AMBER Advocate Magazine

Issue 28

This issue profiles Mark Simpson, a Texas detective who helps create the AMBER Alert program following the 1996 abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman. After retiring, Simpson continues to serve as a consultant and instructor for the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), developing case studies and advanced training strategies for child abduction investigations. Janell Rasmussen, who founded Minnesota’s AMBER Alert program, steps down after 16 years, having led the state’s first successful interstate alert in 2003—an achievement rooted in the training and relationships she built with other coordinators. The Tacoma, Washington, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) breaks new ground by investigating two cold case rapes and murders from the 1980s using modern DNA testing and a leads management system. States continue expanding alert systems “beyond AMBER,” including Wisconsin’s Silver Alerts for missing elderly individuals, Michigan’s active shooter alerts, and New Mexico’s Brittany Alerts for missing people with severe disabilities—though concerns grow about public desensitization due to alert volume. A front-line story from Utah details the safe recovery of two young sisters abducted by their parents, after a Motel 6 clerk in New Mexico recognizes the suspects from a social media-amplified alert and contacts police. The Bahamas launches the MARCO Alert system for child abductions, named after a boy abducted and murdered in 2011, and ends the 24-hour wait period before searching for missing children. Malta becomes the 17th European nation to implement an AMBER Alert program. A national symposium in Arizona focuses on child protection in Indian Country, addressing human trafficking and exploitation. A study by the National Center for Missing and Abducted Children reveals that most abducted children are taken by someone they know, with fathers responsible for 43% of cases and mothers for 24%.

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