Mission
The mission of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) is to safely recover missing, endangered, or abducted children through the coordinated efforts of law enforcement, media, transportation, and other partners by using training and technology to enhance response capacities and capabilities and increase public participation.
Program Administrator
Deputy Administrators
Program Managers
Project Coordinators
Denise Gee Peacock
Project Coordinator, Publications, Digital/Social Media & Special Projects
Administrative Assistants
Regional Liaisons
CART Liaisons
History of the AMBER Alert initiative
The AMBER Alert System began in Dallas-Fort Worth when broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. The acronym was created as a legacy to 9- year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities began setting up their own AMBER Alert plans as the idea was adopted across the nation.
From 1996 through 2001, the progress on developing and implementing AMBER plans throughout the country was slow to develop; at the end of 2001, only four states had statewide AMBER plans.
In 2002, the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children took place, and AMBER Alert became nationally focused. In conjunction with the conference, the President requested that the U.S. Attorney General appoint the first National AMBER Alert Coordinator. Deborah J. Daniels, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs was appointed the first National AMBER Alert Coordinator.
Learn more at https://amberalert.ojp.gov/about
More on AMBER Alerts
AMBER Alerts are activated in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of a missing child. These alerts are broadcast through radio, TV, road signs, cellphones, and other data-enabled devices.
The AMBER Alert system is being used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Indian Country, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 27 other countries.
As of December 31, 2023, 1,200 children have been recovered thanks to AMBER Alerts – 180 of them because of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs).
Most people will see AMBER Alerts directly from primary distribution and secondary distributors and do not require any additional steps. You may also choose to be notified of an AMBER Alert in the following ways: On Facebook: Visit facebook.com/AMBERAlert and “Like” the page to receive AMBER Alerts in your newsfeed. (Facebook also automatically notifies users near the location of an AMBER Alert.) On Twitter: Follow @AMBERAlert to receive rapid AMBER Alert notifications on your Twitter feed and share the alert with your followers.
Every successful AMBER Alert plan contains clearly defined activation criteria. These activation criteria, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice (amberalert.gov/guidelines.htm) are designed to promote a uniform, interoperable network of plans across the country and facilitated coordinated communication and sharing/dissemination of information.