In their summer newsletter, Marc Klaas of the Klaas Kids Foundation describes exactly why the Amber Alert system in the United States is “broken”. For anyone who believes our current Amber Alert system is a fail safe for saving missing children, this is a must read.
America’s Amber Alert system is broken. It takes too long to activate. The criteria required for activation are too strict and inflexible. While geographic considerations are a necessary component of a viable plan, the wrong ones have been applied. The technologies
selected for primary distribution are either antiquated or nonsensical. It does not help the kidnapped children who need it the most.Ernie Allen, President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), has repeatedly said that “time is of the essence” when children are kidnapped. His contention is supported by statistics. Only 42.9% of missing children are reported to law enforcement within the first two hours. In 56% of cases, two hours lapsed before reports were made. An Amber Alert cannot be issued until a police report is filed, yet 76.2% of children murdered as a result of abduction are dead within three hours. Why then, did Mr. Allen and his colleagues design a National Amber Alert program that routinely requires 3-5 hours to activate once the criteria has been met and the report has been filed?
My Polly was kidnapped from her bedroom by a bearded, knife-wielding madman in front of two witnesses who were unable to provide descriptive or license plate information on the getaway car. Therefore, Polly’s case would not have merited an Amber Alert. Within an hour of
Polly being kidnapped, two Sheriff’s deputies had the kidnapper within their grasp. Unaware that a crime had occurred, they questioned him and then helped to pull his car out of a ditch and sent him on his way…
Read the rest of Marc’s Klaas Action Review here
