Amber Alert Guidelines

In addition to Child Identification, we here at Ident-A-Kid want you to know the criteria guidelines for issuing an Amber Alert. We think this is important because every parent should know what to do and when to do it when their child is missing. Remember, in addition to these guidelines, it is also important to have an Ident-A-Kid card. Also, another important and useful tool is Ident-A-Kid’s new eKid-ID. eKid-ID is an electronic version of the Ident-A-Kid card that is sent to your phone as a picture message. The eKid-ID can be sent to friends and neighbors in the event that your child is missing. It can also be useful to law enforcement efforts to recover your lost child. To find out more about Ident-A-Kid and our new eKid-ID, please visit our website at www.identakid.com. Below are some helpful guidelines and tips for issuing an Amber Alert, from amberalert.gov.

Guidelines for Issuing AMBER Alerts

Every successful AMBER plan contains clearly defined activation criteria. The following guidance is designed to achieve a uniform, interoperable network of plans across the country, and to minimize potentially deadly delays because of confusion among varying jurisdictions. The following are criteria recommendations:

Law Enforcement Confirms an Abduction

AMBER plans require law enforcement to confirm an abduction prior to issuing an alert. This is essential when determining the level of risk to the child. Clearly, stranger abductions are the most dangerous for children and thus are primary to the mission of an AMBER Alert. To allow activations in the absence of significant information that an abduction has occurred could lead to abuse of the system and ultimately weaken its effectiveness. At the same time, each case must be appraised on its own merits and a judgment call made quickly. Law enforcement must understand that a “best judgment” approach, based on the evidence, is appropriate and necessary.

Risk of Serious Bodily Injury or Death

Plans require a child be at risk for serious bodily harm or death before an alert can be issued. This element is clearly related to law enforcement’s recognition that stranger abductions represent the greatest danger to children. The need for timely, accurate information based on strict and clearly understood criteria is critical, again keeping in mind the “best judgment” approach.

Sufficient Descriptive Information

For an AMBER Alert to be effective in recovering a missing child, the law enforcement agency must have enough information to believe that an immediate broadcast to the public will enhance the efforts of law enforcement to locate the child and apprehend the suspect. This element requires as much descriptive information as possible about the abducted child and the abduction, as well as descriptive information about the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle. Issuing alerts in the absence of significant information that an abduction has occurred could lead to abuse of the system and ultimately weaken its effectiveness.

An Ident-A-Kid card and an eKid-ID are important tools in the aid of having a detailed description of your child and a picture of your child. With the eKid-ID, law enforcement can have a digital picture of your child that you both can circulate in order to increase your chances of finding your child.

Age of Child

Every state adopt the “17 years of age or younger” standard; or, at a minimum, agree to honor the request of any other state to issue an AMBER Alert, even if the case does not meet the responding state’s age criterion, as long as it meets the age criterion of the requesting state. Most AMBER plans call for activation of the alert for children under a certain age. The problem is that age can vary---some plans specify 10, some 12, some 14, 15, and 16. Differences in age requirements create confusion when an activation requires multiple alerts across states and jurisdictions. Overuse of the AMBER Alert system will undermine its effectiveness as a tool for recovering abducted children.

NCIC Data Entry

Immediately enter AMBER Alert data into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system. Text information describing the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the child should be entered, and the case flagged as a Child Abduction. Many plans do not mandate entry of the data into NCIC, but this omission undermines the entire mission of the AMBER Alert initiative. The notation on the entry should be sufficient to explain the circumstances of the disappearance of the child. Entry of the alert data into NCIC expands the search for an abducted child from the local, state, or regional level to the national. This is a critical element of any effective AMBER Alert plan.

For more information about Amber Alerts and guidelines, please visit http://www.amberalert.gov/guidelines.htm
For more information about Child Identification and Ident-A-Kid, please visit www.identakid.com