MACON, MO -- For Tuesday's Facebook Story of the Day, many of you wanted to know about the guidelines for AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response) Alerts.
KTVO went to the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop B headquarters in Macon and learned there are five pieces of criteria for an AMBER Alert to be issued:
- The child must be 17 years old or younger.
- There has to be a reasonable belief the child has been abducted.
- The child has to be in imminent danger from the abductor.
- There's an adequate description for both the child and the abductor.
- The child is listed as "abducted" in the National Computer System.
These criteria apply in all 50 states.
"The AMBER Alert System is the same whether you are in the state of Missouri, the state of Iowa, or any state in the nation. It always has to meet those five pieces of criteria," said Sgt. Brent Bernhardt of The Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The AMBER Alert system was created back in 1996 after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas. It is to help law enforcement, media outlets, and transportation officials spread the word about an abducted child.
The main focus of an AMBER Alert is to locate the abducted child quickly because time is of the essence.
"Anytime that a child is missing, regardless of the situation, the trusted adult should call law enforcement immediately and not delay in trying to locate the child on their own,” Bernhardt said. "As soon as we can get our resources out there, there's a better likely hood we will locate the child safely and much quicker."
Once an AMBER Alert has been issued, an emergency alert system is activated to inform the public about the missing child as soon as possible.
There is no time limit to how long an AMBER Alert is issued. But it will be cancelled once the child is found.
An AMBER Alert can also be cancelled if the information was not factional or a case of a missing child turns out to be false such as a hoax or an adult trying to cover up another crime.