AMBER Advocate Magazine

A proposed broadcast spectrum auction by the FCC raises concerns about its potential impact on AMBER Alert reach in Western states, where rural and mountainous areas rely on television translators for free over-the-air signals. Ohio successfully uses its AMBER Alert program and the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system—even during early morning hours—to recover an abducted 8-year-old boy, thanks to two citizens who saw the alert on a phone and a car window, followed the suspect, and called 911. A profile of Wisconsin Missing Persons Clearinghouse Coordinator Susan Whitehorse highlights her 35-year career and her work with training, Child Abduction Response Teams, and interstate networks to locate missing children, including reuniting a Native American mother with her daughter after a 30-year search. The Southern Border Initiative brings U.S. and Mexican law enforcement together in Laredo, Texas, for training on human trafficking and child abductions, aiming to build a seamless child protection network across North America. Internationally, an AMBER Alert in the Netherlands helps recover a child in Germany for the second time, and Ontario firefighters begin receiving alerts through their network of 45 fire stations. In Illinois, a new law allows the introduction of a defendant’s past similar convictions in child abduction cases. Iowa updates its AMBER Alert criteria, now requiring only one identifying description—of the child, suspect, or vehicle—rather than all three. North Carolina celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its AMBER Alert program, which boasts a 100% safe recovery rate for all 83 alerts issued.

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