Amber Alert Timeline
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AMBER ALERT TIMELINE 1996 comprehensively strengthened law enforcement’s ability to prevent, . The AMBER Alert System began in investigate, prosecute, and punish violent Dallas-Fort Worth when broadcasters crimes committed against children. teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find . The PROTECT Act codified the abducted children. previously-established National AMBER Alert Coordinator role in the Department . AMBER stands for America’s Missing: of Justice. The law tasked the Broadcast Emergency Response. The Coordinator to: acronym was created as a legacy to 9- year-old Amber Hagerman, who was Facilitate the development of kidnapped while riding her bicycle in the AMBER network Arlington, Texas, and then brutally Support development of murdered. state AMBER plans and efforts . Other states and communities began setting Help eliminate geographic gaps up their own AMBER Alert plans as the idea in AMBER networks was adopted across the Nation. Provide regional AMBER network coordination 1996-2001 Establish guidance on criteria for issuing an AMBER Alert . The progress on developing and implementing AMBER plans throughout the 2004 country was not significant during this time. At the end of 2001, only four states had . Guidance was provided to law statewide AMBER plans. enforcement, broadcasters, transportation officials, and the public on AMBER Alert 2002 activation criteria. The first ever White House Conference on . The Department of Justice does not Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children. mandate one set of criteria; however, as AMBER Alert became nationally focused. directed by the PROTECT Act and at the request of state coordinators, the In conjunction with the conference, the Department developed and shared its President requested that the U.S. Attorney suggested criteria for the issuance of General appoint the first National AMBER AMBER Alerts. Alert Coordinator. Deborah J. Daniels, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. The guidance is designed to create a Department of Justice, Office of Justice uniform, interoperable network of plans Programs was appointed the first National across the country and minimize AMBER Alert Coordinator. potentially deadly delays due to confusion among varying jurisdictions. 2003 . On April 30, the President signed into law . The Department's recommended criteria the PROTECT Act, which for issuing AMBER Alerts are as 1 follows: Council to launch a national, multi-media Law enforcement must confirm that an public service campaign, including radio, abduction has taken place. newspaper, outdoor and Internet advertising The child is at risk of serious injury or to encourage the public to sign up to receive death. wireless AMBER Alerts. There is sufficient descriptive . information of the child, captor or On July 19, the Department announced captor's vehicle to issue an Alert. that it had initiated talks with tribal The child must be 17 years old or leaders to bring AMBER Alert to Indian younger. Country to create a seamless AMBER It is recommended that the child’s name Alert network nationwide. and other critical data be entered immediately into the FBI's National 2007 Crime Information Center. Information . On September 14, as part of the U.S. describing the circumstances of the Department of Justice AMBER Alert in abduction should be entered, and the Indian Country Initiative, ten Tribal sites case flagged as a Child Abduction. were selected to serve as demonstration sites for other Native American . Most states’ guidelines adhere closely to communities. the U.S. Department of Justice's recommended guidelines. NCMEC, the authorized agent of the Department of Justice responsible for the 2005 secondary distribution of AMBER Alerts, th established a partnership with MySpace . In February, Hawaii became the 50 state to and the Transportation Security complete its statewide AMBER Alert plan, Administration to expand the secondary creating a network of plans nationwide. distribution network. In May, the Department of Justice joined the 2008 wireless industry and other government officials to announce that wireless users can . In May, the Outdoor Advertising opt to receive geographically specified Association of America (OAAA) joined AMBER Alert messages on their wireless the AMBER Alert secondary distribution devices through an AMBER Alert wireless network. messaging system. 2009 . In November, the Department launched an initiative to train Child Abduction . All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Response Teams (CART) nationwide, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands designed to assist local law enforcement have AMBER Alert plans. The AMBER agencies responding to incidents of Alert system has also been adopted in the missing and abducted children. CART can Canadian provinces and continues to be used for all missing children’s cases; it expand into the Mexican border states. can be deployed as part of an AMBER Alert, or when a child is abducted or 2011 missing but the abduction or disappearance does not meet the AMBER Alert criteria. AMBER Alert Facebook pages are created for each state as well as a national page, 2006 allowing the dissemination of alerts to Facebook users. On May 25, the Department of Justice, the National Center for Missing and 2012 Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Wireless Foundation teamed up with the Ad . On October 31, Google integrates AMBER Alerts into their Public Alerts service and 2 search engine. On December 18, an AMBER Alert notification . On May 7, Jamaica held an international is sent for the first time using the Wireless conference during Missing Children Awareness Emergency Alerts system. Week to coordinate efforts between countries to recover missing and abducted children. Jamaica 2013 has a child abduction alert called the “Ananda Alert” and has increased efforts to work with . On January 1, the Wireless Emergency Alerts countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to system for AMBER Alerts officially starts. make sure missing and abducted children return . On January 13, AMBER Alerts go live on home safely. There are 4,394 children who have Twitter using the handle @AMBERAlert been reported missing in Jamaica between . In February, an 8-month-old child is abducted January 2013 and March 2015. from his home. A teenager saw the Wireless Emergency Alert message and notified her . By June 30, more than 18,700 law enforcement father, resulting in the first successful rescue of a officers and dispatchers have been trained child due to the Wireless Emergency Alerts through webbased courses offered by the system. AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program as of this date. AMBER 2014 Alert’s six online courses and modules are available 24/7 so participants can access learning . On April 7, a technology forum is held at when they need it and work at their own pace. NCMEC with industry leaders resulting in the development of the Federation for Internet . On September 15, AMBER Alert Training and Alerts, increasing the coverage of AMBER Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Alerts on the Internet. launches new Tribal Database . On May 26, the Official launch of Mexico’s www.tribaldatabase.org which features official AMBER Alert website: information and resources important to the work http://www.alertaamber.gob.mx/ during the of tribal communities in the areas of child Alerta AMBER Forum in Mexico City protection, human trafficking and other aspects of law enforcement, public safety and social 2015 services. The tribal database website also offers direct access to the Tribal Database System . On January 13, Facebook expands their AMBER designed for use by all Federally-recognized Alert resources and begins pushing alerts to tribes. people near the area where the child went missing. Bing integrates AMBER Alerts into their search engine function. For more information visit www.amberalert.gov . On March 3, Google integrates AMBER Alerts into the Waze traffic app. 3 .