AMBER Alert International – Issue 2 2020

AMBER Alert Europe has partnered with a technology company for AMBER Alerts to be seen on 23,000 ATM screens across Europe, with the potential of being viewed by millions of users and others passing by. The concept began in the Netherlands with Euronet Worldwide in the summer of 2019. “This partnership will significantly increase the amount of exposure that missing children will receive,” said Frank Hoen, AMBER Alert Europe Chairman and Founder. “I am certain this will save children’s lives in the future.”

A couple was arrested after the Attorney General of Mexico City offered a 2 million peso reward (approximately $80,000 USD) for information leading to the capture of the people involved with kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl.

A woman picked up the girl from her elementary school on February 11, 2020, and said she was going to take her home. Surveillance video shows the woman and girl walking down the street. Five days later the child was found deceased in a garbage bag.

Police say the woman gave the girl as a “gift” to her abusive husband. The child was killed when the husband saw a TV report of her disappearance and the active police search. An autopsy revealed the child had been sexually assaulted before her death. The Mexican Public Ministry is seeking the maximum penalty for both the abductor and the murderer, a sentence of 70 years each.

The southeastern European country of Bosnia-Herzegovina is now part of the continent’s child abduction alert program. The country is the 21st to join AMBER Alert Europe, which now has 34 participating organizations. “By joining we want to contribute to quickly and successfully solving missing children cases through cooperation with colleagues from other countries,” said Mirsad Vilić, Director for Coordination for Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country is also joining the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons, a network that allows law enforcement to quickly consult with members in other countries on missing persons.

Pakistan now has a “Mera Bacha Alert” to help recover missing children. The system uses a mobile application to send details about a missing child to smart phones. The alert is part of the Digital Pakistan Vision program which was launched in 2018 to help empower women.

The Central American country of Belize is changing the criteria for the Jasmine Alert, a nationwide alert that is sent to the public when a child is missing or abducted. The Belize Police Department signed an MOU with the Jasmine Alert program to clarify the alert’s criteria, so it is aligned with the AMBER Alert criteria used in most countries. The Jasmine Alert program was started in 2012 after the disappearance of 13-year-old Jasmine Lowe, who was later found deceased.

Damjan Miklič, senior criminal police inspector specialist at the Slovenian Police Directorate, has been appointed as president of Europe’s Police Expert Network on Missing Persons. The network consists of more than 50 law enforcement experts in the field of missing persons, specifically children, from 21 European countries.