AMBER Alert International – Issue I 2019

The Republic of Srpska joined AMBER Alert Europe and can now issue child abduction alerts. Also known as the Serb Republic, the country launched its system on September 5, 2018. “We look forward to working with the Republic’s law enforcement experts towards our mission to reach zero missing children in Europe,” said Frank Hoen, founder of AMBER Alert Europe. The Republic is the 18th country to join the European network.

AMBER Alert Netherlands is now ten years old. The Dutch AMBER Alert was one of the first child abduction notification programs in Europe and is the founding partner of AMBER Alert Europe. The Dutch alert also inspired AMBER Alert programs in Luxembourg, Malta and Slovakia. The AMBER Alert program was launched on November 11, 2018, and has issued 25 AMBER Alerts and 981 Missing Child Alerts. To dates, 94 percent of the children have been found successfully.

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) is now using a global platform that combines artificial intelligence (AI) and digital advertising to locate missing and abducted children. THE GMCNgine™ uses geo-targeting and dynamic ad technology to get missing children alerts to the right communities quickly. The system also uses AI to scan millions of images on the web to locate pictures that resemble missing children. “The GMCNgine™ sparks global change in missing child investigations,” said Maura Harty, President and Chief Executive Officer for ICMEC. The tool will be used in 29 countries.

Great Britain is now using “Clever Never Goes” to warn parents and children about child abductions. The non-profit Action Against Abduction says the new program is more effective than the past “Stranger Danger” public campaigns. The new program involves children and adults watching videos showing scenarios and then asks children to decide how to react. More than 150 schools have already signed up for the program.

The Jamaican activist group Hear the Children’s Cry is asking national leaders to convene an Emergency Child Summit after the abduction and murder of a 14-year-old girl. Raven Wilson was reported missing and later found dead in a garbage bag. Activist and leader of the Hear Children’s Cry group, Betty Ann Blaine, wants to bring all stakeholders together to enact urgent solutions to protect children and safeguard their lives.

The family of an 82-year-old woman who died after wandering away from her car is asking for implementation of a Silver Alert program to help find endangered missing elderly people. Gladys Barman disappeared in July 2018 and her body was found one month later in a lake. Silver Alerts are being used in Manitoba and Alberta.