An Amber alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency (SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children.[1][2] The system originated in the United States.[1]
The Amber alert was created in reference to 9-year-old Amber Rene Hagerman, who was abducted in Arlington, Texas, on January 13, 1996, and found murdered four days later. Alternative regional alert names were once used; in Georgia, “Levi’s Call”[3] (in memory of Levi Frady); in Hawaii, “Maile Amber Alert”[4] (in memory of Maile Gilbert); in Arkansas, “Morgan Nick Amber Alert”[5] (in memory of Morgan Nick); in Utah, “Rachael Alert” (in memory of Rachael Runyan); and in Idaho, “Monkey’s Law” (in memory of Michael “Monkey” Joseph Vaughan). Although the system was named for Hagerman, “AMBER” officially stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response”,[6] an example of a backronym.
In the United States, the alerts are distributed via commercial and public radio stations, Internet radio, satellite radio, television stations, text messages, and cable TV by the Emergency Alert System and NOAA Weather Radio[7][8] (where they are termed “Amber Alerts”). The alerts are also issued via e-mail, electronic traffic-condition signs, commercial electronic billboards,[9][10] or through wireless device SMS text messages.
The decision to declare an Amber alert is made by each police organization (in many cases, the state police or highway patrol) investigating the abduction. Public information in an Amber alert usually includes the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and license plate number of the abductor’s vehicle if available.
The alerts are broadcast using the Emergency Alert System, which had previously been used primarily for weather bulletins, civil emergencies, or national emergencies.[11] In Canada, alerts are broadcast via Alert Ready, a Canadian emergency warning system. Alerts usually contain a description of the child and of the likely abductor.[12] To avoid both false alarms and having alerts ignored as a “wolf cry“, the criteria for issuing an alert are rather strict. Each state’s or province’s Amber alert plan sets its own criteria for activation,[13] meaning that there are differences between alerting agencies as to which incidents are considered to justify the use of the system. However, the U.S. Department of Justice issues the following “guidance”, which most states are said to “adhere closely to” (in the U.S.):[14]
- Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place.
- The child must be at risk of serious injury or death.
- There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor’s vehicle to issue an alert.
- The child must be under 18 years of age.
Many law enforcement agencies have not used #2 as a criterion, resulting in many parental abductions triggering an Amber alert, where the child is not known or assumed to be at risk of serious injury or death. In 2013, West Virginia passed Skylar’s Law to eliminate #1 as a criterion for triggering an Amber alert.[citation needed]
It is recommended that Amber alert data immediately be entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Crime Information Center. Text information describing the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the child should be entered, and the case flagged as child abduction.[citation needed]
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police‘s (RCMP) requirements in Canada are nearly identical to the above list, with the exception that the RCMP is notified.[15] One organization might notify the other if there is reason to suspect that the border may be crossed.[citation needed]
When investigators believe that a child is in danger of being taken across the border to either Canada or Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United States Border Patrol and the Canada Border Services Agency are notified and are expected to search every car coming through a border checkpoint. If the child is suspected to be taken to Canada, a Canadian Amber Alert can also be issued, and a pursuit by Canadian authorities usually follows.[citation needed]
Incidents not meeting alert criteria
For incidents which do not meet Amber alert criteria, the United States Department of Justice developed the Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) program to assist local agencies. This program can be used in all missing children’s cases with or without an Amber alert. CART can also be used to help recover runaway children who are under the age of 18 and in danger. As of 2010, 225 response teams have been trained in 43 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Canada.[16]
Namesake
Amber Rene Hagerman (November 25, 1986 – January 15, 1996) was a nine-year-old girl abducted while riding her bike in Arlington, Texas.[17] Her younger brother, Ricky, had gone home without her because Amber had wanted to stay in the parking lot for a while. When he returned with his grandfather, they only found Amber’s bicycle. A neighbor who had witnessed the abduction called 911.[citation needed]
Upon hearing the news, Hagerman’s father, Richard, called Marc Klaas, whose daughter, Polly, had been kidnapped and murdered in Petaluma, California, in 1993, and Amber’s mother, Donna Whitson (now Donna Williams), called the news media and the FBI. They and their neighbors began searching for Amber.[18]
Four days after her abduction, near midnight, a man walking his dog discovered Amber’s naked body in a creek behind an apartment complex with severe laceration wounds to her neck. The site of the discovery was less than five miles (8 km) from where Amber was abducted. Her murder remains unsolved.[19]
Texas program development
Within days of Amber’s death, Donna Williams was “calling for tougher laws governing kidnappers and sex offenders”.[20] Amber’s parents soon established People Against Sex Offenders (PASO). They collected signatures hoping to force the Texas Legislature into passing more stringent laws to protect children.[21]
God’s Place International Church donated the first office space for the organization, and as the search for Amber’s killer continued, PASO received almost-daily coverage in local media. Companies donated various office supplies, including computer and Internet service. Congressman Martin Frost, with the help of Marc Klaas, drafted the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act. Both of Hagerman’s parents were present when President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law, creating the national sex offender registry. Williams and Richard Hagerman then began collecting signatures in Texas, which they planned to present to then-Governor George W. Bush as a sign that people wanted more stringent laws for sex offenders.[22]
In July 1996, Bruce Seybert (whose own daughter was a close friend of Amber)[23] and Richard Hagerman attended a media symposium in Arlington. Although Hagerman had remarks prepared, on the day of the event the organizers asked Seybert to speak instead. In his 20-minute speech, he spoke about efforts that local police could take quickly to help find missing children and how the media could facilitate those efforts. C.J. Wheeler, a reporter from radio station KRLD, approached the Dallas police chief shortly afterward with Seybert’s ideas and launched the first ever Amber Alert.[24]
Williams testified in front of the United States Congress in June 1996, asking legislators to create a nationwide registry of sex offenders. Representative Martin Frost, the Congressman who represented Williams’ district, proposed an “Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act.” Among the sections of the bill was one that would create a national sex offender registry.[25]
Diana Simone, a Texas resident who had been following the news, contacted the KDMX radio station and proposed broadcasts to engage passers-by in helping locate missing children.[26] Her idea was picked up and for the next two years, alerts were made manually to participating radio stations. In 1998, the Child Alert Foundation created the first fully automated Alert Notification System (ANS) to notify surrounding communities when a child was reported missing or abducted. Alerts were sent to radio stations as originally requested but included television stations, surrounding law enforcement agencies, newspapers and local support organizations. These alerts were sent all at once via pagers, faxes, emails, and cell phones with the information immediately posted on the Internet for the general public to view.[27]
Following the automation of the Amber alert with ANS technology created by the Child Alert Foundation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) expanded its role in 2002 to promote the Amber alert.[28]
International adoption
United States
In October 2000, the United States House of Representatives adopted H.Res.605, which encouraged communities nationwide to implement the Amber Plan.[citation needed] In October 2001, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that had declined to be a part of the Amber alert program in February 1996, launched a campaign to have Amber alert systems established nationwide.[citation needed] In February 2002, the Federal Communications Commission officially endorsed the system. In 2002, several children were abducted in cases that drew national attention. One such case, the kidnapping and murder of Samantha Runnion, prompted California to establish an Amber alert system on July 24, 2002.[11] According to Senator Dianne Feinstein, in its first month California issued 13 Amber alerts; 12 of the children were recovered safely and the remaining alert was found to be a misunderstanding.[29]
By September 2002, 26 states had established Amber alert systems that covered all or parts of the state. A bipartisan group of US Senators, led by Kay Bailey Hutchison and Dianne Feinstein, proposed legislation to name an Amber alert coordinator in the U.S. Justice Department who could help coordinate state efforts. The bill also provided $25 million in federal matching grants for states to establish Amber alert programs and necessary equipment purchases, such as electronic highway signs. A similar bill was sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jennifer Dunn and Martin Frost.[29] The bill passed the Senate unanimously within a week of its proposal.[30] At an October 2002 conference on missing, exploited, and runaway children, President George W. Bush announced changes to the Amber alert system, including the development of a national standard for issuing Amber alerts.[31] A similar bill passed the House several weeks later on a 390–24 vote.[32] A related bill became law in April 2003.[33] By 2005, all fifty states had operational programs; the program today operates across state and jurisdictional boundaries.[34]
The alerts were offered digitally beginning in November 2002, when America Online began a service allowing people to sign up to receive notification via computer, pager, or cell phone. Users of the service enter their ZIP Code, thus allowing the alerts to be targeted to specific geographic regions.[35] By 2006, members of the public could sign up online to receive Amber alerts via SMS through the Wireless Amber Alert program, which was administered in partnership with CTIA.[36] The Wireless Amber Alert program was retired on December 31, 2012, in favor of Wireless Emergency Alerts.[37] As of February 2026, Amber Alerts are automatically distributed through the Wireless Emergency Alerts network.
In the early 2010s, the US Justice Department‘s Amber Alert Program teamed up with Google[38][39] and Facebook[40] to display information regarding an Amber alert when geographically relevant searches were entered into Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and other search engines.
Canada
Canada’s system began in December 2002, when Alberta launched the first province-wide system. At the time, Alberta Solicitor-General Heather Forsyth said “We anticipate an Amber Alert will only be issued once a year in Alberta. We hope we never have to use it, but if a child is abducted Amber Alert is another tool police can use to find them and help them bring the child home safely.”[41] The Alberta government committed to spending more than CA$1 million (equivalent to $1.6 million in 2025) to expanding the province’s emergency warning system so that it could be used effectively for Amber Alerts.[41] Other provinces soon adopted the system, and by May 2004, Saskatchewan was the only province that had not established an Amber Alert system.[42] Within the next year, the program was in use throughout the country.
Amber alerts may also be distributed via the Alert Ready emergency alert system, which disrupts programming on all radio, television stations, and television providers in the relevant region to display and play audio of Amber alert information. In 2018, Alert Ready introduced alerts on supported mobile devices. When an alert is broadcast, a distinct sound is played and a link to find more information is displayed onscreen. Currently, there is no way to deactivate Amber alerts on mobile devices in Canada, even if the device is in silent and/or Do Not Disturb modes, which has provoked controversy.[43][44] These series of multiple blaring alarms going off in the middle of the night have caused residents to complain, often by calling 911.[45] However, there are concerns that hearing repeated alarms may cause Canadians to ignore the alarm when the system is used to warn of life-threatening emergencies.[citation needed]
British Columbia
Translink, the corporation responsible for the regional transportation network of Metro Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, displays Amber alerts on all their buses’ digital signs reading “AMBER ALERT | Listen to radio | Bus #”. Details of the Amber alert information are also available on screens at transit stations.[citation needed]
Quebec
The program was introduced in Quebec on May 26, 2003. The name AMBER alert was then adapted in French to Alerte Médiatique But Enfant Recherché, which directly translates as “Media Alert Goal of Child Recovery”. In order to launch an AMBER alert, police authorities need to meet four criteria simultaneously and with no exceptions:
- The missing person is a child under the age of 18.
- The police have reason to believe that the missing child has been abducted.
- The police have reason to believe that the physical safety or the life of the child is in serious danger.
- The police have information that may help locate the child, the suspect and/or the suspect’s vehicle.[46]
Once all four conditions are met, the police service may call an AMBER alert. Simultaneously, all of Quebec’s Ministry of transport message boards will broadcast the police’s messages. The Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) road traffic controllers also help with the search. Television and radio stations broadcast a description of the child, the abductor and/or the abductor’s car. On the radio, the information is broadcast every 20 minutes for two hours or less if the child is found. On the television, the information is broadcast on a ticker tape at the bottom of the screen for two hours with no interruptions. After this, the ticker tape is withdrawn, but the police continue to inform the public through the usual means of communication.[citation needed]
Over the years, the program gathered more partners in order for the alert to be communicated on different media platforms. As in Ontario, lottery crown corporation Loto-Québec puts to the disposition of the police forces their 8,500 terminals located throughout the province. Some of these terminals are equipped with a screen that faces the customer which makes it one of the largest networks of its kind to operate in Canada. The technology employed enables them to broadcast the message on the entire network in under 10 minutes. In addition, The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) offers to most Canadians, upon free subscription, the possibility to receive, via text message, on their mobile devices AMBER alert notices.
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