January 13th, 1996, Arlington, Texas. On a warm night, 2 children were riding their bikes, enjoying childhood. An unknown evil person took a young girl named Amber, snatching away her childhood and life. Four days later her body was found a few miles away in a creek. To this day, her case remains unsolved. That sick, disgusting evil person is still out there. Those events of that day, lead to a nationwide alert system that you now know of as the Amber Alert.
Summary of Department of Justice Recommended Criteria
- There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.
- The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
- There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.
- The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger.
- The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.
Despite the new alert system, by 2001, only 4 states had the amber alert system. On April 30, 2003, the President signed the PROTECT Act into law, which provided the emergency preparedness and response tools necessary to create a national AMBER Alert program. By February 2005, all 50 states had the amber alert system.
