Arizona Amber Alert

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Sign up to Receive Wireless Amber Alerts

The AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert Plan was created as a powerful legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped and murdered in Arlington, Texas. As a result of Amber’s murder, the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Radio Managers teamed up with local law enforcement in northern Texas and developed this innovative early warning system to help find abducted children. Already the AMBER Plan has assisted in the speedy recovery of a number of children.

Statistics show that the first few hours after a child abduction are critical to the outcome of the case. According to a study by the United States Department of Justice, three quarters of the children who are kidnapped and later found murdered were killed within the first three hours after being taken. That statistic alone should prompt every community to support the AMBER Alert Plan.

The Arizona AMBER Alert Plan is a voluntary partnership between law enforcement agencies and broadcasters to send out an emergency alert to the public when a child is abducted. Under the Arizona AMBER Alert Plan, area radio and television stations interrupt programming to broadcast information about the case using the Emergency Alert System (EAS), formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System. The EAS is typically used for alerting the public to severe weather emergencies. It’s important to emphasize that the Arizona AMBER Alert Plan is not used for cases that involve runaways or in most parental abduction cases unless the life of the child is in grave danger.

By broadcasting frequent public alerts, descriptions and other vital information in the crucial first hours after a child abduction, we can enlist citizens in an effort to recover the child unharmed. It is hoped that the early warning distributed by the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will coerce an abductor into releasing a child, for fear of being caught.

THE ARIZONA AMBER ALERT PLAN REQUIREMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. The Arizona AMBER Alert Plan requires law enforcement to meet two criteria when evaluating a child abduction. Law Enforcement Agencies must have both items listed below before activation can occur. The guidelines are as follows:

The “Arizona AMBER Alert Plan” should be activated when a child 17 years of age or younger, is abducted and there is reason to believe the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.

OR

A child medically diagnosed as suffering mental or physical disability is missing or abducted and there is reason to believe the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.

AND

There is information available to disseminate to the general public, which could assist in the safe recovery of the child and/or the apprehension of a suspect.

Arizona law enforcement agencies MUST have a signed letter of agreement on file with the Arizona Broadcasters Association prior to requesting an Arizona AMBER Alert activation. To assure your agencies ability to activate the Arizona AMBER Alert Plan or for further information please contact our duty office at (602) 223-2212.