such as this can only be a boon to public safety.
The issue of child abduction, while being the "news story du jour," goes beyond being just a national issue; it's something that echoes in the nightmares of parents everywhere. Of the thousands that go missing each year, many children are never found. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children credits the Amber Alert system with recovering 29 children since its inception a year ago. If even only one child were rescued as a result of the system, it would still be worth the money Amber Alert will cost the taxpayer.
