New York AMBER Alert Coordinator Gary Kelly knows what is at stake when a child is abducted. Before taking the AMBER Alert position he spent years investigating child abuse and kidnapping cases for the New York State Police.
“I know firsthand the violence that can happen in homes and kids are vulnerable,” said Kelly. He said that experience drives him to make sure New York's AMBER Alert Plan works. “The AMBER Alert is designed to save and rescue kids.”
Kelly is trying to use technology to make AMBER Alerts even more effective. New York now uses license plate readers and commercial electronic signs during AMBER Alerts. Soon the alerts will be broadcast on TV screens in all 13,000 taxi cabs in New York City.
“Between 400,000 and 600,000 people a day would see the alerts,” said Kelly. “That would be huge to have all those eyes and ears looking for a child.”
AMBER Alerts will also become part of New York's All Hazard and Emergency Alert notification system. The new computer system will greatly simplify activations. “We have up to five steps to activate and this will take it down to two steps,” said Kelly. “We're really excited about this.”
Kelly recently organized a webcast to help train broadcasters on the AMBER Alert. The nearly hour-long training was put together quickly. A small group of people created an outline, modified previous power point presentations and then went to a public television station studio and simply started talking.
“All our primary AMBER partners were invited to attend,” said Kelly. “The State Broadcasters Association got the ball rolling.” Viewers were able to email questions during the webcast, and the broadcast was recorded in case anyone missed it.
Now Kelly is planning a webcast for law enforcement. This program will be divided into five-minute segments so officers can view each segment during roll calls. All New York law enforcement officers have already received patrol cards containing the criteria and needed information to issue an AMBER Alert.
All the innovation, Kelly said, is driven by the commitment of the State AMBER Alert Committee. He said committee members meet in person with the activating law enforcement agency after each alert. New York has had 24 AMBER Alert activations for 29 children since the plan started in 2002.
“This is a team effort in New York. It's not a one-person show by any means,” said Kelly. “Everyone on this committee is passionate about what they do. That helps me.”
Does Kelly take his job as AMBER Alert coordinator personally? “Definitely,” he answered. He said that is because he is the father of a 9-year-old girl and an infant son. Kelly is even the soccer coach and the “Girl Scout Cookie” dad for his daughter.
His only regret is that he cannot devote more time to the AMBER Alert plan. “I've been pushing for this to be a full-time position,” said Kelly. “I don't think we are doing enough.”