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Hello all,
We in Colorado have recently been taking a closer look at our criteria after an audit was just completed on the Colorado AMBER program. We are considering adding some verbiage regarding time as a factor. We would like to consider both time of day and time since an event occurred. However, we do not want to bind ourselves to a specific number of hours. We are leaning towards a more ambiguous statement such as “a reasonable amount of time.” Do any states have anything like this in their criteria? If so would you be willing to share how it has worked for you and what verbiage is written in your policies?
Thank you!
Idaho’s AMBER Alert Criteria includes wording for time: V. 2. The abduction occurred within 12 hours of initial activation of AMBER alert.
We do not, however, preclude an alert if the time extends beyond 12 hours. We will err on the side of the child and activate an alert even if the time extends beyond 12 hours. Link below to Idaho’s AMBER Alert statewide plan.
https://isp.idaho.gov/BCI/documents/ID%20Statewide%20AMBER%20Alert%20Plan%20Ver%202%2012.pdfThanks! Leila
Hello
I am a regional coordinator in Texas. Here is the Texas criteria from the Texas DPS web site.
The below represents AMBER Alert criteria for the state’s network:
Is this child 17 years of age or younger, whose whereabouts are unknown, and whose disappearance law enforcement has determined to be unwilling which poses a credible threat to the child’s safety and health; and if abducted by a parent or legal guardian, was the abduction in the course of an attempted murder or murder?
OR
Is this child 13 years of age or younger, who was taken (willingly or unwillingly) without permission from the care and custody of a parent or legal guardian by:
someone unrelated and more than three years older,
or
another parent or legal guardian who attempted or committed murder at the time of the abduction?
Is this child in immediate danger of sexual assault, death or serious bodily injury?
Has a preliminary investigation verified the abduction and eliminated alternative explanations for the child’s disappearance?
Is sufficient information available to disseminate to the public to help locate the child, a suspect, or the vehicle used in the abduction?26 years of training and experience: I believe AMBER Alerts are an investigative tool and should be only that. They are crucial to the successful recovery of abducted children as proven over the years. However, the timing of the AMBER Alert is also crucial and needs to be left to the discretion of the Law Enforcement Agency of jurisdiction. My experience is, that too much criteria and or mandatory requirements for anything we do as investigators creates another set of unnecessary obstacles and takes focus away from the priority. My opinion is this: there are too many dynamic and contributing factors present in each child abduction case to mandate an AMBER Alert or require a mandatory window of time to issue the AMBER Alert. I believe that time and as well as the other “should’s” are better suited for best practices. Keep it simple, flexible and usable. That’s my 2 cents and it may not be worth that!
Regards
John L. Graham
Nebraska’s AMBER Alert criteria don’t mention a time frame,from the time of the abduction to issuance. It is considered on a case by case basis. We have issued for children who were missing for over 24 hours before the request was made.
Wyoming will air the alert every hour for 24 hours. After 24 hours we will air the alert twice a day. We do not have a time limit on the number of days we will air. We will make that decision based on the alert details.
In DC we do not indicate a time frame, but we do require the following criteria.
The Amber Alert shall only be activated when all of the following criteria are met:
The abducted juvenile is (17) years of age or younger and it is believed that the juvenile has been abducted.
It is believed that the abducted juvenile is in imminent danger or serious bodily harm or death
An investigation has taken place that verified the abduction, eye witness account, or eliminated alternative explanation.
There is sufficient information about the juvenile, abductor to disseminate to the public that could assist in locating the juvenile, suspect, and or the suspect’s vehicle
The abductor and or the juvenile are likely to still be in the broadcast area.In Kentucky our statute does not list a time limit. I am not aware of any alerts we have activated after 24 hours. My guess is it would be on a case by case basis.
Kentucky abides by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act which mandates a child must be entered into NCIC within two hours of the report being taken by law enforcement.
Kentucky does not have a law as many states do, requiring a parent to report a child missing when they suspect the child could be in danger.The Oregon AMBER Alert criteria does not set any specific length of time delay, or passage of time, as a criteria for AMBER Alert activation. Our AMBER plan does include a statement that delay/passage of time may make it impractical for AMBER activation, but I think the rationale behind that has to do with uncertainty about location and description information as time passes. Having said that we wouldn’t treat delay/passage of time by itself as a reason not to activate AMBER Alert when all activation criteria are met. As others here have said, we view each request for AMBER Alert on a case by case basis.
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