Amber Hagerman holding her baby brother, Ricky, in front of wrapped Christmas packages — *Amber Hagerman with her baby brother, Ricky*

By Denise Gee Peacock

On January 13, 1996, 9-year-old Amber Hagerman’s life was stolen by a stranger who dragged her kicking and screaming from her bicycle in broad daylight. Despite an unrelenting search and dedicated efforts by law enforcement, the media, and the public, Amber would never make it home. She was found brutally murdered. Her loss devastated her family and community, leaving a wound that has yet to heal.

In the months following the third-grader’s abduction and killing, Dallas-Fort Worth-area broadcasters worked with local police to establish what they hoped would be an antidote to future crimes: the America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alert—named in Amber’s honor, both to remember her and to protect children in the future. It would harness the power of technology, the media, and community action to spread urgent news when a child’s life was in danger.

It took almost a decade to get every U.S. state to adopt the alert system, but as of Dec. 18, 2025, AMBER Alerts have helped recover more than 1,292 children nationwide—241 of them rescued because of wireless emergency alerts (WEAs).

Though Amber’s life was heartbreakingly short, her legacy has been to save countless lives. Each time an AMBER Alert flashes across a screen or sounds on a phone, her name is carried forward—not just as a reminder of tragedy, but as a symbol of hope, protection, and action.

Janell Rasmussen Administrator, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program / Director, National Criminal Justice Training Center

Amber’s case also underscores fundamental lessons that child protection professionals should consider as they navigate missing child incidents.

Rapid public communication is vital.
Before Amber’s case, police lacked a formal framework for instantly broadcasting information about child abductions to the public.

The AMBER Alert system was created specifically to fill this gap, leveraging radio, TV, and eventually wireless technology to send out critical information like descriptions of the child, suspect, and vehicle.

“Amber’s case was a witnessed abduction—the rarest of all—and there was credible information available about the suspected abductor and his truck,” says Chuck Fleeger, Region 3 Liaison for the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP). “There just wasn’t a mechanism then to get that information out quickly and to the widest possible audience.”

AATTAP’s Region 3 spans 10 states, from Louisiana to Nebraska to Arizona. It also encompasses Fleeger’s home state of Texas, where since 2003 he has served as executive director of the AMBER Alert Network Brazos Valley, a non-profit in central Texas that assists with regional AMBER Alert coordination, provides public education, and partners with local law enforcement and other responders in alerting, response, and investigative readiness.

In 2020 Fleeger retired as Assistant Chief of Police with the College Station Police Department, where he served for more than three decades. He now teaches AMBER Alert investigative best practices courses for the AATTAP.

Time is of the essence.
Experts recognized that the first few hours are the most critical in a child abduction case. The AMBER Alert protocol emphasizes speed, ensuring that law enforcement, broadcasters, and transportation agencies react swiftly to reports.

Balancing that need for speed with a desire for accuracy can be a struggle for AMBER Alert Coordinators. “Law enforcement wrestles with the desire to verify information is complete and accurate, but then it’s not timely; conversely, you can have timely information but some of it’s not completely accurate. That’s OK. It’s better to get the process going even if an activation package isn’t perfect,” Fleeger says. “We all know how crucial time is, so any moments that can be saved could potentially make the difference in a child’s recovery.”

Successfully navigating such a high-stakes process “takes a combination of continuing education, experience, and good communication with others,” says Fleeger’s colleague Joan Collins, Liaison for AATTAP’s Region 1 (encompassing 11 states in the Northeast, from Maine to West Virginia).

Collins’ career has involved 39 years of work for Rhode Island law enforcement. She spent 28 of those years with the Rhode Island State Police, where she helped audit and train users of the Rhode Island Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (RILETS); was central to increasing the state’s various emergency alerts; managed the state’s sex offender/“Most Wanted” databases; and worked with the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

The creation of the AMBER Alert system has become an important public global safety tool for child abductions, and there is ongoing hope for the resolution of Amber Hagerman’s case. The goal is to safely recover an abducted child. The decisions made by AMBER Alert Coordinators are often stressful, made quickly and under pressure, following established protocols and using their best judgment based on the information at hand.

Joan Collins Region 1 Liaison, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program

“Doing this line of work involves being an active listener—of knowing what questions to ask,” she says. Collins now teaches such AATTAP courses as AMBER Alert: To Activate or Not Activate as well as 911 Telecommunicators and Missing & Abducted Children (aka “911 T-MAC”).

Coordination is key.
The AMBER Alert system functions through the seamless cooperation of multiple groups, including law enforcement, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the media.

Reviews of every alert help to improve the process over time by getting input from these various partners.

Collins recommends that partners include not only those within one’s own law enforcement agency, but also those from surrounding states (“with whom you’re likely to work with more often than not”). “It’s important to connect with your counterparts elsewhere and build relationships with them early so you can act together quickly and successfully,” she says. “It’s always a relief to know others are ready and willing to help out during times of high stress, and they in turn will appreciate your advice and support.”

Protocols must be followed carefully.
For any case—which can potentially become a high-profile one—there is a need for law enforcement to meticulously follow established protocols. This includes the difficult decisions an AMBER Alert Coordinator must make with the limited information available at the time, which may be criticized by the public later.

“With any missing child case, law enforcement should first assume the child is at risk until evidence presents otherwise,” Fleeger says.

He also recommends patrol first responders consider the long-term implications of their efforts, avoiding any pass-the-buck mentality of case stewardship. “Think about the officers dispatched to Amber’s case. They certainly didn’t know when they started their shift that three decades later the case would be unsolved—and how dramatically changed available resources and response models would become.” It’s essential to remember that “the right documentation of information really matters. And if we’re doing good, solid police work from the earliest moments, that work should stand the test of time and hold up well.”

Use targeted, advanced technology.
Modern AMBER Alerts benefit from geotargeting, which focuses alerts on the people most likely to have seen the child. This prevents citizens in a wider area from being desensitized and ignoring alerts.

The public can help.
AMBER Alert’s success is a testament to the power of community vigilance. It allows millions of people to serve as the “eyes and ears” for law enforcement by reporting tips to the authorities. To keep the public from “information burnout” on a case, Fleeger recommends using multiple photos of a missing child at different times. “If someone is scrolling through their feed on social media and see the same photo time and again, they’ll assume they’ve already read that information,” he says. “A new or different photo will make somebody pause and think, ‘I didn’t realize he is still missing.’ The goal is to keep the case a priority in the public’s mind until we can get that person found.”

Don’t assume benign circumstances.
Before the AMBER Alert system, bystanders witnessing a child struggling with an adult may have assumed it was a family dispute or the child misbehaving. Amber’s case highlights the danger of assuming an abduction is a benign event and reinforces the importance of reporting suspicious activity immediately—even if it seems inconsequential.

Collins refers to the barking dog analogy in her teaching. She encourages dispatchers in training to ask questions and gather more information. “For example, is the dog that someone is calling about normally outside barking, or does it rarely bark? This could indicate whether something unusual is occurring. It’s important not to make assumptions, as callers may have relevant information that can be discovered by asking further questions

Stranger abductions are real.
While statistically rare—the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reports that stranger abductions account for 1% of reported abductions—they are a real danger. Amber’s case serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of children, especially when a predator targets them. According to NCMEC, victims are most often girls, and the average age for attempted abductions is 11 and completed abductions is 14.

Justice is a long process.
Despite the creation of a system that has saved countless lives, Amber’s murder remains unsolved decades later. The lesson is that the fight for justice continues, and the public can still assist by reporting any strange observations. “Long-term cases like Amber Hagerman’s are solvable,” Fleeger says. “Technology continues to evolve and so do peoples’ lives. People will decide to talk for whatever reason when circumstances change. Consider the Austin [Texas] yogurt shop murder case that was recently solved. You just never know.”

Group of people filling out big white sheets of paper

Police officer talks to group of seated men

Woman with dark hear talking to seated audience

A year and a half ago, nationally recognized CART expert Stacie Lick became AATTAP’s CART Liaison.

Man speaking to group of seated men and women

James Holmes joins Stacie Lick in providing guidance from the perspectives of former CART Commanders who know the ins and outs of a rapid response team’s creation and sustainability.

Men in front of a digital flow chart of information

Organizational charts help first responders see the big picture of how a CART will be structured during a missing child incident.

By Denise Gee Peacock

“Sometimes the solution to a problem is right in front of you, which may be a good sign you’re on the right track,” says Derek VanLuchene, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Program Manager for child abduction response team (CART) training and certification.

VanLuchene’s task was to help others overcome a significant hurdle: “Certain CARTs were struggling with getting up and running, despite days of training and support. And our goal is, and always has been, to create more active teams across the country.”

With all that law enforcement agencies juggle and with seemingly fewer resources to tap, “maybe the agencies were just feeling overwhelmed,” VanLuchene says. Knowing that the burgeoning CARTs needed more follow-up and mentoring, one way to help struggling teams was to connect them with “the best of the best.” A year and a half ago, nationally recognized CART experts James Holmes and Stacie Lick became AATTAP’s CART Liaisons. Lick and Holmes now offer guidance to CARTs from the perspectives of former CART Commanders who know the ins and outs of a rapid response team’s creation and sustainability. So, problem solved, right?

Not quite. In some cases, fledgling CARTs also needed reminders of the core essentials needed to build a strong team. To resolve that, “maybe we needed to look again at how we were teaching the implementation course,” VanLuchene recalls.

For two decades, the AATTAP—part of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College—has been providing CART training and certification support funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. The process for managing and updating its training curriculum involves continually reviewing participant evaluation feedback, current research and case law, updated investigative resources, case studies, current trends, relevant adult learning strategies, input from subject matter experts, and more.

As a result, scores of CARTs have received assistance to create (and ultimately, federally certify) an effective, efficient, organized response team prepared for a missing child incident.

A eureka moment hit VanLuchene last fall, when he found himself updating the CART program’s two essential instructional manuals (see related sidebar, page 9) streamlining their content for ease of understanding.

Essential to any CART’s implementation are “12 Core Components” (see related sidebar)—which include agreed-upon deployment criteria, experienced and committed team members, well- crafted callout methods, and the like. But as important as those core concepts are, it dawned on VanLuchene that the instructional module centered on them received only two hours of focus time during three days of CART training. Perhaps that’s why the essential information wasn’t sticking, he wondered. They needed to spend more time on the components. “And frankly, while the old curriculum was good stuff, those components were worthy of their own course—or at least an updated course,” VanLuchene says.

After discussing it with AATTAP Curriculum Manager Cathy Delapaz and Deputy Administrator Byron Fassett, the group agreed. “Derek’s observation was brilliant,” Fassett recalls. As a team they set out to restructure the CART implementation course. The 12 Core Components would be front and center throughout a new two-day intensive course. What’s more, the class wouldn’t just address CART theory and best practices, “it would become a hands-on workshop, one in which the 12 Core Components are used to actually create a working CART in real-time,” VanLuchene says.

A Three-Pronged Approach
The reformatted curriculum—the CART- smart restart, if you will—is achieved via a three-pronged approach to building a CART in real-time as opposed to discussing its eventual creation.

The first prong involves a pre-meeting with agency stakeholders who will review the types of CART members that are needed and resources available. “That’s when we confirm that they’re ready to make the CART happen via the second prong of planning”—the new two-day class, or workshop, on the 12 Core Components—a deep dive into a successful CART’s key ingredients, which can be applied to the agency’s matrix of strategic personnel through a sample organizational flow chart that’s proven its value in CARTs across the country. “This way they can better visualize and understand the CART’s standard operating procedure (SOP),” VanLuchene says.

The third prong is a post-workshop meeting to confirm the CART team members and resources; it also includes mentoring from VanLuchene and one of the AATTAP Liaisons to help tie up any loose ends in CART configuration. “After all the prep work we’ve provided, when they come out the other side, they’ll be ready,” he says.

Louisiana as Pilot Project
Nine months ago, Louisiana State Police (LSP) Captain Jay Donaldson, who oversees Region 3 Criminal Investigations, was tasked by his superiors to form a statewide CART team that could work independently in each of the state’s three regions while also working as a cohesive whole in case of a major disaster involving missing people (one on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, he notes).

To create the regional/state CART, Donaldson knew right where to turn: to Derek VanLuchene, whom he had gotten to know over the years during various AATTAP-NCJTC trainings. Progress was swift, VanLuchene says. “No grass was growing under their feet; they wanted to get right on it.” The meetings took place over a four-month period, “which was fantastic considering some CARTs can take a year or more to form.”

After hearing about the updated CART curriculum, Donaldson was eager to get started. The first meeting was on February 19, with the more intensive hands-on sessions occurring on May 28 and 29. “I’m more of a workshop person myself,” Donaldson recalls of the two-day workshops. “I was just hoping everyone else on our teams would be too. Thankfully they were.”

With Louisiana serving as the new pilot project for the CART course that would soon play out around the country, Donaldson watched closely.

“What Derek did for us was exceptional,” Donaldson says. “Whenever we were doing tabletops, he broke us up by region. He said, ‘let’s put people together who are going to actually work together. That way we’ll see what happens, what ideas form.’ And then, once he did that, everything just started working, everything just started clicking.”

Finding the right people to be involved in planning and execution of the CART details is crucial. In any agency, people will do things because they’re told to. Then they’ll want to do so because their heart is in the mission. The commitment Donaldson witnessed in the room during the two-day planning session “had me realizing we had all the people whose hearts would be in the right place,” he says.

Donaldson had faith that the new way of learning-by-doing was working not only for his team, but also for others.

VanLuchene was equally pleased: “If they get a call tomorrow about a missing child, they could activate their CART team in whatever region it was needed. Their organizational chart is in place, their SOP is in place. They’re ready for deployment.”

Smart Solutions Ahead
A key obstacle to creating a CART is falling prey to misconceptions surrounding them. Some administrators may look at a CART as another task force that needs to be managed—without the budget or staffing to do so. They need as many resources as possible for their regular caseload of crimes.

“But in helping teams formulate a CART, we’re not asking people to suddenly put aside their normal duties. We’re asking people to think differently about how they work together on a missing child case,” VanLuchene says.

“Why not take the 12 Core Components of a CART and apply them to your response so you get the most effective, organized, efficient outcome?” he asks. “It’s just that simple.”

In other cases, where there are preexisting major incident response teams to tackle emergencies, those groups of responders can learn the 12 components of a successful CART and walk away with an SOP. “You become an active CART team based on your ability to respond to cases involving missing kids,” VanLuchene says.

Finding the resources can also seem overwhelming until stakeholders are invited to become a part of the process, says LSP Captain Donaldson. He cites one partnership in particular. “We invited the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to be involved in the training for the first time,” he says. “They were keen to observe and see if being in a CART was a space they wanted to share with us.”

That decision would be a natural. “Louisiana has so many bodies of water, and these guys know the camps or lakes or rivers or streams—which is where a child with autism, for instance, may be drawn to after a wandering incident,” Donaldson says. “And thankfully, they’re all in. They have the tools and resources, and these guys love what they do. Now they’re waiting for a mission. They’re all about saving children, if they can.”

The methodology for the new CART implementation course will also be used for AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) trainings. AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood and her team are currently observing the new curriculum in action and will be applying it to a forthcoming Tribal Response to Abducted Children (TRAC) initiative, which will help Tribal law enforcement bridge any gaps in child recovery knowledge and planning.

Meanwhile, CART Liaisons Lick and Holmes are working daily to ensure all current CARTs and ones in the making are taken care of. Both have managed CART teams so they relate to others’ challenges. “They say, ‘Here’s what we recommend based on our experience,’ ” VanLuchene says. “The Liaisons are helping bring the total CART training package together.”

12 Core Components of a CART

Response Criteria: This is a memorandum of understanding about the CART’s criteria and area of service and should have complete buy-in by all of the stakeholders involved
Team Composition: The predetermined callout team should include an experienced and committed group of subject matter experts in areas including search and rescue, interview and interrogation, expert witness testimony, command post operations, major case investigations (including cold cases), and more.
Notification and Deployment Protocols: For the CART to respond in a quick, preestablished timeframe, it must have a well-constructed and agreed-upon method to activate the callout and an updated list of contacts.
Communications: Each team should have a plan for how it will communicate with the CART commander, command post, and others during an activation. This includes having a well-staffed call center for public tips and dedicated personnel monitoring social media accounts. A leads tracking and management system is crucial for disseminating leads for follow-up.
Command and Control: This involves the structuring and outfitting of a command center, incident command system (command structure), and operational team leaders (search leads, volunteer management, and others).
Search, Canvass and Rescue Operations: Establish a plan for searching, canvassing, and rescuing that includes response time and deployment logistics, as well as tactics for the successful use of volunteers with predetermined tasks.
Training: Individual and CART agency training provides an opportunity for the team to test activation and callout procedures, revise rosters and contact information, update team members’ training and specialized skill records, inspect equipment inventory, adjust assignments, and review protocols.
Legal Support: The goal in an endangered missing or abducted child case is to rescue the child, develop a solid prosecutorial case against the offender, and do both without violating the constitutional rights of members of the community. Issues such as search and seizure and the role of the prosecutor in the CART command post should be incorporated into the CART protocols. Every CART should include a prosecutor and/or legal adviser who should be involved in all trainings.
Equipment/Resources Inventory. The inventory list goes well beyond tangible deployment needs, but includes detailed instructions on how every possible resource (including experts not part of the CART core team) can be accessed regardless of time or day. Every resource should have backup contact information (telephone and email), as well as procedures for making an after-hours callout.
CART Protocols: Established protocols, along with operating procedures and manuals, will help ensure consistency in a CART’s functionality. These documents must be shared among and accepted by all participating agencies, and any changes to policies and procedures must be documented in a consistent, singular location.
Victim Assistance and Reunification: When a child is recovered, it is critical for a variety of services to be made available as soon as possible—not only to address and physical/medical needs, but also the psychological distress resulting from the incident.
Community: Utilizing members of the team to provide training and awareness to the public may generate volunteering when an incident occurs.

— From A Guide to CART Program Components and Implementation.

>> Find AATTAP’s two recently updated implementation- and certification- focused guides at AMBERAdvocate.org/CART/resources.

>> Find all the information you need to stay up to date on CART training objectives at AMBERAdvocate.org/CART/training

By Denise Gee Peacock

Our children are the heart of our communities—the keeper of our legacies. But sometimes the unthinkable happens. A child goes missing. And in those desperate moments, every second counts. So do AMBER Alerts.

Thus begins a new eight-minute AMBER Alert in Indian Country-focused video filmed in Santa Fe. It is the longest of three videos that focus on AMBER Alert being a lifeline—a rapid response system that mobilizes entire communities to help find missing and abducted quickly and safely.

In Indian Country, implementing AMBER Alert comes with unique challenges: jurisdictional rights, infrastructure and resources limitations, crime reporting complexities, and the need for cultural understanding and multiagency collaboration.

The AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative—part of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College—is a bridge meant to overcome such issues.

“We all have a role to play in protecting our children,” says NCJTC Director and AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen. “By working together, we can ensure that every community in Indian Country has the resources and support they need to implement AMBER Alert effectively.”

Feathers and smudging tool for blessing the event

A Pueblo of Pojoaque smudging ceremony took place to bless the occasion and its participants.

A member of the Bravebird film crew looks out at bison en route to Santa Fe.

Female photographer monitoring drone images

Pamela Foster holds a medallion necklace showing her and her daughter Ashlynne.

Sunrise over Santa Fe.

Pueblo of Pojoaque Police vehicle on the go during the filming

A member of the Pueblo of Pojoaque Police Department answers a call for help.

Pueblo of Pojoaque Police Department sign

Filming took place on the Pueblo of Pojoaque.

Four members of Tribal law enforcement greet each other in Santa Fe

Members of Tribal police departments from across the nation greeted each other on the first day of filming.

Pueblo of Pojoaque Nathan Baron shows satellite map during meeting

Detail of Chitimacha Tribal Police patch on uniform

Deputy Chief Taylor Patterson of the Miccosukee Tribal Police in Florida answers questions during filming of the new videos.

Photographer operating a drone for aerial views of setting

Director of Photography Ashley Siana operates a drone over the Santa Fe landscape.

Photographer getting shots of bison and terrain for video setting

Film crew looking at monitor of video work while checking sound

Film crew at work talking with Jada Breaux of Chitimacha Tribe

Chitimacha Tribal Police Captain Jada Breaux sits for questions during filming.

Video participants, members of the film crew and AMBER Alert in Indian Country team members enjoy some down time.

Group of participants who helped with new video series

Following completion of the video filming, all those involved gathered for a group photo.

The goal of the new video (one of three in total) and AIIC training, is to:

Cultivate awareness and build knowledge of available resources and support systems for Indian Country.
Encourage American Indian/ Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities to implement effective response plans.
Help Tribes understand the basics of the AMBER Alert system and evaluate their community’s preparedness.
Promote the relationship-building between AI/AN, state agencies, and law enforcement.
Emphasize the need for cultural awareness in handling missing/ abducted children cases.
Build agency among AI/AN communities to take proactive measures to safeguard their children—and their children’s children.

The AATTAP-AIIC team worked with two Indigenous filmmakers who form the heart of Bravebird, a company that regularly collaborates with the nationally respected marketing firm 6 AM. (See the sidebar “Telling Stories,” below.) Both firms are based in Wisconsin, and both “were perfect to work with based on their understanding of the sensitivity of this story,” says Tyesha M. Wood, Program Manager for AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative.

“We wanted to bring together voices of child protection officials from Tribes across the nation—law enforcement leaders and others who could feel comfortable in expressing what their concerns are and how the AMBER Alert in Indian Country program has helped them. And how it can help others too,” Wood says.

The video was filmed on the Pueblo of Pojoaque reservation, known to have existed since 500 AD. The New Mexico Tribe played host to the video’s participants, who came from northern California, south Louisiana, northern Florida, and all points in between.

AIIC’s main champion in the video series is Pamela Foster, who figured prominently in the first video produced for the initiative after passage of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018. Foster is the mother of Ashlynne, who on May 2, 2016, was abducted—along with her brother Ian—and murdered in a remote area on the Navajo Nation. Ian managed to escape and run several miles to seek help. But while Ashlynne’s parents made frantic efforts to locate her, misunderstandings and jurisdictional hurdles on the reservation prevented an AMBER Alert from being issued until the next day, robbing authorities of critical hours in their search efforts.

“On that day, a part of me died, and life has never been the same,” Foster says. But it also propelled her to lobby forlegislative change that would prevent another Tribal family from experiencing what hers did.

“I made a promise to Ashlynne that I would do my part to fix the loophole that exists in the system,” Foster says. “I would fight with every fiber of my being to bring AMBER Alert to Indian Country.”

The video underscores the urgency of implementing AMBER Alerts through the lens of law enforcement professionals and others working on the front lines of protecting Tribal children.

“For far too long, an epidemic has been playing out in Indian Country as it relates to missing and murdered Indigenous children, adults, wives, relatives, brothers, and fathers. And it is a monster,” says Major Nathan Barton of the Pueblo of Pojoaque Police Department.

In the video, Foster makes a direct appeal to Tribal leaders. “If you haven’t already received the AIIC training, please reach out. Thanks to Ashlynne’s law, we can work with you to establish an AMBER Alert plan,” she says. “What’s more, the training is free and accessible, and it’s adaptive to your needs. We just need more Tribal participation for this to be effective.”

After the process, Foster had this to reflect on: “Sitting with the Tribal leaders and law enforcement officials who participated in the shoot was heartening. I was happy to hear them talk about how vital it is to protect our children on and off the reservation, and they each came with a powerful message to share,” she says. “It was good to see that we are building a connection with one another, and others—and that we are committed to being supported and heard.”

ACTION ITEMS:

Learn more about how AMBER Alert can protect Tribal Visit AMBERAdvocate. org/AIIC or email [email protected] for more information.
Follow AMBER Alert in Indian Country courses online, including the comprehensive MCI-IC series.
Contact your local Tribal leaders to discuss the importance of having a response plan in place.

Photograph of five people involved in the film's production — *The Bravebird crew in Santa Fe: Director Alex Miranda (far left), Director of Photography Ashley Siana, Director of Photography James Kwan, Sound Engineer Michael Twombly, and Producer Tim Peters.*

The new video’s director, Alex Miranda, and producer, Tim Peters, are the principals of Bravebird, an Indigenous-led filmmaking group based in Wisconsin that specializes in telling the stories of Indian Country.

“For us, and our families and communities, it’s important to share our stories with care, authenticity, and dignity," Miranda says.

One aspect of their work that shines through: “The land. Mother Earth,” he says. “She helps us realize that stories such as Ashlynne’s will never be forgotten.”

Bravebird was enlisted by the 6 AM Marketing team, also based in Wisconsin, for the care the group takes with delicate subject matter.

“Aaron [Hughes] and Laura [Fernandez] at 6 AM made this very easy,” Miranda says. “Everything was well thought through. We’re so complementary in our skills with each other. That just creates a very holistic experience.”

The goal was to create an emotional hook, front and center, explains 6 AM Creative Director Hughes. “That really starts with Pamela Foster [Ashlynne’s mother]. That’s what puts everybody in their seats paying attention at the start of this because of her experience,” he says. “Everything about her makes you pay attention.”

Foster was appreciative of the care that Bravebird and 6 AM crews devoted to helping her talk through the worst thing in life she has ever experienced: Ashlynne’s abduction and murder.

Says 6 AM Account Manager Laura Fernandez, “We had to make sure from the beginning that we had a deep understanding of Pamela's story, the [AATTAP-AIIC] program and the issues surrounding it, and the importance of those we would be speaking to—to try not to create the narrative,” she says. “It was a weight of emotional importance unlike anything I've ever done.”

Hughes adds: “We all felt like we were assembling something that could profoundly alter the course of someone’s life,” Hughes says. “If one child’s life can be spared because an AMBER Alert is in place, think of the ripple effect that will have. What a tremendous gift to participate in something like that.”

By Denise Gee Peacock

The 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, held February 25-26 in Washington, D.C., brought together nearly 200 state and regional AMBER Alert coordinators, missing person clearinghouse managers, Tribal leaders, and public safety officials from across the U.S. and its territories, including American Samoa, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Presenters and speakers included more than two dozen subject matter experts in missing child investigations and rapid response teams, emergency alerting, law enforcement technology, and Tribal law enforcement. Special guests included four family survivors who shared their powerful stories—and lessons learned.

*U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona addresses attendees at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, D.C.*

Also there to address participants was Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona’s 5th Congressional District and co-sponsor of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

The annual collaborative learning event is funded through the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs and administered by the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and its AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative, both affiliated with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College.

The symposium’s goal is to engage participants in discussing current issues, emerging technology, and best practices for recovering endangered missing and abducted children. Another objective is to improve the process of integration between state, regional, and rural communication plans with federally recognized Tribes from across the nation.

For the second year we enlisted the event management app Whova to help attendees plan their days, share their thoughts, and connect with each other. In keeping with that, we’ll let participants do most of the talking as we share event highlights.

This conference is a testament to the power
of collaboration. We’re here to bridge gaps,
share best practices, and innovate.
We’re here to hear the voices of those
who have experienced the unimaginable;
to honor their strength and resilience.

Janell Rasmussen

NCJTC Director / AATTAP Administrator

Never forget the difference you make in a child's
life. Ours is hard work, and sometimes gets us down.
But remember my family’s story. And never lose your
passion for keeping children safe.

Sayeh Rivazfar

Abduction survivor/law enforcement veteran/keynote speaker

AMBER Alert and Ashlynne’s Law
both save lives. Thank you for ensuring
your communities are prepared to
respond to every parent’s worst nightmare.

Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs (Fifth U.S. District)

U.S. Representative Andy Biggs

Arizona's 5th Congressional District

I will continue to push forward and spread
awareness, particularly about Indian Country,
hoping that one day jurisdiction and sovereignty
will not play a role in the search for a child.
And that every Tribe will have a plan
in place if an AMBER Alert ever
has to be activated.

Jada Breaux

Captain, Chitimacha Tribal Police Department, Louisiana

Sayeh [Rivazfar] is an incredible mother, an incredible warrior. Hearing her story was captivating, humbling, and gut-wrenching. As a mother of two young boys, I found her story beyond impactful. It provided a tangible sense of just how urgent it was to return home and continue the work.

Kelsey Commisso

Alerts Coordinator, Arizona Department of Public Safety

AMBER Alerts: To Activate or Not Activate was my absolute favorite session. Since I’m new to my position, it really made me think!

Whytley Jones

AMBER Alert Coordinator, Louisiana State Police

I’d never heard of the ‘Baby in a Box’ case [involving Shannon Dedrick], and the ending surprised me. I loved hearing the investigative lessons learned from it.

Michael Garcia

Detective, Honolulu Police Department, Hawaii

Pasco County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office Captain Larry Kraus did an excellent job in explaining the application, effectiveness, and obstacles of OSINT. He is super-smart and relatable to those of us who may be tech-challenged.

John Graham

Investigator, Taylor County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office

Erika Hock did a great job of presenting the Charlotte Sena case. Her humility shown through, especially when sharing the searching mother’s criticisms [of their alerting process] … and how she’s looking to implement some of the mother’s suggestions.

Ana Flores

Senior Case Manager, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

SYMPOSIUM OVERVIEW
The symposium featured 28 presentations and workshops on relevant and pressing topics within child protection—each meant to deepen attendees’ understanding of current challenges and solutions. Click here to see the full agenda and here to read the speakers’ bios.

FAMILY PERSPECTIVES

Pamela Foster: Keynote speaker (parental/ AMBER Alert in Indian Country focus)
Sayeh Rivazfar: Keynote speaker (abduction survivor/law enforcement focus)
Noelle Hunter: Presenter (international parental child abduction focus)
Desiree Young: Presenter (parental focus)

INVESTIGATIONS / RESOURCES

AMBER Alert Coordination: Essential Resources
Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Updates
Search Methods in Tribal Communities
Tribal Response to Missing Children
U.S. Marshals Service Support for Missing Children

CASE STUDIES

“Baby in a Box” (Shannon Dedrick / Florida)
CART Response to Child Sex Trafficking (New Jersey)
Charlotte Sena Campground Abduction (New York)
Gila River Indian Community (Arizona)

ALERTING / TECHNOLOGY

AMBER Alerts: To Activate or Not Activate?
FirstNet Authority Updates & Resources (Indian Country)
IPAWS Emergency Communications Updates
Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Analysis

CHILD ABDUCTION RESPONSE TEAMS (CARTs)

Pasco County, Florida
State of New Jersey

Bill Boldin, U.S. Marshals Service, 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

Bill Boldin, Senior Inspector/National Missing Child Program Coordinator for the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), talks with attendees about how the USMS is helping find missing children.

Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, OJJDP, at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator for the DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, thanks symposium participants for their child protection work.

Janell Rasmussen at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

AATTAP Administrator/NCJTC Director Janell Rasmussen welcomes 2025 Symposium participants.

Pamela Foster, mother of Ashlynne Mike, gets a hug from U.S. Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

Pamela Foster shares a hug with U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona's 5th Congressional District.

Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs, walks with Pamela Foster (mother of Ashlynne Mike), and Janell Rasmussen, NCJTC Director/AATTAP Administrator at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

From left: Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs (5th District), AMBER Alert in Indian Country advocate Pamela Foster, and AATTAP Administrator/NCJTC Director Janell Rasmussen.

Ashlynne Mike, Pamela Foster, necklace, Alica Murphy Wildcatt, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Knowing that Pamela Foster's daughter, Ashlynne Mike, loved butterflies, AATTAP Administrator/NCJTC Director Janell Rasmussen presented Foster with a meaningful gift. The sterling silver necklace features a butterfly with the name “Ashlynne Mike” intricately cut into its wings. The necklace was crafted by AATTAP-AIIC Project Coordinator Alica Murphy Wildcatt, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Sayeh Rivazfar, Ahmad Rivazfar, The AMBER Advocate

Sayeh Rivazfar is shown with her father on the cover of The AMBER Advocate. Numerous participants were moved to share their contact information with her—and their support.

Sayeh Rivazfar, Randy Mitchell, Santa Rosa County Florida Sheriff's Office, at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

Sayeh Rivazfar stands with a career shadowbox bequeathed to her by Florida Sheriff's Deputy Randy Mitchell. Mitchell had worked to see justice served after Sayeh was brutally assaulted and her sister, Sara, was murdered by a family friend in 1988. Mitchell was proud of Sayeh's decision to go into law enforcement.

Sayeh Rivazfar's Punky Brewster tennis shoes on evidence bag

Sayeh Rivazfar brought the blue and pink Punky Brewster tennis shoes she had on when she and her younger sister, Sara, were abducted and brutally assaulted in 1988. Sara did not survive.

Sayeh Rivazfar and unidentified female at the 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, Washington, DC

Symposium participants lined up to thank childhood assault/abduction survivor Sayeh Rivazfar—who also is a law enforcement veteran—for her moving keynote presentation.

Derek VanLuchene at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

AATTAP Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Manager Derek VanLuchene visits with attendees before the IPAWS/emergency alerting workshop.

Dr. Noelle Hunter, Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, international parental child abduction, IPCA, Muna

AATTAP Deputy Administrator Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, left, introduces Dr. Noelle Hunter before her powerful presentation on international parental child abduction (IPCA). Hunter's 4-year-old daughter, "Muna," was illegally taken by her non-custodial father to West Africa. She ultimately was able to return home, but only after a "full court press" by Hunter and others to make that happen.

Riley Borges, William "Billy" Oku, Hawaii

Hawaii detectives Riley Borges and William "Billy" Oku share a friendly "mahalo" during a break.

Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, Brittni Farmakes, Yesenia "Jesi" Leon-Baron, Jill Nysse

Dyana Chase with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (seated center) before discussing the "Baby in a Box" case at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

"Finding Shannon [Dedrick] renewed our sense of hope that a child could be found alive—even after five days of searching," said Dyana Chase (center), Special Agent/CART Supervisor, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)

Bill Boldin, left, and Byron Fassett at the 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, Washington, DC

Bill Boldin with the U.S. Marshals Service (left) talks with AATTAP Deputy Administrator Byron Fassett before the start of the symposium.

Desiree Young, mother of Kyron Horman, speaks to attendees at the 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

Desiree Young—mother of Kyron Horman, missing for nearly 15 years—expresses hope that she will learn more about her 14-year-old son's disappearance from his Oregon elementary school.

Bradley Russ with Eileen Garry at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

NCJTC Executive Director Brad Russ with OJJDP Acting Administrator Eileen Garry.

Erika L. Hock of the New York State Police discussing the Charlotte Sena case during the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

New York State Police Senior Investigator Erika L. Hock presented a study of the Charlotte Sena abduction case.

FirstNet Authority, Jasper Bruner, Angel Benally, Tyesha M. Wood

From left: FirstNet Authority's Jasper Bruner and Angel Benally join AATTAP's AMBER Alert in Indian Country Manager Tyesha M. Wood before the FirstNet-focused presentation.

2025 AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

Symposium-goers filled numerous meeting rooms during the 2025 learning event.

Retired New York State Police Investigator Sayeh Rivazfar holds up one of the Punky Brewster tennis shoes she was wearing during an assault on her at age 8—a crime that also took the life of her younger sister, Sara (seen with her in the top photo, on right).

Sayeh Rivazfar’s life was forever changed on September 22, 1988. That was when her mother’s boyfriend took her, then age 8, and her 6-year-old sister Sara, from their home in Pensacola, Florida, drove them to a remote area, brutally assaulted them, slashed their throats, and left them to die. Sayeh survived; her sister did not.

While living with her father and brother in Rochester, New York, Sayeh chose to join the New York State Police. She has since retired after two decades’ work, but her child protection work continues.

“I decided early on not to let trauma take me down. I use it as fuel to help others.”

Rivazfar displayed a shadow box that belonged to Santa Rosa County (Florida) Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Mitchell. When assigned to her case, the new father was outraged over the pain inflicted on her and her sister. He and Rivazfar kept in touch over the years. “He was proud of my law enforcement career,” she said.

Then, in 2012, shortly before he died of cancer, she received a package from him—his “career in a box,” including his badge and shield, along with a poignant letter. “It means the world to me, as he did.”

*Rivazfar with Randy Mitchell, who bequeathed her his “career in a box” (right).*

Dr. Noelle Hunter and her daughter "Muna" — *Dr. Noelle Hunter with her daughter “Muna”*

On New Year’s Day 2011, Dr. Noelle Hunter’s worst fear was realized: Her ex-husband had illegally taken their 4-year-old daughter to live in his home country of Mali, West Africa.

Thus began the college professor’s quest to have Maayimuna (“Muna”) returned to her—after nearly three years of “full-court press” work.

It’s now her mission to help others navigating the complex mire of international parental child abduction (IPCA).

As an AATTAP/NCJTC Associate, she also helps law enforcement understand how to best respond to IPCA cases. They also should understand this: “All abductions are local. The response a parent gets from that first call for help means everything.”

**Click here to learn more about Dr. Hunter’s story—and a poignant encounter she had with a Maryland State Trooper**.

Pamela Foster: ‘Indian Country Needs AMBER Alert’

Pamela Foster and her late daughter Ashlynne Mike — *Pamela Foster with daughter Ashlynne.*

Pamela Foster—the mother of Ashlynne Mike, namesake of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018—was introduced to Symposium attendees by U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona’s 5th Congressional District. Biggs worked with Foster, and Arizona Senator John McCain to ensure passage of “Ashlynne's Law” two years after her 11-year-old daughter’s abduction and murder on the Navajo Nation reservation in 2016.

The Act provides numerous resources to Indian Country to bolster Tribal knowledge, training, technology, and partner collaboration to ensure children who go missing from Native lands can be found quickly and safely.

“Those of you in Tribal law enforcement, if you haven’t already received training, please schedule it as soon as possible,” Foster said. “We need law enforcement on Tribal land to share information with outside agencies so they can quickly apprehend criminals. Every child has the right to feel safe and live life to its fullest, and my fight is based on what I have experienced as a mother and a parent. I don’t ever want what happened to me to happen to another person.”

Foster’s powerful presentation was a gift to all who experienced it. Then she was given a gift—which provided another moving moment.

Read about Pamela's message, and the gift in honor of Ashlynne, here.

❖ Marshal More Support

*U.S. Marshals Service Senior Inspector Bill Boldin (left) with AATTAP Deputy Administrator Byron Fassett*

“We’re good at hunting down fugitives. We’re now putting that toward finding missing children. It’s not something we’re known for. But we want to focus our efforts on kids with the highest likelihood of being victimized, of facing violence.” – Bill Boldin, Senior Inspector/National Missing Child Program Coordinator, U.S. Marshals Service (USMS)

Proven track record: From 2021 to 2024, 61% of missing child cases were resolved within seven days of USMS assistance.

❖ Model CARTs

Photo of Stacie Lick — **Leading by example:** Read more about retired Captain Stacie Lick's CART success.

“Mandates are pathways to support.” – Stacie Lick, Captain (Ret.), Gloucester County (New Jersey) Prosecutor’s Office

Having a dedicated, well-trained child abduction response team (CART) is essential to finding a missing child, using all available resources, when every minute counts. But symposium-goers know that building and sustaining a CART are significant obstacles for agencies with slim staffs and budgets.

The CART experts from New Jersey and Florida who shared advice at the symposium have spent nearly two decades overcoming those challenges by thinking creatively and strategically, such as getting buy-in for the expansion of New Jersey's CARTs after the high-profile Autumn Pasquale case in 2012. Or by having a well-thought-through staffing and resource plan, one that can be applied multi-jurisdictionally.

As a result of Captain Stacie Lick’s efforts to compile CART best practices for Gloucester County, New Jersey now mandates that all 21 of its counties have an active CART that follows standardized policies and procedures, and learns from mandatory after-action reporting. In 2008, as Lick was building Gloucester County’s CART, she was greatly inspired by the Pasco County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) Missing Abducted Child (MAC) Team.

Each MAC deploys with a command post with a lead investigator assigned to it. It also has coordinators assigned to these critical tasks: leads management; neighborhood/business canvassing and roadblocks; sex offender canvassing; resources oversight; volunteer search management; search and rescue operations; logistics; public information and media relations; crime scene management; legal representation; analytics; and cybercrimes/technical support. A family liaison and victim advocate will also be on hand to provide valuable assistance.

MODEL MANUALS
Many of the best practices used by the New Jersey and Pasco County, Florida, CARTs can be found in two newly updated, downloadable CART resources—one on implementation and the other on certification—both produced by AATTAP.

❖ Maximize Messaging

Law enforcement technology consultant Eddie Bertola provided several updates related to the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) overseen by the Federal Emergency Management System (FEMA).

Illustration of FEMA's Message Design Dashboard advantages for IPAWS — *IPAWS’ new Message Design Dashboard provides templates to help law enforcement save time and ensure alerting consistency. It also offers message previews and testing.*

The IPAWS portal that law enforcement uses to request AMBER Alerts now has a more streamlined interface. And within that is the new Message Design Dashboard (MDD), “an intuitive structure taking message crafting from 15 minutes to five minutes,” Bertola said.

MDD features drop-down menus that provide access to essential information that can be provided in a consistent manner and allow best usage of the 360-character limit within varied templates. It also can check for typos and invalid links and allow for easier message previews and system testing.

In other messaging news, another development is the Missing and Endangered Person/MEP Code, which was discussed in both the IPAWS workshop and updates session hosted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Approved in August 2004, the addition of the MEP code to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will enable law enforcement agencies to more rapidly and effectively issue alerts about missing and endangered persons by covering a wider range of ages and circumstances than AMBER Alerts alone. MEP alerts will utilize the same infrastructure as AMBER Alerts, thus allowing for widespread dissemination through various media channels.

❖ Intelligence Gathering

*Captain Larry Kraus* *of the Pasco County* *(Florida) Sheriff’s* *Office, Research* *& Analysis Division, led the OSINT discussion.*

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analysis is the leveraging of data from publicly available communication sources such as social media apps, messaging boards, gaming platforms, and the dark web. This research complements more traditional law enforcement databases (criminal databases, LInX, LeadsOnline) and can yield more real-time clues.

Bad actors are increasingly digital obsessed—and inadvertently work against themselves by taking photos and videos with geolocations and time stamps—while leaving other digital breadcrumbs.

OSINT analysts requires continuous training on ever-evolving information-sharing channels. They need to understand how to avoid gleaning intelligence that can be challenged in court (and potentially weaken public trust). All the while they have to battle data overload from the sheer volume of information that needs assessing.

It’s imperative that agencies hire professionals capable of navigating such complexities, Kraus said of intelligence analysts, whom he calls “the unsung heroes of law enforcement.”

FINDING LOST PERSON BEHAVIOR
“I can’t believe I didn’t know about the Lost Person Behavior resource,” one attendee said on Whova. Mentioned during Pasco County’s CART workshop, “LPB,” as its known for short, refers to the science- and data-based research of Dr. Robert J. Koester, whose field guide-style book outlines 41 missing persons categories and provides layers of behavior a person in each classification will likely follow.

❖ Welcoming U.S. Territories

Partners from American Samoa, Guam, and Puerto Rico traveled numerous time zones to attend this year’s symposium. “They really appreciated getting to meet their counterparts in the States,” said Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, AATTAP Project Coordinator for International/Territorial Programs *(shown fourth from left)*.

❖ DNA: 'Give People Back Their Names'

In his “Genetic Genealogy” presentation, crime scene forensics expert Ed O’Carroll cited several ways to “give people back their names,” adding “crime is more solvable than ever before.”

• Look afield: Re-open a case involving a long-term missing person, or one with unidentified human remains, and let the growing realm of reputable DNA labs help solve a crime once thought unsolvable. “Our labs are overworked, so we need to find more ways to use private ones,” O’Carroll said.

• Be a “genetic witness”: Encourage people on the genealogy sites GEDmatch and AncestryDNA to opt in to giving law enforcement a broader field of DNA samples to consider when trying to pinpoint someone who may have committed a violent crime. “As many of us know, CODIS only gives a hit about half the time we use it.”

• “Prevent tomorrow’s victim by solving today’s case today,” O’Carroll said. Know the latest technology, including Rapid DNA, an FBI-approved process that can provide a scientific correlation in as little as 90 minutes.

❖ Decoding Alerting Decisions

911 illustration — **NEW COURSE OF ACTION:** AATTAP’s new course, 911 Telecommunicators and Missing & Abducted Children (aka “911 T-MAC”) is a must for public safety telecommunicators and members of law enforcement who face public calls for help. Look for online and in-person training opportunities here.

This was the second year for AATTAP Region 1 Liaison and alerting veteran Joan Collins to teach the popular class designed to help attendees analyze real-world cases of missing children and AMBER Alert requests, noting the key factors within the criteria that determine when an alert is issued; evaluate AMBER Alert effectiveness by comparing case details with activation criteria and assessing factors that influence decision-making; and propose improved response strategies.

Collins’ style is to amiably pepper participants with more than a dozen widely varying missing child scenarios, often throwing daunting updates into the mix. Participants responded using the Poll Everywhere app, which tabulated their responses in real-time on a large viewing screen.

“The alerting sessions instill confidence in new AMBER Alert Coordinators as well as seasoned ones,” Collins said. “The scenarios spark vigorous discussions, and networking with fellow AACs underscores the fact that they all go through the same process, even if criteria may differ.”

Dr. Noelle Hunter talks about her daughter during the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium — *Dr. Noelle Hunter discusses her daughter's abduction to Mali, West Africa, during the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium.*

By Denise Gee Peacock

On New Year’s Day 2011, Dr. Noelle Hunter was approaching hour three of waiting in a Morehead, Kentucky, McDonald’s—the agreed-upon meeting place for her ex-husband to return their 4-year-old daughter, Maayimuna (“Muna”)—when she knew something was terribly wrong.

Little did she know Muna’s father had taken her 5,000 miles away to live with his family in their native country of Mali, West Africa, despite Dr. Hunter, having been granted sole custody of her.

While it took more than three years for Hunter to get Muna home, during that time the university professor would learn so much: Chiefly, just how much understanding law enforcement needs to know about the complexities of international parental child abduction (IPCA)—the proactive efforts needed to avoid it, and quick actions necessary to stop it in its tracks.

Hunter’s journey of IPCA understanding began with her local police department. “They told me my problem was a civil matter, a domestic dispute; that I needed to get a court order before they could do anything,” she shared with symposium-goers. “One good thing they told me was to contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). And that’s when I learned that federal law mandates that any child under age 18 must be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database within two hours of being reported missing.”

NCMEC reached out to Morehead authorities to inform them of their obligation to enter Muna into NCIC. They also advised Hunter to directly contact the FBI for assistance. After learning that Muna had indeed been taken to Mali, she was connected with the U.S. State Department.

Hunter learned her ex-husband had accomplished the abduction by obtaining a passport for Muna in Mali, where she had dual citizenship because of her father (“which I had never taken into account; I thought as long as I had her passport she would have to stay in the U.S.”) She also learned about the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (aka the Hague Abduction Convention), a treaty in which its signatories commit to returning abducted children to their rightful guardian. But while the U.S. is a signatory, Mali is not. They had no obligation to return Muna to her. And meanwhile, the country was in the throes of a government coup.

Desperate yet determined, Hunter immersed herself into a relentless “Missing 4 Muna” campaign to get her daughter home. She read everything she could about IPCA; talked with legal experts, many of whom offered to help her pro bono; navigated the cultural nuances of working with Mali officials; staged protests in front of Mali’s embassy in Washington, D.C.; pleaded with United Nations members; helped create a nonprofit organization to assist other IPCA families; and worked with a congressional delegation from Kentucky to pressure the Mali government to safely return Muna in 2014. By then she was almost 7.

Hunter now works as an assistant professor of political science and philosophy at University of Alabama in Huntsville, which houses the program she founded: the International Child Abduction Prevention and Research Office (ICAPRO). From there, she and her daughters—Muna and her sister, Rysa Lee, advocate for IPCA awareness and support.

“Most of the parents still seeking their children are committed to doing whatever it takes to bring them home. But as I learned, we can’t do it alone,” Hunter said. “That’s why I’m glad this symposium exists, and that all of you undertake full-court-presses of your own to help find missing children and get them home where they belong. Remember, all abductions are local.”

At first glance, a photo of Dr. Noelle Hunter’s daughter, “Muna,” savoring an ice cream cone might be one of many impromptu images of joy a mother cherishes. But as symposium-goers learned, the photo holds special significance–both for Dr. Hunter and law enforcement. Here’s the story Dr. Hunter shared about it:

During my mission to get Muna home from West Africa, I was constantly traveling from Kentucky, where I lived at the time, to Washington, D.C., knocking on every door I could. It was exhausting work. On one drive home, I was particularly distraught, and wasn’t really paying attention to my speed. So because I was speeding, I was pulled over by a Maryland State Trooper. He took one look at me, and said, “What’s wrong?” So I told him. Everything. He then started trying to help, asking if I’d talked with the U.S. State Department, if I’d done this or done that. I told him yes—I was doing everything I could.

At that point he said he wouldn’t write me a ticket, but added, “Promise me two things. That you’ll slow down and and get home safely. And that when your daughter returns home, make sure her first ice cream is courtesy of a trooper in Maryland.”

So that's what you see in this photo: that trooper’s gift to her—and me.

I think that’s significant at a conference like this. Please consider that local law enforcement support is crucial for a parent experiencing IPCA. A little grace never hurts either.

By Denise Gee Peacock

While searching for their missing child, parents carry a heavy load—assisting law enforcement, rallying media and public interest in the case, and working to keep food on the table—all while not completely unraveling. But another group of family members is also struggling: the missing child’s siblings.

As sibling survivor Trevor Wetterling recalls, “People would always ask, ‘How are your parents doing?’ And I’d think, ‘What about me? Don’t they care how I’m doing?’ ” Meanwhile, he says, “I’d come home from school, and everyone was sitting around being quiet. No one would tell me what was going on.”

Like other sibling survivors, Trevor’s feelings stem not from self-centeredness, but from a need to validate his own trauma, his own sense of worth.

Trevor is the brother of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old who was kidnapped at gunpoint by a masked man in 1988. Trevor was with Jacob when the abduction occurred, making the ordeal even more traumatic. The Wetterling family spent nearly three decades searching for Jacob until 2016, when his killer divulged to law enforcement where the boy’s body could be found. This, of course, came as another blow.

Trevor and his sisters, Amy and Carmen, are three of 16 sibling survivors of missing children willing to talk candidly about the challenges they faced—and sometimes continue to reckon with. If struggling siblings are lucky, they’ll find support from well-trained professionals. If they’re even luckier, they’ll find strength from those who truly understand their needs: Fellow survivors—whom Zach Svendgard calls “our chosen family.”

Zack is the brother of Jessika Svendgard, an honor student who, at age 15, left home after receiving a bad grade. Alone and vulnerable, she was lured into the hands of sex traffickers until she could break free from her abusers. Zack appreciates Jessika’s strength—and works to share it. “The world is a heavy thing to try to balance all on our own shoulders,” he says. “But powerful things can happen when kind people are enabled to take action.”

The action these siblings have taken is helping update a comprehensive resource for children going through similar struggles: the multimedia guide, What About Me? Finding Your Path Forward When Your Brother or Sister Is Missing.

The new 98-page What About Me? is the second edition of a guide first published in 2007. It was spearheaded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) / Office of Justice Programs (OJP) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Its development was overseen by the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) / National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College.

Contributors to What About Me? bring clarity to the complex needs siblings face: Children in families with missing siblings can’t easily process what they’re experiencing. They aren’t hearing the particulars from law enforcement. They aren’t trained to respond to an intrusive or hurtful question from the media. They don’t know how to navigate their frayed family dynamics. And they need help.

The guide provides tangible ways that siblings of missing children can handle stress, the investigative process, and media interactions. It also can help them express their needs to their loved ones and family advocates, and find helpful resources during either a short or prolonged period of uncertainty, fear, and grief.

What About Me? features the voices and perspectives of eight sibling contributors while weaving in advice from seven other siblings who participated in the first edition. It also reflects the expertise of DOJ/AATTAP/NCJTC subject matter experts, child/victim advocates, and relevant, credible U.S. agencies that can help.

The sibling contributors have survived vastly different experiences: Some have missing siblings who were kidnapped by strangers or abducted by family members, while others have siblings who ran away or were lured away from home. Some of their siblings were found safe and returned home. One contributor is herself a victim of a horrific abduction and assault—in which her younger sister was murdered. Others have siblings whose whereabouts still remain unknown, or they were found deceased.

Click here to access a PDF of this advice from the sibling survivors. Share it with anyone searching for a loved one.

To produce What About Me?, OJJDP/OJP tapped the AATTAP publications team led by Bonnie Ferenbach, and NCJTC Associate Helen Connelly to coordinate the project. The group also played key roles in updating When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, released in 2023.

Connelly is a longtime advocate for missing children and their families. In 2005, while serving as a senior consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, Connelly and Ron Laney, then Associate Administrator of OJJDP’s Child Protection Division, teamed up to produce the first-ever sibling survival guide, What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister, published in 2007.

“Through Helen and Ron’s vision and compassion, this guide, as well as numerous other resources, have provided support, encouragement, help, and resources needed by so many families,” says AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

With Connelly’s encouragement, past and present sibling contributors participated in writing the guide because they recognize shared pain—and potential dilemmas. “Trauma, if left untreated, can manifest itself in harmful ways later in life,” says sibling contributor Heather Bish.

The sibling survivors who worked on the updated resource valued the chance to collaborate with others in “the club nobody wants to belong to,” says Heather, who contributed to both editions. “But our experiences are special,” adds contributor Rysa Lee. “We have the tools that can help others.”

Sibling survivor / guide contributor Rysa Lee — **Watch** the sibling survivors discuss their stories and **read** their advice to others.

At the project’s start, the siblings met virtually before gathering in person in Salt Lake City in January 2024. There, they bonded, and wholeheartedly shared their experiences and advice on camera for the new edition’s companion videos. “Working with the other siblings of missing persons left me shocked at the outcomes they had; in some way, they each had answers,” says contributor Kimber Biggs. “It was comforting to know that getting answers is even possible.”

Content talks continued, and the guide began to take shape. Then, on May 22, 2024, a powerful two-hour roundtable was held at OJJDP offices after the National Missing Children’s Day ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The siblings agree that “there is no right or wrong way to survive, it is just our own,” Heather says. “We hope that sharing our experiences will empower other siblings to forge ahead, and possibly empower someone else to do the same.”

Each of the sibling contributors discussed their lives now as social workers, teachers, and counselors. Contributor Sayeh Rivazfar has dedicated two decades of her life to serving in law enforcement, investigating crimes against children, before her retirement two years ago.

Sayeh doesn’t think of herself as a victim or survivor: “It’s more than that. I see myself more as a thriver, despite the odds.” She credits this to the love and support she has received over the years from family members, friends, and caring professionals.

“A guide like this would have been so helpful to us,” she says. “But we hope that now, with its help, with our help, children can know they are not alone. That we care about them, and want them to thrive too.”

Rysa adds another positive take. There is light to be found in the darkness of tumult, she says. “Siblings do come home, and my family is living proof.”

New guide’s sibling contributors

Kimber Biggs, sister of Mikelle Biggs (Arizona) Kimber was 9 when her 11-year-old sister, Mikelle, was kidnapped on January 2, 1999, while riding her bike near their family’s Arizona home. Mikelle was never seen again. Since then, Kimber has spent 25 years advocating on her sister’s behalf. Through the Facebook page Justice for Mikelle Biggs, Kimber shares updates on Mikelle’s case to more than 29,000 followers. Also, since late 2023, Kimber has worked as an AATTAP- NCJTC Associate, providing her powerful family perspective to investigators learning how to best work with victims’ families in missing persons cases. “It has taken a lot of work and therapy to get to the place I am today,” she says. She also remains hopeful that her sister’s case will be solved. “A new detective has been assigned to what was a very cold case,” she told attendees at the 2024 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium. “The fact that he’s eyeing a significant suspect in the case makes it feel like something is finally happening.”

Rysa Lee, sister of Maayimuna “Muna” N’Diaye (Alabama) Rysa was 14 when her 4-year-old sister, “Muna,” was abducted by her biological father to Mali, West Africa, on December 27, 2011. Rysa and Muna’s mother, Dr. Noelle Hunter, began a relentless campaign to bring “Muna” home—which thankfully occurred in July 2014. Since then, the family has tirelessly advocated on behalf of international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases via the organization they founded, the iStandParent Network. While her sister’s IPCA case was relatively short, “that year and a half was by far the most difficult and longest time of my life,” Rysa says. “To this day, I have never felt as empty and distraught as I felt during that time. The fact that my youngest sister was across an ocean and not in the room next to me sleeping every night was incredibly painful.” Rysa found comfort in high school band and color guard participation, listening to music, “and leaning on my friends to cope.” She currently works in banking and attends the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where her mother, an assistant professor of political science, oversees the International Child Abduction Prevention and Research Office (and contributed to the Family Survival Guide).

Cory Redwine, brother of Dylan Redwine (Colorado) On November 18, 2012, Cory was 20 years old when his 13-year-old younger brother, Dylan, traveled to stay with their father on a scheduled court-ordered visit. The next day his father would report Dylan as missing. The teen’s whereabouts remained unknown until 2017, when his father was convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse in Dylan’s death. Before then, Cory and his family spent nearly a decade searching for Dylan. They have since spent years seeking justice for him and educating others about the legal loopholes in parental custody issues that can prove deadly. (Cory and Dylan’s mother, Elaine Hall, is now an AATTAP/ NCJTC Associate who discusses her family’s case with law enforcement; she also contributed to the Family Survival Guide.) Cory recalls the court process being “long and arduous; it brought up so many emotions for me. But it also made me realize that I am stronger than I thought I was, that my voice and words are powerful,” he says. Now a father of two, Cory finds it an honor to helps adults facing difficult situations. “My experience, different as it is from theirs, allows me to help them through challenging times and come out better on the other side.”

Sayeh Rivazfar, sister of Sara Rivazfar (New York) After her parents’ divorce in 1985, Sayeh and her younger siblings had “child welfare officials in and out of our home due to physical and mental abuse at the hands of our mother and others,” Sayeh says. “Unfortunately, [our mother] thought having men in our lives would help us. But her boyfriends weren’t all good. In fact, one changed our lives forever in the worst way imaginable.” In the middle of the night of September 22, 1988, one of those boyfriends took the sisters from their home, drove to a remote area, brutally assaulted both girls and left them to die. Sayeh, then 8 years old, survived. Sara, age 6, did not. “From that day forward, I felt guilty for surviving and had dreams of saving my sister from this nightmare,” Sayeh says. “I was determined to bring her killer to justice.” Thankfully she was able to do just that. She and her brother, Aresh, moved to Rochester, New York, to live with their father, Ahmad (now a nationally known child protection advocate and Family Survival Guide contributor). Sayeh’s passion to help others, especially children, inspired her to join the New York State Police force, from which she recently retired after two decades of child protection and investigative work. She now focuses on being a good mother to her son. “I’m proud of the work I’ve done, and even prouder of the children I’ve helped,” she says. “The story never ends, but it can have a better ending than one might think.”

Heather Bish, sister of Molly Bish (Massachusetts) On June 27, 2000, Heather’s 16-year-old sister, Molly, went missing while working as a lifeguard. Molly’s disappearance led to the most extensive search for a missing person in Massachusetts history. In June 2003, Molly’s remains were found five miles from her home in Warren. While the investigation into her sister’s murder continues, Heather uses social media to help law enforcement generate leads and “share her story—our story,” she says. Heather was supportive of her parents’ work to create the Molly Bish Foundation, dedicated to protecting children. “I carry that legacy on today,” she says. She has filed familial DNA legislation for unresolved cases and advocates for DNA analyses for these types of crimes. She also has served on the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance Board and was part of the state’s Missing Persons Task Force. “As a mother and a teacher, my hope is that children never have to experience a tragedy like this.”

Zack Svendgard, brother of Jessika Svendgard (Washington) In 2010, Zack’s younger sister, Jessika, first ran away, and then was lured away from their family home near Seattle. As a result, the 15-year-old became a victim of sex trafficking. It took 108 days for Jessika to return to her family and get the help she needed, Zack says. “Her recovery in many ways was just the beginning. In many ways the broken person who came home was not the little girl who had left.” Jessika’s ordeal has been featured in the documentaries “I Am Jane Doe” and “The Long Night.” She and her mother, Nacole, have become powerful advocates for victims of sex trafficking and instrumental in passing legislation to increase victim rights, issue harsher punishments for sex offenders, and shut down websites that facilitate sex trafficking. (Nacole is an AATTAP/NCJTC Associate who provides her family perspective to law enforcement; she also contributed to the Family Survival Guide.) “We’ve joined organizations such as Team HOPE [of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children/NCMEC] to provide counseling to others, and are ourselves committed to therapy and self care.”

Amy & Carmen Wetterling, brother of Jacob (Minnesota) On October 22, 1989, Amy and Carmen’s brother, 11-year-old Jacob, was abducted at gunpoint by a masked man while riding his bike with his younger brother, Trevor, and a family friend. His whereabouts were unknown for nearly three decades, but on September 1, 2016, Jacob’s remains were found after his killer confessed to the crime. Jacob’s abduction had an enormous impact—not only on his family, but also on people throughout the Midwest, who lost their sense of safety. Amy, Carmen, and Trevor have been inspired to help others by their mother, Patty Wetterling. Patty has shared countless victim impact sessions with law enforcement across the U.S. (many of them AATTAP/NCJTC trainings). She is co-founder and past director NCMEC’s Team HOPE, co-author of the 2023 book, Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope, and a contributor to the Family Survival Guide. “Jacob inspires us every day,” Amy says. “He believed in a fair and just world, a world where all children know they are special and deserve to be safe.” Adds Carmen, “Jacob believed that people were good. And he lived his life centered on 11 simple traits.”

Additional contributors:
Learn about the siblings who shared their advice for the 2007 first edition of What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister here.

Sibling contributor Sayeh Rivazfar—a retired 20-year veteran of the New York State Police—with her son. [Photo: MaKenna Rivazfar] — Sibling contributor Sayeh Rivazfar—a retired 20-year veteran of the New York State Police—with her son.

Helpful advice for the helpers

What About Me? includes a detailed section of guidance relating to law enforcement and judicial processes. It also provides tips for navigating traditional media and social media. Consider these insights from the sibling contributors.

During a law enforcement investigation

Siblings “may have a law enforcement officer with little or no experience with a missing children case, seems uncomfortable and distant, or someone who jumps in with both feet,” says Sayeh Rivazfar. The retired law enforcement professional is the survivor of a heinous crime against her and her sister, Sara, who did not survive. “If you want to talk to a different officer, speak up,” Sayeh advises.
Children are especially confused by law enforcement’s intrusion upon their home and being asked what seems like invasive questions. Help them understand that this is normal—either directly or with the help of a family/child advocate.
“Just because you don’t hear about progress doesn’t mean they’re not making any,” one sibling notes. Try to schedule regular check-in calls with the family. Let families know that while law enforcement is unable to share every detail of the investigation, they can strive to apprise the family of their progress while keeping lines of communication open and productive.
If children are expressing anger toward their parents, emphasize that “your parents are still your parents, they still love you, and they care about your feelings—even if they can’t show it right now,” contributors say.
Be prepared for such questions as:
»How do I handle phone calls during the search?
»How should we handle our missing sibling’s social media and email accounts?
»Can I still go into my sibling’s room?
»Will we get their belongings back?

Working with traditional/social media

There’s no such thing as “off the record,” contributors say.
To foster quality reporting “find the journalist who provides compassion and truth, and give them an exclusive interview,” Sayeh advises.
With nonstop anonymous, uniformed sources on social media, tell children to “be prepared for positive and negative running commentary,” Rysa Lee says.
Propose potential answers (in italics) to commonly asked media questions that often make children uncomfortable:
»Do you think your sibling is still alive? I hope so.
»What happened? I don’t know, and I don’t want to talk about it with you.
»Was your sibling sexually abused? I don’t know, but it’s not something I want to discuss.
»How does this situation make you feel? I don’t want to talk about my feelings right now.

Photo of two women standing near the U.S. Capitol.

Photo showing the seal of American Samoa

AATTAP Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene speaks to a group of child protection professionals in American Samoa

Photo of a woman sitting at a table, with other people behind her, listening in a classroom setting in American Samoa.

Participants shown at tables, with their heads bowed in prayer, during the AATTAP visit

Group portrait of AATTAP meeting attendees in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Customs and Border Protection members attend the AATTAP workshop in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Gold challenge coin for the Governor of Guam and AMBER Alert pin.

Group of AATTAP leaders gathered with Guam representatives

Photo of people sitting at a table listening to a AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen, standing behind a podium in Puerto Rico.

Photo showing exterior of police headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Photo of 20th Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico,Jenniffer González-Colón, speaking at an event.

Photo showing the screen of a laptop, people in a classroom setting, and a larger screen at front of a classroom; both screens show the opener for a “Child Sex Trafficking Case Study.”

Group of AATTAP leaders with law enforcement professionals involved in the Northern Border Initiative, in Bonners Ferry, Idaho

Photo of three men and a woman sitting around a table talking with AATTAP in Canada.

Photo of a computer screen showing 25 squares with a person or name of someone attending a virtual meeting.

By Denise Gee Peacock

The United States’ 14 territories—three in the Caribbean, 11 in the Pacific—play a key role in ensuring our collective national security. In turn, the U.S. ensures each homeland has the security it needs to protect its own—especially its children. That’s because the need for AMBER Alerts resonates in every language.

In the past 30 years, AMBER Alert programs have helped law enforcement safely recover 1,200 missing children. Those successes—and lessons learned from not having plans and resources in place to quickly mobilize when a child goes missing—have prompted other countries to seek guidance from the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP).

As a U.S. Department of Justice initiative, the AATTAP—part of the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College—provides free training and technical assistance to U.S. territories, Indian Country, and other countries with Department of Justice (DOJ) funding. Trainings improve law enforcement’s response to cases of endangered missing and abducted children. They also address endangerment dynamics that often are not well understood: high-risk victims, children in crisis, and the commercial sexual exploitation of youth.

Since all U.S. territories are islands, careful consideration of weather is always in play, with hurricanes and typhoons threatening both travel and infrastructure.

AATTAP’s work with each territory includes first conducting high-level needs assessment meetings to learn and understand the important considerations unique to each territory’s cultural, geographic, and technological needs and challenges—to ensure these dynamics are addressed in training and resource efforts. AATTAP’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training is also delivered to key partners who will be part of their comprehensive response.

“Each territory’s capabilities and needs can be very different, so we spend the bulk of our time initially listening and learning about the issues they face,” says AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen. “Puerto Rico, for instance, has an AMBER Alert Coordinator and AMBER Alert system in operation. But that’s currently not the case in American Samoa, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. They’re all at very different places in terms of how they’re responding to cases involving missing children.

“Geographically some of the islands are closer to other countries than they are to us, so these issues have to be considered before we prepare training plans for them,” Rasmussen explains. “Our work has to be developed to address the specific problems they face—whether it’s child sex trafficking or a lack of resources, such as high-speed Internet access.”

Many territories, for instance, do not have access to Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) or the Internet Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS). They also lack road signs for public alerting. Additionally, “their children are often taken to a different country, which adds a whole new layer of complexity for collaboration and contact expectations,” Rasmussen explains.

Knowing this, AATTAP leaders and subject matter experts have flown tens of thousands of miles to ensure U.S. territories’ needs can be met. “It’s important they know we offer the same level of training and technical assistance as we do in the States.”

Here are some of the regions where AATTAP partnerships are helping save lives.

American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands

From the U.S. mainland, travel to American Samoa, Guam, or the Northern Mariana Islands in the south-central Pacific Ocean requires nearly 24 hours of flying time. American Samoa, for instance—the only inhabited territory south of the Equator—is 2,200 miles from Hawaii to the northeast, and 1,600 miles from New Zealand to the southwest.

For nearly two years, the federal government has been working to uphold National Defense Authorization Act provisions that ensure U.S. territories have the training and technical assistance needed to protect their citizens and children. This includes challenges related to integrating and facilitating AMBER Alert programs.

In February of this year, the team conducted two days of needs-assessment meetings in Pago Pago, American Samoa. Then in July, the team visited Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to do the same.

As is the case on the U.S. mainland, each needs-assessment meeting involves facilitated discussions about law enforcement procedures, the territory’s needs for fully and quickly investigating missing child incidents, their emergency messaging capabilities, and ultimately what AATTAP training and technical assistance they would like to have.

Reception to the visits was warm and enthusiastic. Often present were U.S. congressional delegates, local and federal law enforcement and telecommunicators, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to child protection.

“Our partners are appreciative that we’re willing to go to great lengths to work with them where they live,” says AATTAP Project Coordinator Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, who manages territorial, international, and Southern/Northern Border Initiatives. “Doing so helps us see what their challenges are in safely recovering endangered and missing children.”

This support is a lifeline to the islands. As Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Department of Public Safety Commissioner Anthony Macaranas told the Saipan Tribune, “One of our biggest challenges is that we’re far away from the United States mainland.” Thus, creating or strengthening AMBER Alert plans will help the CNMI build relationships with key members of law enforcement “and help us progressively move forward,” he said.

One case in the Northern Marianas that people would like to see resolved involves missing elementary-school-age sisters Maleina and Faloma Q. Luhk, who mysteriously disappeared while waiting for a school bus near their home in May 2011.

“All of these things we’re getting [from the AATTAP and others] are to prepare us, and the long-term plan is to finally sit down and come up with a strategic plan” on implementing AMBER Alerts, Macaranas said. “It involves a lot of manpower, data, and of course funding … but in the end, we’re going to have this program here.”

Trafficking “is one of the greatest crimes imaginable,” said High Chief Uifa’atali Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa. To address that, James Moylan of Guam co-sponsored the Combating Human-Trafficking of Innocent Lives Daily (C.H.I.L.D.) Act of 2023, which raises convicted child traffickers’ mandatory minimum jail time from 15 to 25 years.

“Before we left American Samoa, the Governor’s Office presented each of us with a framed ‘warrior’s weapon’—calling us warriors for the missing and abducted children in the territory,” Leon-Baron says.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is the only U.S. territory with an AMBER Alert plan and program coordinator fully in place at the time of this reporting. Their ongoing goal is to continually refine their existing plan and provide a coordinated and sustainable law enforcement response.

AATTAP has been involved in ongoing assistance with Puerto Rico since holding the first in-person training session there in January 2023. Team members delivered the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training, along with Rescue, Recovery, and Reunification field-training exercises for CART members and other law enforcement in Puerto Rico.

In May 2024, the AATTAP team returned for a needs assessment visit to discuss Puerto Rico’s ongoing challenges, emerging trends, and the training and technical assistance needed to bolster response readiness.

Puerto Rico’s law enforcement leaders intend to continue CART training, Leon-Baron says. They also plan to participate in such courses as AMBER Alert Activation Best Practices (AAABP), Initial Response Strategies & Tactics When Responding to Missing Children Incidents (IRST), and Search and Canvass Operations in Child Abductions (SCOCA).

Southern Border Initiative (Mexico) and Northern Border Initiative (Canada)

AATTAP’s well-established Southern Border Initiative (SBI) is focused on building preparedness for effective response to cases of endangered missing and abducted children in Mexico and the U.S. through cross-border collaboration and planning. Meetings AATTAP has held with federal and state partners in the last two years have underscored the impact of this type of collaboration.

The most recent meeting—held August 1 in Chula Vista, California (across the border from Tijuana, Mexico)—drew more than 100 law enforcement and NGO members who rely on cross-border collaboration to bring missing children safely home. AATTAP piloted a full-day version of its Cross-Border Abduction training, with some participants leaving their homes at 2 a.m. to attend, Leon-Baron says.

AATTAP Associate David Camacho recalled the impact of the event: “We were thankful to have them all there; they had amazing questions, and we reviewed them carefully.”

One conversation “was tough to even consider,” Leon-Baron says. “Some shared with us that in Tijuana, there’s a movement to allow a child of age 9 to consent to sex.”

This is one of many cultural issues that need to be addressed, Leon-Baron says. “We know their laws and judicial processes do not mirror ours. But what does align is our shared commitment to collaboration and cooperation. Thankfully state and federal U.S. and Mexico law enforcement, are developing critically important working relationships.”

The power of relationship-building was especially apparent at an Alerta AMBER Regional Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, hosted by the DOJ’s Overseas Proprietorial Development Assistance and Training Section (OPDAT) in late August 2023.

Mexico's Alerta AMBER for baby Angela was quickly broadcast throughout the country.

As the three-day conference began, a 1-year-old girl, Angela, was abducted August 28 after her parents were murdered during an invasion of their Ciudad Juarez home.

Yubia Yumiko Ayala Narvaez, Regional Coordinator of the Gender-Based Violence Unit/Chihuahua North Prosecutor’s Office, and Mexico’s National AMBER Alert Coordinator, Carlos Morales Rojas, were at the conference. They worked together to release national and state alerts for Angela.

Media and public response to both alerts came swiftly. (See photo above.) By the next day, the kidnappers, likely aware the case was receiving national attention, abandoned Angela in a Ciudad Juarez doorway. A woman found the infant and immediately called 911. And less than 30 hours after the issuance of the state AMBER Alert, the child was safely recovered.

“Narvaez and Rojas met for the first time as they arrived for the conference. This was just one of so many examples of how incredibly important regional events like this are to the ongoing work to build preparedness for effective response to cases of endangered missing and abducted children—in Mexico and the U.S.—through cross-border planning,” Leon-Baron says.

AATTAP’s Northern Border Initiative (NBI) also relies heavily on collaboration between Canadian provinces’ child protection officials and U.S. counterparts. Like Mexico, Canada also has Tribal components. “But the dynamics are different,” Leon-Baron explains. The professionals’ work often involves family abductions of children, either taken into or out of one country to another.

AATTAP visits have included Canadian AMBER Alert Coordinators and members of both the U.S. Customs & Border Patrol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Tribal law enforcement (such as the St. Regis Mohawk Police Department). And the next NBI event—a focus group meeting—was held this September in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

Serbia and Argentina

One of AATTAP’s highest-profile international endeavors was working with officials from the Bureau of Narcotics and International Law Enforcement (INL) and the Republic of Serbia to help that country launch its AMBER Alert-style program “Pronadji Me” (“Find Me”) in June 2023. The AATTAP-INL-New York-Virginia team also advised Bosnia-Herzegovina on their AMBER Alert-style plan.

The meeting, held at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., also featured insight from Virginia and New York child protection officers. Virginia State Police AMBER Alert Coordinators Sergeant Connie Brooks and Lieutenant Robbie Goodrich outlined how their state AMBER Alert activations are decided and disseminated. Additionally, New York State Police AMBER Alert Coordinator Erika Hock, New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYSMPC) Manager Cindy Neff, and NYSMPC Investigative Supervisor Timothy Williams participated virtually to discuss their state’s AMBER Alert program requirements.

In March 2024—nine months after the U.S. meeting—Serbia activated its first “Find Me” Alert after a 2-year-old girl Dana Ilic disappeared in the town of Bor. Television and radio stations interrupted their programs to share details about Dana, including the time and place of her disappearance, and her clothes and age. Citizens also received SMS (short message service) alerts.

“Though Serbia’s first AMBER Alert sadly did not result in Dana’s safe return, the country is learning from the alert’s implementation, which will help other children who go missing,” Rasmussen says.

Serbia’s "Find Me" Alert is modeled on U.S. AMBER Alerts.

Although in-person meetings are always preferred, virtual meetings do have their advantages. Consider AATTAP’s one-day CART Virtual Instructor-Led Training with Argentina—an event in which AATTAP collaborated with the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.

“The response was overwhelming,” Leon-Baron says. “We had hundreds on our call, with many more wanting to join.” AATTAP’s next trainings with Argentina were in October.

Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, and beyond

Meetings with child protection and government officials in the Dominican Republic and U.S. Virgin Islands have been delayed due to hurricanes, but the AATTAP planned to visit this fall.

“Our work is really just beginning,” Rasmussen says. “Now that we’ve assessed the territories’ needs, we plan to go back and help them get their AMBER Alert programs where they need to be. There is a lot of training ahead—focusing on on investigative strategies, first responders, search and rescue teams—and all of it will be informed by the geographical and cultural considerations that we have seen firsthand.”

Rebecca Sherman contributed to this report.

By Denise Gee Peacock

National Missing Children’s Day has long been a lodestar for families of missing children—a safe harbor for gathering with child protection professionals who on that day are recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for being at the top of their game.

This year that star shone brighter than ever, largely fueled by the unwavering advocacy work of nearly a dozen surviving family members—including parents and siblings—who have endured the nightmare of a missing child, brother, or sister. Their presence at the May 22 commemoration, and related events, was deeply moving—despite the fact that “all of us belong to a club that no one ever wants to belong to,” says parent survivor Ahmad Rivazfar.

That club’s members include parents and siblings desperate to find their missing loved ones, whose whereabouts remain unknown. They are also families who will forever grieve a child who was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered; families of children illegally taken out of the country by an estranged parent; families who have fortunately been reunited with their once-missing child, but now work to become whole again.

These family survivors’ stories were invaluable to discussions during the 2024 National Missing Children’s Day events. The AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) hosted the family members at the events, with support from the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

The AATTAP-NCJTC team and surviving family members were unified in promoting their work on two updated DOJ resources for parents and families of missing children: When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide (released last year) and the forthcoming sibling-focused survival guide, What About Me? Finding Your Path When Your Brother or Sister Is Missing.

Collaboration for a clearer path forward

The day before the National Missing Children’s Day commemoration, surviving family members paid a visit to the Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Afterward they attended a private AATTAP reception recognizing their contributions to ensuring family members across the nation have access to the latest information and resources.

They also previewed video segments from a filming project completed earlier this year, one in which contributors to the forthcoming What About Me? sibling survival guide shared their insights and advice to illuminate its content for readers. The videos will be offered alongside the sibling guide (after its release later this year) on the Family Survival Guide website.

During the National Missing Children’s Day ceremony, the group received thanks for their efforts from U.S. Assistant Attorney General Amy L. Solomon, OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan, and NCMEC President and CEO Michelle DeLaune—as well as attendee applause—when they were asked to stand for recognition.

They also heard from nationally revered parent-advocate and retired AATTAP-NCJTC Associate Patty Wetterling, who was a featured speaker at the event. Wetterling is the mother of Jacob Wetterling, who was abducted and murdered in 1989. (Read more about her search for him, and her new book, Dear Jacob, here—and an excerpt from her Missing Children’s Day talk below.) Wetterling also helped update the new edition of the Family Survival Guide, released in 2023.

During the session, the family members discussed their experiences with being a part of these survival guide projects, along with their ongoing needs and goals as surviving family members who have experienced a missing child or sibling.

They also offered OJJDP and AATTAP leaders recommendations on ways to best support families and more broadly promote awareness and distribution of critically important resources for families, law enforcement, and child advocates.

Following through on a commitment made by OJJDP Administrator Ryan last year during her impactful meeting with the Family Survival Guide contributors at the conclusion of the Missing Children’s Day ceremony, this year’s event included an inaugural, private Family Roundtable discussion with sibling guide family contributors.

Commemoration highlights

Each year, the DOJ honors agencies, organizations, law enforcement officials, and others whose exemplary and heroic efforts have helped recover missing children and prosecute those who harm them.

“Our commemoration is taking a new format this year,” Ryan explained. “OJJDP decided not only to highlight the tremendous work of those who protect children, but also address the challenges in this work—to learn more about issues involving missing kids, and hold in-depth conversations with youth and families of missing and murdered children and other experts on these topics.”

After the commemoration, a cadre of experts, including a youth advocate with lived experience in the foster care system, joined a panel discussion on why so many children and young adults go missing from care. “They will suggest ways to improve collaboration and ensure the well-being of these children,” Ryan said. She next recognized members of the Family Roundtable—parents, siblings and others with a loved one who has gone missing. “Each of them has contributed to two very important [survival] documents.”

When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide was announced at the 2023 Missing Children’s Day event. The new fifth edition provides a wider range of missing child situations; gives families instant access to information online; and allows them to hear advice and encouragement from the parents themselves, who speak in powerful videos.

As was the case with the Family Survival Guide, the What About Me? project was developed by AATTAP’s publications team with guidance and oversight from the OJJDP. Both initiatives were stewarded by Helen Connelly, retired FVTC-NCJTC Program Administrator who continues to share her expertise as an Associate employee.

Looking back—and ahead

“As you know thousands of children go missing in the U.S. every year,” Ryan said. “While most are safely recovered, others are found deceased and never identified. Currently there are more than 1,000 children whose remains have been found, but have not been identified. We want to help name them, and return them to their families, communities, and loved ones.”

The OJJDP and NCMEC, with support from the DOJ—and training and technical assistance from the AATTAP and NCJTC—will work with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify these children, Ryan explained, adding, “they deserve no less.”

The forthcoming sibling survival guide, What About Me?, will help a missing child’s siblings understand the emotional turmoil surrounding the crisis as well as the search process. It will offer trusted advice and firsthand insight into what to expect; tips for managing self-care and family dynamics; and guidance on how to deal with law enforcement, the courts, and the media.

Photo of two women with this caption: Patty Wetterling (right) greets NCMEC’s Director of Special Projects Sherry Bailey during the family survivors’ visit to NCMEC headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. — Patty Wetterling (right) greets NCMEC’s Director of Special Projects Sherry Bailey during the family survivors’ visit to NCMEC headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

NCMEC President and CEO Michelle DeLaune welcomed parent-advocate Patti Wetterling to speak, recognizing her as “a longtime friend and a personal source of inspiration.”

“Her son, Jacob, who went missing when he was 11 years old, was abducted near their home in Minnesota,” DeLaune said. “Patty has given her life to advocating for her son. She’s raised a beautiful family. And she’s a fierce mother, one who changes this world with every person she speaks to.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Amy L. Solomon added, “We’re so honored that you could be with us today, Patty. We’re indebted to you for your years of advocacy on behalf of missing children, and for the work you continue to do to claim a brighter future for our children.”

What follows is an excerpt of Wetterling’s remarks given at this year’s National Missing Children’s Day commemoration.

I want to thank you, Liz Ryan, for meeting with this amazing group. [Wetterling gestures to the family-survivor group attending the ceremony.] I belong over there with you, my heart is with you, and we draw strength from you. I also want to thank everybody at NCMEC and the DOJ. You save lives. You saved mine.

National Missing Children’s Day is a time to shine a light on a dark topic. When my son, Jacob, was kidnapped, I knew nothing about crimes against children. ‘Who would do that?’ I cried, ‘Who would harm a child?’ It is an unimaginable pain.

After a few days, sleep deprived and depressed, I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over my head, deciding I’m never gonna get out of bed again. It’s too hard. It hurts too much. I can’t do it. But with tears streaming down my face, I suddenly saw Jacob curled up in a ball somewhere saying the same thing. ‘I can’t do this anymore. It’s too hard. They’re never going to find me.’

Screaming, I got up and said, ‘Hold on Jacob, we will find you! But you have to stay strong!’ I got out of bed. That decision to get out of bed was the first of many choices that I had to make.

That was in the early days, and in the 34 years that have followed, I decided I couldn’t live in the darkness. I chose to seek light instead. I chose to fight for the world that Jacob knew and loved—a world that was fair, kind, and safe for kids.

When I was given the phone number for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, I learned so much about the problem—how many children were missing and exploited, and what we all needed to do to bring them home. Most kids come home because somebody is aware of their abduction. They look at the pictures. And if they see something unusual about a child, or a child in a bad situation, they trust their instincts and call the police.

We tried to make sure everybody got Jacob’s pictures. We had to mail out pictures back in 1989. We sent them all over. My favorite story was when a couple was traveling from Minnesota to Florida and thought they saw Jacob. They recognized the picture and said, ‘He was with a man who’s very thin, and he didn’t look like he wanted to be with this guy.’ But they didn’t know who to call. So eventually they called the FBI in Minneapolis. When they described the man that this boy was with, the FBI agent knew who they were talking about…and caught up with him in Flagstaff, Arizona. And clearly [the child they found with him] wasn’t Jacob.

But at least one 12-year-old boy got to go home because somebody was aware of the problem. They looked at the pictures and took that extra step of being there for the child. In those 34 years since Jacob was kidnapped, I’ve learned we are stronger when we collectively pool ideas and resources through Team HOPE and the family and sibling survival guides, we support each other and offer assistance to other families walking down this difficult path.

We have to keep missing children in our hearts until we can hold them in our arms again.

We are all the hope for all missing children, as well as all children who are home safe today.

We can never give up hope.

And together, we can, and we will, build a safer world for all of our children.

Change is inevitable. It’s how we respond to it that counts.

Consider technological advances. They’re an immeasurable help to law enforcement agencies searching for missing children—allowing them to issue AMBER Alerts faster, to geo-targeted areas, and track the digital footprints (banking transactions, app logins, license plate readers) of the people they seek.

But just when the good guys can at least follow the tech learning curve (if not get ahead of it), criminal minds are devising new ways to circumvent detection—trafficking vulnerable, endangered youth not just in recesses of the dark web, but increasingly in plain sight, with coded everyday language meant to mask its true intent.

Such are the concerns that keep our AATTAP curricula and training teams up at night. The ongoing threat makes us work harder than ever to update and develop courses taught by leading subject matter experts and provide best-in-class training materials for law enforcement and child protection professionals.

With grant support from the U.S. Department of Justice and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the AATTAP is working to share “the very best thinking and practices with law enforcement agencies and child protection partners before problems arise,” says AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

She regularly traverses the nation to attend national conferences, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) certifications, onsite training, and Tribal AMBER Alert implementation meetings.

Anticipating how best to prevent, interdict, and prosecute those who would harm children requires paying close attention to emerging crime schemes and observing how criminal justice professionals are successfully solving them.

“It also takes understanding what training and technical assistance law enforcement agencies actually need, not just what we think they need,” says AATTAP Program Manager Byron Fassett.

The theme for the curriculum development—“by you, for you”—has involved recruiting the nation’s top experts to help develop and deliver new cutting-edge courses and update existing offerings; following emerging technologies and trends; letting reliable data and verifiable trends inform project planning; and creating more flexibility for busy professionals by offering online training that includes self-paced courses, live and recorded webinars, live instructor-led courses, and live hybrid events that combine onsite and online participation.

The goal is to ensure 2023 courses are “relevant and valuable,” says Project Coordinator Cathy Delapaz.

Building ‘responsive’ curriculum

Cathy and Byron spearheaded two successful field-assessment events this fall in the Washington, D.C., area. Both needs-assessment sessions involved a total of 62 participants “in the trenches” of finding endangered missing children, through investigative work and/or with CARTs.

“We wanted to hear from people in the field who deal with life-and-death situations every day,” Byron says.“We wanted their honest feedback on our curriculum to assess its effectiveness, efficacy and relevance, so we can make it responsive to their needs.”

The new or revamped courses Cathy and Byron are overseeing “will demonstrate in tangible ways how our trainings are field informed. We’re proud of that,” he says.

Priming the ‘front-loaded response’

Central to AATTAP’s mission is helping law enforcement agencies and their regional partners respond to missing child incidents via fast, efficient, multi-disciplinary CART deployments.

Project Coordinators Derek VanLuchene and Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron work with an experienced team of trainers to assess CART programs across the country and support their development, training, and certification/re-certification efforts. Jesi also oversees international collaborations, including both the Southern and Northern Border Initiatives (SBI, NBI) that involve partners with Mexico and Canada, respectively.

Having played key roles in supporting the recent field-assessment trainings, Derek and Jesi are focusing not on hypotheticals, but “real-world challenges CARTs face—staffing turnover, the need for regular training, support from leadership, and help obtaining specialized resources,” Derek says.

“We help teams understand they must have resources in place for a front-loaded response—so when they get a call, they’re not scrambling for people or resources,” Jesi adds.

‘Organic outreach’ in Indian Country

The AMBER in Indian Country team, comprised of Program Manager Tyesha Wood and Project Coordinator Valerie Bribiescas, focuses on helping the nation’s 574 federally recognized Tribes assess their capacity to effectively respond when Native children go missing—and provides educational outreach to prevent such incidents.

A big part of the duo's work is helping Tribes understand what resources are available to them thanks to the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act.

In 2022 the team also began a long-term initiative to provide AMBER Alert in Indian Country Technology Toolkits at no cost to requesting Tribes.

This year they are continuing that work, and plan to connect with Tribes farther afield, such as Alaska and Maine. Such work requires deft cultural sensitivity. Both Tyesha and Valerie—Navajo Nation members and experienced Tribal detectives—recognize the myriad of complexities involved.

“Sovereignty is huge in Indian Country, so we need to know and respect each Tribe’s laws, customs, traditions, greetings, and stories,” Tyesha says.

“Being invited by each Tribe to discuss ways we can help them is essential,” Valerie says.

“We never want to overstep our boundaries with Tribal elders or leadership.”

Relationship-building is especially crucial to emphasize amid changing federal and state laws, such as the controversial McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling in 2020, wherein the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Oklahoma no longer had the right to try criminal cases involving Tribal lands or members.

Navigating jurisdictional battles between states and Tribes can feel like one step forward and two steps back. “We get that,” Tyesha says.

“But we want Tribes to know we’re here for them. We’re here to help them build on strengths and overcome obstacles.”

‘Inform, educate, and inspire’

Phrases such as “the digital experience,” “asynchronous,” and “accessibility optimization” are often used in the multi-faceted work overseen by Bonnie Ferenbach, Program Manager for AATTAP’s eLearning, Websites, and Publications. Bonnie’s work across all three of these areas focuses on the integrity of content, design quality, functionality, the user experience, and accessibility.

She also is a seasoned presenter and instructor with experience in developing and guiding law enforcement telecommunications operational response to missing and abducted child incidents.

It was that work which brought her to AATTAP as a consultant in 2006. She helped develop the “Telecommunications Best Practices for Missing and Abducted Children” course, which has been delivered both online and in the classroom for more than 15 years.

When not focused on eLearning initiatives, Bonnie collaborates with Project Coordinator Denise Gee Peacock to develop engaging and educational content for The AMBER Advocate and various online platformsContent is delivered across both The AMBER Advocate (amberadvocate.org) and the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (amber-ic.org) websites, along with a vast array of resources and training information.

“We want the AMBERAdvocate.org site to be as informative as it is interactive,” Bonnie explains, noting the community of practice dimension of the website’s Partner Portal.

The secure platform allows AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers, and others to find contact information for colleagues in similar positions across the nation, engage in discussion forums around an array of topics important to their work, and utilize and contribute to an extensive resource library.

Support, passion make a difference

With its complex operations, none of the AATTAP and AIIC gears would turn without the exceptional team that coordinates the logistics and monitors the feasibility and effectiveness of the team’s many projects.

At the group’s helm is Program Manager Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, who monitors budgeting and financials.

She works closely with Janell in overseeing the budget and grant management, as well as major events, to ensure the work we do is consistent with our mission as well as that of our federal grantors.

She’s also recognized as a stellar problem solver, metrics monitor, mentor, and cross-function/team collaboration strategist.

Jenniffer works closely with a dynamic duo she calls “the unsung heroes of the program”—Project Coordinator Jill Nysse and Mishelle Bowen, Administrative Assistant.

“Both are dedicated to ensuring training operates smoothly and participants and instructors have all the tools they need,” Jenniffer says.

On any given day they are securing adequate space for onsite training events, coordinating the shipment of materials, booking lodging, helping instructors build and adjust travel itineraries; finalizing program records and documentation; and helping participants access online training and resources.

Jill is motivated by the powerful stories shared by AATTAP “family members”—parents and siblings of missing children. Understanding their struggles puts any trivial matters into perspective “when I realize I’m helping children and making the world a better place.”

The same goes for Mishelle. She mentions an online encounter with a police officer trying to access a virtual, live course. After she provided the help he needed, his follow-up note was more than a simple “thank you.”

“A few weeks after taking the course he let me know his team was put to the test by a case involving a missing child,” Mishelle says. “But because of what they had learned during the training session, he and his colleagues were able to safely locate the child.” That still resonates with her. “It reminds me that what we do really makes a difference.”

By Denise Gee Peacock

The most effective Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs) have “the right personnel, preparation, and leadership support,” says Sergeant Patrick Beumler, who supervises the Glendale, Arizona, Police Department’s Patrol and Emergency Response Units.

Beumler has served in law enforcement 24 years, half of that time in the GPD’s Criminal Investigation Division as Special Victims Unit Supervisor, specializing in family violence and missing persons. He was a founding member of the Arizona Child Abduction Response Team in 2011, and has since responded to dozens of CART deployments throughout the state. As the state’s CART Coordinator, Beumler has collaborated on CART certification training with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

We spoke with Sergeant Beumler about some of the questions law enforcement asks during training sessions.

What type of person does it take be a successful CART member?

It takes someone willing to put a lot of time and energy into training. They need to be flexible in their schedule for callouts, preparation, and research – and able to get their primary duties done amidst many CART tasks. It takes someone who can keep their cool during the chaos at the onset of a missing at-risk child investigation, including effectively communicating with frantic family members. It takes diligence; someone who doesn’t give up when they hit roadblocks and investigative “dead ends,” as often happens in missing child investigations. And most importantly, it takes someone who isn’t afraid to ask for help during a CART response – and to accept that help, especially from people outside their agency.

How can law enforcement agencies recruit personnel who are a good fit for a CART?

Agencies could face challenges with participation if folks deemed well-suited to the work aren’t able to be recruited as they are identified. Restrictive policies may require that only members of certain squads can be CART members, but sometimes that doesn’t allow for the best talent to be recruited. Also, leadership needs to buy in to the CART concept or the CART will face challenges in pulling people away from other duties.

What are the biggest challenges in CART training?

Coordination, cost, and time. Training should ideally be conducted at the agency and regional levels, and occasionally at the state level. A good place to start is to have quarterly training at the agency and/or regional level, and perhaps annually at the state level, depending on the CART’s needs. Training should reinforce the basics, such as neighborhood and roadside canvassing, using leads management software, and setting up and dismantling command posts. Advanced classes in investigative technology are also a plus. And at least annually, the CART should analyze case studies or conduct tabletop exercises. Using local resources and personnel obviously saves money, but so does utilizing quality training provided at no cost by the AATTAP and National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College, as well as NCMEC.

How important is preparation?

Knowing what may be needed for a call-out is a challenge until you’ve been through a couple of them. Items needed for a command post can be as simple as a pop-up canopy and folding table, but to operate for any length of time outdoors a canopy, lighting, staging area, and other logistics come into play. That’s why CARTs mobilize trucks and trailers full of equipment. One of the most basic staples is the canvassing form. Until everything goes digital, using printed forms to canvass neighborhoods, or at roadside stops or roadblocks, is a must. But these tend to run short, especially when urban multi-housing/ apartment complexes are involved. Each member should have a personal supply of all needed forms, and command should also have an ample supply (think banker’s box full) to distribute as needed, and to replenish at the end of each deployment. The last thing you want is someone running to the station to make copies of the form at 2 a.m.

How do you sustain effective CARTs?

Sustainability comes down to how well your CART team is recruited, the level of leadership adoption and support, the team’s activity level, membership policy mandates, the quality of available resources, and the extent of training and preparation. The turnover for units within a CART can be high, since members often change assignments, retire, or get promoted; so it takes the dedication of those involved to promote the team, champion its successes, and keep it active. It should be seen as a desirable position to have – rather than an ancillary role of their primary job. Also, agencies
can lose interest in participating in a CART if apathy or a lack of succession planning sets in.

For agencies not sure if they need a CART, what would you tell them?

A CART is a force multiplier – a treasure trove of experience to lean on during an often-tense at-risk missing child investigation. When there is little to no information to go on, and your folks are tired and depleted – but calls for service are still coming in – having CART resources and investigative knowledge is invaluable. There’s a misconception that CARTs take over an investigation; they don’t. While some law enforcement teams may have to swallow a bit of pride to ask for help, with agency leadership commitment and support, that is less of an ask when specialized assistance is needed, especially in the wee hours of the morning.

What’s inside ‘the Blue Ox’?

The Glendale (Arizona) Police Department’s 600 square-foot climate-controlled CART logistics support truck and mobile command center is dubbed “the Blue Ox” because “after the large tractor trailer was painted blue, it reminded people of Paul Bunyan’s giant blue ox,” says Sergeant/CART Leader Patrick Beumler. The $1.3 million crime- fighter-on-wheels was funded with $900,000 from the Urban Areas Security Initiative and $400,000 from the City of Glendale. “It’s been a tremendous help to us,” Beumler adds. Here’s what it features:

2 operations tables
20 “ops” stations, each equipped with a laptop, telephone, and full radio capability
1 Cisco IPICS Radio Interop System
6 (700-800 MHz) radios
5 VHF radios and 4 UHF radios
2 Motorola XTS XTVA radio slots
2 (47-inch) interior video monitors
1 (70-inch) interior video monitor
2 (55-inch) exterior video monitors
1 TracStar RV satellite system with 2 VoIP Lines
4 DirectTV Receivers
2 Sony Mast Cameras
A 70 KVA MQ generator and Shore 208V 3 Phase power connection

By Denise Gee Peacock

When a child goes missing, law enforcement response time is critical. So is having the right tools.

An endeavor to donate nearly every technological resource necessary for responding to missing and abducted children cases – a rugged laptop, digital camera, scanner, and more – is now underway thanks to the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative, a component of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

These Technology Toolkits are being provided to Tribal communities that currently administer their own AMBER Alert program, or that participate in (or are in the process of adopting or joining) a regional or state AMBER Alert plan.

So far, dozens of the Technology Toolkits have been distributed to Tribal law enforcement agencies (LEAs) spanning from Alabama to Washington. The goal is to ultimately provide a total of 150 Toolkits to agencies that request them, said AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood.

“The Toolkit doesn’t give tribes the capacity to initiate an AMBER Alert on their own. It’s a source of supplemental equipment to help agencies expedite their work in finding missing and endangered children,” said Wood, a member of the Navajo Nation and former law enforcement detective.

Getting the 41-pound packages to their destinations – often in remote areas – is not always easy. Many Tribes use post office boxes for mailing addresses, so the Toolkits sometimes need to be re-routed to locations that can pose a challenge for delivery drivers.

“It’s a special privilege to deliver the toolkits in person,” said Wood, who is assisted by AIIC Liaison Valerie Briebecas. “As we meet the community’s leadership, there’s a bond that forms, which is nice, and we plan future collaborative work, including training initiatives.”

“It’s also been rewarding to see each Tribe’s environment and experience any challenges they may have,” such as a lack of cellphone coverage or knowledge about state or regional AMBER Alert plans. “Understanding each Tribe’s needs gives us insight into their way of life, their community. And that’s important, because every Tribe is unique,” Wood said.

Moapa Tribal Police Chief Jeff Harper displays the toolkit outside of MTP headquarters — Moapa Tribal Police Chief Jeff Harper displays the Toolkit outside of MTP headquarters.

The AIIC team kicked off the Technology Toolkit initiative on March 22, 2022, with a visit to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation in Cary, North Carolina.

Cherokee Nation Police Chief Josh Taylor was happy to receive both the Toolkit and the AIIC visitors. “This Toolkit provides us with the equipment to be successful in Indian Country,” he said at an event to honor the occasion. “And with the opportunity for additional training, we will benefit from staying connected with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program.”

AMBER Alert Coordinator Nona Best, Director of the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, agreed. “This Toolkit will ensure that if a child goes missing, the most effective, efficient, and quickest response time will be in the hands of the Cherokee Nation Police Department.”

Speaking before a large crowd, AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen noted, “It’s unusual to see such a phenomenal partnership between a state agency and a tribe, and the great work being done here. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Tribe and the North Carolina AMBER Alert Coordinator should be commended for their collaborative efforts to bring missing children home.”

Another Technology Toolkit presentation took place May 2, 2022, at the Navajo Nation Police Department in Window Rock, Arizona.

“Preparation and coordination are key to bringing a child home safely, and the Toolkits will assist our law enforcement officers if a child should be reported missing. Responding officers can access the kit and have everything they need to send out an alert as quickly as possible while still in the field, including in rural areas,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez. His administration is now working to expand the AMBER Alert system and provide a comprehensive 911 system that can effectively cover the largest tribal nation in the U.S., spanning 27,000 square miles in three states (Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah).

In 2016, 11-year-old Navajo Nation member Ashlynne Mike was abducted and later found murdered. A lack of coordinated response and jurisdictional understanding led to a delay in the issuance of an AMBER Alert, prompting her mother, Pamela Foster, to lobby legislators to enact a law to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.

“Through the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, many partnerships were established between tribal communities and external agencies to protect our children,” said Navajo Nation First Lady Phefelia Nez. “Many families know the personal heartbreak and trauma of missing loved ones on the Navajo Nation and throughout Indian Country. Multiple jurisdictional systems have historically failed the victims, their families, and survivors. Today we have to set a new tone of hope on this issue that impacts our homes and tribal communities.”

Navajo Nation Police Chief Daryl Noon added, “One of the things we recognize is we can’t do this alone. We will continue to welcome the support from our community partners, especially for AMBER Alert initiatives, and remain focused and committed to the protection of our children here in the Navajo Nation.”

In addition to receiving the Toolkit, Tribal AMBER Alert program personnel and law enforcement officers involved in AMBER Alerts and child protection in their communities are being invited to access the Partner Portal on the AMBER Advocate website. With portal membership, they can connect with other AMBER Alert partners and find additional resources to assist in AMBER Alert program work, as well as first response and investigative efforts for endangered missing and abducted child cases.

These resources are provided to tribes at no charge thanks to efforts by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to facilitate implementation of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act. Programs and action items within the Act are designed to provide Tribes with access to state, regional, and Tribal AMBER Alert plans and improve response to endangered missing and abducted children in Indian Country.

“The Toolkit provides many technologies needed when responding to and investigating missing and abducted children. By creating a response plan when a child goes missing, and working with state and federal law enforcement agencies, Tribes will be one step closer to bringing their missing children home,” Wood said, adding, “I just wish we could visit every tribe in the nation.”

For more information on AMBER Alert in Indian Country training, technical assistance, and/or resources – including the Technology Toolkit – contact [email protected], call 877/712-6237, or visit https://amber-ic.org.

AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program Administrator Janell Rasmussen speaks to more than 200 Symposium attendees. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

AATTAP Region One Liaison Joan Collins helps Megan Eschleman of the California Department of Justice use a QR code to check in for a session using the Whova app. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

Photo of two women hugging at the Symposium. AMBER Alert Coordinators and child protection professionals from across the nation and abroad reunited for the annual learning event. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

Missing Child Center-Hawaii Coordinator Amanda Leonard and Honolulu Police Department Detective William Oku “hang loose” during a break. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

AATTAP Region 4 Liaison Josefina Sabori is honored to wear her badge for the event. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

Sibling-survivor Kimber Biggs shares her story during the Symposium. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

AATTAP-NCJTC Instructor/retired FBI Special Agent David Fallon leads a workshop on family member abductions. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

Sibling-survivor Kimber Biggs (right) talks with parent-survivor Pamela Foster at the Symposium. “Pamela is such an inspiration to me—and anyone who has endured a similar loss,” Biggs said. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

Sibling-survivor Kimber Biggs photographed her AMBER Alert lapel pin and two gifts from Ashlynne’s mother, Pamela Foster: a memorial button and a pair of earrings with wording from the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

The DOJ’s Native American Outreach Services Liaison, Marlys Big Eagle (who served as a keynote speaker), discusses her MMIP work with AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

AMBER Alert Coordinators Janell Twardowski of Minnesota (left) and Melissa Marchant of Wisconsin pose for a photo. {Photo credit: AATTAP}

By Denise Gee Peacock

Hundreds of state and regional AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Person Clearinghouse Managers, Tribal law enforcement officers, public alerting/emergency management experts, and federal officials gathered in New Orleans February 27–28 to attend the 2024 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium.

The no-fee training and collaborative learning event, funded through the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and administered by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), engaged attendees in discussing developing trends and case studies, sharing best practices, and training with other child protection partners to better respond to endangered missing and abducted child cases.

Held at the historic Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans’ French Quarter, the Symposium featured 26 workshops led by dozens of subject-matter experts as well as three keynote speakers. It also included six regional and Tribal breakout sessions that allowed for in-depth discussions on issues of importance to their states and Tribes.

Amanda Leonard, Coordinator for the Missing Child Center-Hawaii/Department of the Attorney General, flew more than 4,200 miles to attend the Symposium with Honolulu Police Department Detective William “Billy” Oku.

“The survivors and trainers at this event give us the needed reminder of why we serve as AMBER Alert Coordinators,” Leonard said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to excel in our important collective work. One team, one fight!”

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen welcomed hundreds of participants representing nearly every state in the nation, as well as the program’s Northern Border Initiative partner, Canada.

In crediting the grant support that the AATTAP and its AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) Initiative receives from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Rasmussen recognized two OJJDP attendees—AATTAP Grant Manager Alex Sarrano, and Lou Ann Holland, Grant Manager for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), “for their dedication to protecting children, and their passion for the work being done” by those at the Symposium.

Rasmussen praised attendees’ “hard work—work most people could not do—on behalf of missing children. Many of them are home today, but some are not. Let’s remember Elijah Vue in Wisconsin, Morgan Nick in Arkansas, Mikelle Biggs in Arizona, and Navaeh Kingbird in Minnesota. These children and so many others deserve to be found, to be reunited with their families, and to grow up in a safe environment.”

Training ‘for you, by you’

The AATTAP team develops and delivers training opportunities crafted “for you, by you”—and each Symposium is the standard bearer of that.

“ ‘For you, by you’ isn’t just a catchphrase—it’s our guiding principle,” said Byron Fassett, AATTAP Deputy Administrator. “Everything on the agenda is the result of our team asking everyone at last year’s Symposium—and everyone who participated in hundreds of our classes since then—‘What do you want to see?’ and ‘What are your needs?’”

Additionally, Symposium-goers had a digital, interactive tool for planning, collaborating, and providing feedback: the event app Whova. The platform let participants review the agenda, plan for sessions they wished to attend, map out class locations, check into sessions, weigh in on discussion topics, connect for lunch or dinner, share photos, and much more. Attendees also could suggest topics and locations for next year’s Symposium.

Guest speaker Brad Russ, Executive Director of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), said he was proud to see how far training topics and techniques have advanced from what he experienced during his early days in law enforcement in New Hampshire.

Russ’s respected work would ultimately lead the OJJDP to seek his involvement in nationwide training that began more than 30 years ago. During that time, missing child advocate Patty Wetterling of Minnesota “helped open the eyes and hearts of stoic police officers with her powerful insight into what parents face when their child goes missing,” he recalled.

Russ also commended an early mentor—OJJDP/FVTC instructor and retired Pennsylvania Police Sergeant Gary O’Connor—for advancing traditional training techniques that historically involved staid presentations full of statistics into curriculum and instructional design employing more dynamic approaches, such as engaging participants through robust discussions, knowledge checks, and tabletop exercises. Russ has ensured such effective strategies have carried forward since the NCJTC’s creation in 2009.

The power of family perspectives

Cover of the resource guide "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide" with link to website: https://amberadvocate.org/families — **Visit the *Family Survival Guide* website: amberadvocate.org/families.**

Symposium attendees received copies of the newly updated resource, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. They also learned about its companion website, which gives caregivers and law enforcement instant access to the Guide’s multimedia content, including videos of the parent-survivors sharing powerful stories and advice.

“When we released the Guide on Missing Children’s Day 2023, the families involved in its production joined us for a meeting with OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan and her team,” said AATTAP Administrator Rasmussen. “The parent-authors were adamant that law enforcement needed more guidance on how to best work with, and understand, families of missing children. They also emphasized that missing child cases, and relevant training, should be a priority for law enforcement.”

As a result, Ryan asked the AATTAP to help update the resource guide, What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister. “Siblings of missing children often suffer in silence, but need so much support,” Rasmussen said.

Two family members who are helping produce the new sibling guide served as keynote speakers for the Symposium.

Kimber Biggs spoke about the devastating loss of her 11-year-old sister, Mikelle Biggs. On January 2, 1999, Mikelle was abducted while riding her bike near her family’s Arizona home—and never seen again. Biggs was 9 years old when that trauma took place, but she has spent 25 years advocating on her sister’s behalf. She now works as an Associate with the AATTAP-NCJTC.

Photo of young girl with her bicycle. — Mikelle Biggs is shown shortly before she was abducted near her Arizona home in 1999. She is still missing. {Photo: Courtesy Biggs family}

Biggs shared several distressing interactions with law enforcement “that I hope you all can learn from.” The biggest blow, she said, was set in motion after detectives learned that her father was having an affair at the time of her sister’s disappearance.

“And instead of looking at other suspects—including a registered sex offender on our street—they fixated on my dad and the affair. That was a huge setback for the case,” Biggs said. “Their thinking that he was guilty of harming my sister only added to our family’s trauma.”

While it’s taken more than two decades to see renewed interest “in what was a very cold case,” a new detective has been assigned to it, Biggs said. “That’s a great relief. It’s nice to have someone now who is trustworthy and proactive. We communicate at least weekly. And the fact that he’s eyeing a significant suspect in the case makes it feel like something is finally happening.”

On the Symposium’s second day, Pamela Foster shared her powerful story. Foster is the mother of the late 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, whose May 2016 abduction and murder on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico led to Foster becoming a self-described “warrior mom”—not only for her daughter, but for all children in Indian Country.

“Words cannot describe the brokenness I felt when I learned Ashlynne had been murdered,” Foster said. “Words cannot describe the sheer anguish my family and the community felt at the sudden death of our precious little girl. A deep heartache followed.”

Her anguish would be further heightened after learning that the Navajo Nation—the nation’s largest Indian reservation, spanning three states—was not equipped to quickly issue an AMBER Alert. And confusion by outside law enforcement over who had the proper jurisdiction to issue the alert created a major delay in finding Ashlynne.

“Within weeks, I started petitions to bring the AMBER Alert to Indian Country,” she said. “I called for action from my friends, the Navajo Nation, and the federal government. And though I was physically exhausted and spiritually broken, I poured my heart into effecting legislative change.”

With the support of late U.S. Senator John McCain and Representative Andy Biggs, both of Arizona, by 2018, the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act was signed into law—and ultimately lead to the creation of AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative. “I’m always reassured whenever I see an AMBER Alert doing what it’s supposed to do,” Foster said.

Photo of Derek VanLuchene and Pamela Foster holding quilt. — **COVER STORY EXTRA:** Parent-survivor/2024 Symposium keynote speaker Pamela Foster surprised sibling-survivor/AATTAP Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene with an art quilt that she made in tribute to VanLuchene’s late brother, Ryan, and his dog, Herschel. **Read “Healing Through Comfort.” https://amberadvocate.org/amber-feature/aa58-healing-through-comfort-quilt/**

After Foster’s talk, AATTAP Administrator Rasmussen and AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood presented her with a gift “in recognition of her ongoing bravery, generosity, and never-ending commitment to moving AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiatives forward in memory of Ashlynne—and all missing children,” Rasmussen said. “Pamela’s tireless work has changed the way we respond to missing children in Indian Country. Today, the Navajo Nation has an AMBER Alert Plan, and many other Tribal nations are working with state and regional partners to ensure that what happened to Ashlynne never happens again.”

“As painful as Kimber and Pamela’s experiences are to hear, it’s important that we do hear them to help improve our response,” said keynote speaker Marlys Big Eagle. A member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, Big Eagle serves as the National Native American Outreach Services Liaison for the U.S. Department of Justice, and has worked in criminal justice for more than two decades. Her work centers on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Initiative and other public safety issues in Indian Country.

Over and out—and energized

At the conclusion of the Symposium, Rasmussen reminded attendees of what family members of missing children said after finalizing their work on the Family Survival Guide. “When we asked them, ‘If you could tell law enforcement what they need to hear, what would you say? ’ One of the parents mentioned earlier, Patty Wetterling, said, ‘We know the work that you do is hard; that you have families to go home to; that the work you’ve done during the day remains with you. But remember: We’re suffering the most horrific event of our lives. So we’re counting on you to do everything possible to bring our child home. But also know that we thank you for everything you do.’”

These and other words of advice and encouragement bolstered conversations long after the Symposium ended. Using the Whova app, attendees could continue discussing how to fund new technology; start and sustain a CART; improve leads management; navigate the changing social media landscape; adapt to the growing number of emergency alert classifications; develop ways to capture data; and keep people properly trained during staffing shortages. They also used the Whova platform to provide important feedback for next year’s Symposium.

Calling the conference “one of the most outstanding ones to date,” Hawaii’s AMBER Alert Coordinator Amanda Leonard also shared this: “On my way home to Honolulu via Houston, as soon as the plane landed, I received an AMBER Alert for a 12-year-old girl abducted in the city. I felt so connected to the Texas law enforcement team working her case and helping her terrified loved ones. The work never ends—and abducted children need us to be prepared to issue a lifesaving AMBER Alert for them.”

(more…)

By Jody Garlock

Each second felt like an eternity as Eddie Bertola stared at the blank screen in front of him. While composing an AMBER Alert for the California Highway Patrol, then-Sergeant Bertola was all too aware that a child’s life depended on him getting the procedure right. That’s why he dedicated himself to learning everything he could about alerting technology—and became very good at his job.

We recently caught up with Bertola, and fellow AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Associate Instructor Tony Godwin, to find out what new or emerging technological tools are on their radars for 2024—and think they should be on yours too.

While Eddie Bertola and Tony Godwin have taken different paths in law enforcement, both nationally respected professionals embrace the significant role that technology plays in helping prevent, and find, missing and exploited children.

After 15 years with the California Highway Patrol, Bertola now serves as an Associate with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) and AATTAP, helping train law enforcement to use the latest technological tools and resources to operate better and faster. He’s also working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to test new software that can generate exacting emergency messages with just a few clicks.

NCJTC-AATTAP Associate Godwin is a veteran detective with the Garland Police Department in Texas, and a member of the North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. He remembers when “high tech” meant the ability to send emails. Now he’s a certified cellphone and computer forensics examiner who investigates child exploitation and other crimes against children that occur in areas where young people may be lured into a false sense of safety, such as a gaming app’s chat room. The combined knowledge of Godwin and Bertola is invaluable for law enforcement trainees.

1) Message Design Dashboard: Building a better WEA

New message-writing software is in development that will allow for more effective Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs)—not only to spur the public into action, but also to lessen the pressure on officials tasked with writing and disseminating the alerts.

The Message Design Dashboard, developed by the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany in New York, creates a common structure so that alerting authorities can compile consistent messaging via easy-to-use dropdown menus and prompts.

The Dashboard stems from a FEMA-funded project to support the agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which powers and authenticates the nation’s emergency alerts. The Dashboard project used research to develop the software, which factored in social science to form clear, actionable messaging.

The software should be ready for use with AMBER Alert messaging in early 2024 says Jeannette Sutton, a University at Albany professor who heads the project and specializes in disaster and risk. Bertola and Sutton emphasize the ease of using the Dashboard, where users can click desired descriptors from dropdown menus. As answers are selected, the message is automatically built in a preview box at the side of the screen, with all content remaining editable. “We believe a common structure will improve messaging and get people to follow a consistent set of information and style of writing,” Sutton says.

The software tracks the character count, building a 90-character message that IPAWS requires, along with a 360-character message that most of today’s devices can receive. Hyperlinks are also checked to ensure they don’t go to an invalid page, which can erode public trust in the process.

2) Flock Safety: Real-time vehicle intelligence

One product that’s making a marked difference in how police officers do their jobs is Flock Safety, a system with high-quality cameras, video, and other technology (shown at right) that reads license plates in order to provide real-time actionable intelligence.

“It’s been the biggest game-changer for us,” Godwin says. “It’s really altered how we work in law enforcement.”

Thirty years ago, the process of running tags and finding a vehicle was “almost like trying to catch a unicorn,” he says. With Flock Safety, officers receive alerts when a wanted vehicle passes by a camera. The notifications give the reason for the alert, date/time, and which camera the vehicle drove past. The alert also sends a picture of the vehicle, the license plate, and a map location.

In September 2023, Flock Safety equipment helped Elizabethtown, Kentucky, police safely recover a toddler caught up in a carjacking.

“Of all the years I’ve been doing this, I can’t think of … a more game-changing piece of technology for law enforcement,” said Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson when asking the city council for more Flock cameras to be added to the system installed six months earlier. “I’ve heard council members say that if we recover one kidnapped child, it was worth it. And in my opinion, no truer words have been spoken.”

Flock gathers only open source data, such as car tag information. The cameras read license plates only; they don’t identify motorists (there’s no facial recognition) or record speeds. The system, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, sends an alert to law enforcement only if the vehicle has been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, such as if it’s a stolen vehicle or wanted in connection with an AMBER Alert, or if an officer has entered it as a follow-up on an investigation. Data collected is deleted after 30 days.

At $2,500 per camera per year, the system is decidedly an investment. But if such a cost is prohibitive, Godwin says traditional license plate recognition (LPR) technology is still beneficial.

Screengrab from Ring doorbell: In 2022, a Ring doorbell camera documented the attempted abduction of a 6-year-old Ohio girl who was taking out the family’s trash. A man grabbed her and started dragging her down the sidewalk, but released her due to her screams. The video helped authorities apprehend the abductor. — In 2022, a Ring doorbell camera **documented** the attempted abduction of a 6-year-old Ohio girl who was taking out the family’s trash. A man grabbed her and started dragging her down the sidewalk but released her due to her screams. The video helped authorities apprehend the abductor.

3) Doorbell cameras: Public-engaging technology

Crime-fighting technology is branching beyond expensive equipment in patrol cars and computers in the office. Everyday consumer technology, such as doorbell cameras available for as little as $60, has emerged as a valuable resource to help law enforcement piece together investigations and prosecute cases.

“The growing public engagement in this area is one of the things I’m most excited about,” Bertola says.

He expects a continued increase in the public’s proactive sharing of video from doorbell, security, car dashboard, and cellphone cameras when they think it may help—rather than officers having to knock on doors and ask for the information.

“This type of rapid exchange of information is huge,” Bertola says. “Law enforcement seems to be starting to focus on harnessing that.” Some agencies have begun mapping subdivisions and other areas to note places with doorbell or other security cameras.

“Doing little things like that is going to help with trust in the community,” he says. “And as the community sees this, they’re going to become even more willing to share and become a partner.”

4) Open Source Intelligence: Digging deep for answers

“Any investigation into a child’s disappearance should include Open Source Intelligence (OSINT),” Godwin says. He considers it “one of the most crucial law enforcement techniques in the digital world.”

OSINT is an umbrella term for collecting and analyzing data from publicly available sources, much of it via the Internet, for intelligence purposes. Its origins date to World War II, when William Donovan began using it for the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“It’s an important tool as we are looking into investigations, especially reactive ones where we don’t know much about our person,” Godwin says.

Screengrab of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) research site recommended by AATTAP tech expert Tony Godwin — Godwin suggests investigators use the multiple layers of research tools available at **OSINTFramework.com**.

Most crimes today leave digital traces, and OSINT picks up those fragments of data. The information is vast, so an OSINT framework provides links to the best resources to easily find information about a target and browse various OSINT tools.

The main types of OSINT resources are mass media (such as print, digital, TV, radio); “gray literature” (such as documents and reports from charities, census data, and academic publications); and social media.

Web searches encompass three categories:
• Surface web, which is the traditional method/platform;
• Deep web/dark net, which requires a specific URL or IP address; and
• Dark web, which requires special tools, such as the anonymizing browser Tor.

The OSINT cycle starts with planning to ensure there’s a clear understanding of the types of information needed. It then proceeds to collecting, processing, and analyzing the data before the intelligence is ultimately disseminated.

The process is time-consuming, which is why Godwin is encouraged to see departments hiring full-time crime analysts to lead the charge and ensure information is gathered effectively and ethically.

5) Artificial intelligence: Growing & evolving

No technology has exploded more in recent times than artificial intelligence (AI). It’s considered the next big thing, even though machine learning dates to the 1950s. “AI is not yet widely used internally, but it will be,” Godwin says.

Police departments around the United States already use a form of AI in image recognition technology that reads license plates and other vehicle information. Similarly, Godwin expects facial recognition technology to become a “more powerful and more important” tool in improving efficiencies in law enforcement and getting criminals off the streets.

“There are so many cameras everywhere you go,” he says. “I think that’s where the future will go for us, making it much easier to solve crimes.” (Facial recognition technology helped authorities identify some of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. More recently, authorities in the United Kingdom used it to investigate child exploitation cold cases, which led to the arrest of a Missouri man.)

Analytically, AI is being used in criminal investigations to help sift through vast amounts of data. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) uses Logikcull to filter, gather, and package information for law enforcement and prosecutors. The AI tool has saved NCMEC thousands of hours, allowing its legal staff to operate more efficiently.

The downsides of AI include deepfake technology that can convincingly mimic a person’s physical appearance and voice. Last year, federal officials even issued warnings about virtual kidnapping fraud that uses AI to clone a loved one’s voice.

Godwin expects deepfake detection apps and tools to make strides, though they are evolving.

Detection tools already available include Google’s SynthID and Meta’s Stable Signature, which embed digital watermarks in video and audio; Pindrop and Veridas, which examine details such as how sounds of words sync up with a speaker’s mouth; and AntiFake, which scrambles an audio signal to make it harder to be cloned by AI.

As deepfake technology becomes more sophisticated, some experts are calling on the federal government to regulate it. Additionally, critics claim that law enforcement’s use of AI technology could infringe on privacy and civil rights, leading to false arrests. And there’s concern that “automation bias”—a person’s propensity to trust automated systems over their own judgment—could have authorities failing to look at the information critically.

Godwin knows that organizations will need to balance the risk and rewards of AI, which U.S. Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco calls one of “the most important issues we face in law enforcement, national security, the protection of privacy, and civil liberties.”

Be on the Lookout: More Tech Advances

Better Equipping Indian Country

FEDERAL WINS:

On November 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Interior established a new Office of Indigenous Communications and Technology (OICT) to assist Tribal Nations in managing, developing, and maintaining broadband infrastructure, new electromagnetic spectrum easing mechanisms, and in providing technical assistance for the establishment of wireless, digital, and technological projects on Tribal lands.
The Biden administration has pledged nearly $3 billion to expand access to broadband on Tribal lands. The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, part of the White House’s “Internet for All Initiative,” has so far awarded $1.86 billion in grants to 226 Tribal communities to build highspeed Internet infrastructures, establish affordable Internet access programs, and support digital inclusion projects.

AMBER ALERT IN INDIAN COUNTRY:

The AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) team is continuing to distribute Technology Toolkits to Tribal law enforcement agencies from Alabama to Washington. Equipped with a rugged portable case, Toughbook tablet, digital camera, and more, the toolkits provide Tribal authorities with additional resources to best respond to cases of missing and abducted children. “Tribal communities have long lacked access to high-speed Internet, limiting their ability in the field—especially in remote areas where rugged terrain makes it difficult to build infrastructure,” says AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood.
The AIIC has partnered with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to offer high-speed, wireless Internet service to select Tribes. Congress established the independent authority to develop a nationwide broadband network dedicated to public safety. More than 70 Tribal nations use FirstNet, and in the last two years, coverage (through AT&T) has increased more than 40 percent on federally recognized Tribal lands.
The Navajo Nation—the largest Indian reservation in the U.S., spanning three states—is building a vast modern communications system. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority earmarked its $50 million grant to fund 11 new telecommunications towers, install more than 200 miles of fiber and cable/wireless broadband equipment, and increase or connect high-speed Internet to more than 20,000 Native American households. It also aims to enhance mobile broadband connectivity for first responders.

NCMEC’s QR Code to the Rescue

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is confident one of its newest tech-smart initiatives—using a QR code on missing child posters—can revolutionize the search for endangered missing children.

By scanning the poster’s QR code with a cell phone, the user can get much more information than what a poster typically would allow. Users can also access photos and descriptive details for all missing children reported within a 50-mile radius. “Instead of sharing one missing child poster, the public can view all missing children in their immediate area, whether they are at home or traveling,” said Dr. John E. Bischoff, Vice President of NCMEC’s Missing Children Division, at the 2023 AATTAP-AIIC National Symposium.

NCMEC’s posters will also have larger photos of the missing child and eliminate extraneous details, such as date of birth, when the child’s age will suffice.

Policing Bad Apps

A tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is identifying risky apps concerning child exploitation. The App Danger Project, a website designed to create a safer online environment and help parents determine what apps are safe for their children to use, lists more than 180 apps across Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store that meet its criteria for being considered dangerous. The website also includes a search tool to easily analyze user reviews of specific apps. As a result of the initiative, Apple has removed 10 apps to date that violated the company’s guidelines.

Data Mining is Gold—But Tricky

With the amount of data law enforcement can leverage through technology, it’s crucial to have a strategy to mine the information efficiently and ethically. According to a recent article in Police Chief Magazine, the data should be stored in a single platform that can be accessed by everyone in the department, while ensuring the public’s trust is maintained. Some agencies are innovating to effectively create real-time crime centers (RTCC) that bring together data from various sources to improve efficiencies and enhance public safety.

For Searches, the Heat is On

Drones with thermal cameras are becoming a must-have tool in missing persons searches. The drones, which can be deployed quickly and cover vast areas, are able to detect body heat, even if the person reported missing is in thick brush or dark conditions. The heat signature from the thermal camera provides real-time intelligence to direct searchers to the location.

Forensic Genetic Genealogy Cracks Cold Cases

Even as the debate about DNA-related privacy issues persists, forensic investigative genetic genealogy (“FIGG”) is solving high-profile cases previously thought to be unsolvable. The emerging practice combines DNA analysis with traditional genealogy research to identify suspects and the remains of missing persons. Using FIGG, law enforcement can search ancestry databases containing DNA profiles of consenting people who are tracking family history. FIGG took hold in 2018 after authorities used GEDmatch to identify the Golden State Killer; and one researcher estimates more than 500 cold cases have been solved since.

Geolocation Finds Favor

Police in Pennsylvania have an iPad to thank for the swift recovery of an abducted 11-year-old girl—and the case serves as an example of how geolocation has become a proven investigative tool. Authorities were able to ping the location of the girl’s tablet to track her whereabouts, and ultimately arrest a man on luring charges. Geolocation uses GPS, cell phone towers, and WiFi signals to track a device (such as a cell phone, tablet, or computer), and the pings have become a key part of searches. More recently, geolocation satellite data is being integrated into artificial intelligence to enhance data analysis.

Collage of images showing the eight "Family Survival Guide" parent-authors and their children, along with a candle during a vigil — **>>Click here to learn more about the parent-authors and their children.**

“I remember standing in the middle of chaos, wishing I had a book to tell me what to do.”
Colleen Nick
Mother of Morgan Nick, abducted at age 6 while catching fireflies with friends during a Little League baseball game in 1995

Thankfully, there is such a resource: When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. And its new multimedia format—with updated, actionable information—is more relevant and accessible than ever.

The Guide’s advice reflects the hard-won lessons of eight parents, including Colleen Nick, who have faced “the worst thing any of us could ever imagine—and no parent ever wants to think about: having their child go missing,” says parent-author Patty Wetterling.

Organized with numerous checklists and resources, the fifth edition of the Guide is a compass for parents in the midst of chaos. Its new iteration is fully digital, with a website offering a downloadable, printable guide, plus searchable online content and more than 100 videos covering the myriad of issues a parent may face during the search for their child.

Officially released on National Missing Children’s Day in May 2023, the Family Survival Guide was a labor of love for its parent-authors, who worked with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) publications team and others for nearly two years to bring it to fruition. Reliving their experiences “is never easy; in fact, it’s agonizing—but it’s important for us,” Patty says.

Cover of "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide" (Fifth Edition) — **>> Visit the “Family Survival Guide” website to download the publication or browse its searchable content and videos.**

When first published in 1998, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide was the first comprehensive resource of its kind, offering parents of missing children guidance on effectively working with law enforcement, the media, and volunteers; managing rewards and donations; and “simply surviving to fight another day in the search for their child,” Colleen says.

She and Patty were among a small group of families that Ron Laney of the U.S. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) invited to work on the project with help from Helen Connelly, then a senior consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)—and later a Program Administrator for Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), home to AATTAP and the National Criminal Justice Program (NCJTC).

The Guide quickly became the go-to source for people who “speak the language of missing”—not only in this country, but also abroad, where agencies from the United Kingdom to Australia include it on their websites. “But a lot has changed in 25 years,” Patty says. “It was time for a new look, both in its content and design.”

Patty and Colleen rejoined Helen to work with six other parents to produce the Guide’s update with the AATTAP publications team—an initiative funded and guided by the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and the OJJDP.

“Though there have been several prior updates to the Guide, this one is especially important,” Helen says. “It incorporates the most current information on a wider range of missing child situations. It also gives families immediate access to information via its online format. And there they can hear the parents’ advice and encouragement from the parents themselves, who speak directly to them through powerful videos.”

The parents share these goals: To give voice to children who have been forever silenced. To give hope to parents of missing children when life is at its lowest point. And to help law enforcement best work with parents who desperately want to find their missing child.

For 18 months beginning in fall 2021, the parents worked with the AATTAP project team to begin analyzing every aspect of the Guide: deciding what needed revision, what information needed emphasis, and what new resources and guidance should be added.

Getting the Guide to completion took numerous virtual meetings, independent work spanning weeks, and multiple rounds of peer review that included input from top law enforcement professionals with expertise in finding missing children. The parents aimed to highlight more advanced technology, new and helpful laws, better ways of investigating, and expanded resources. Another goal was to speak more directly and clearly to parents.

Beyond being able to download a PDF of the document, they wanted to ensure parents could access its content from any place with WiFi. They worked diligently to develop information on topics relevant to today: broader classifications of missing children; the impact of social media and communication apps; ever-growing concerns about trafficking; increased public alerting options; and “how to work with law enforcement who may not be trained on new laws, or know how to access specialized resources,” says parent-author Jeffery Morehouse.

The parent-authors shared advice for searching parents and law enforcement during video filming sessions earlier this year in Salt Lake City. See highlights of their advocacy work by visiting [ADD HERE] — The parent-authors shared advice for searching parents as well as law enforcement during filming.

In January 2023, a week of filming took place in Salt Lake City. The parents flew in from New York, Washington, Minnesota, Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, and Alabama to help contribute to what would become a vast library of video segments for the Guide’s website. (Colleen was unable to attend the session due to her work on the documentary “Still Missing Morgan.”)

The film crew and AATTAP team worked carefully and compassionately with families to capture the parents’ heart-wrenching stories and invaluable guidance available only from those who have survived what they have and been left resilient. Tears flowed. Hugs were plentiful. Connections were electric.

On the final day, parents were asked to speak directly to law enforcement to share advice that could be used for both the Guide and AATTAP training events. And at the end of the session, not a dry eye was visible.

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen was in attendance—and awe. “The strength in this room is so powerful,” she said. “The wisdom you’ve shared inspires me to share a quote [from Saint Augustine] that I think is appropriate for this moment.”

Parent-author Dr. Noelle Hunter replied, “As Ahmad says, ‘This is the club that none of us ever wanted to be in.’ But we’re in it. And, oh, my goodness—the power of solidarity you feel with people who get you exactly is transformative. It’s one of the reasons I never gave up working to see my child returned, and why I stay in this cause to help parents reunite with their children. There is no substitute for the new family that we have built through this work.”

For parent-author Yvonne Ambrose, “this process has been like going to counseling,” she said. “We all had a support system in place until our child went missing. Then we lost people who didn’t understand what we were going through. But even though we’ve lost them, we’ve found each other. That gives us the strength to keep fighting—and be there for others.”

Four months after filming, the Family Survival Guide “family” (or “FSG power team,” Yvonne calls them) reunited in Washington, D.C., to attend this year’s National Missing Children’s Day—where the completed Guide was first announced May 23. They also were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with OJJDP Administrator Elizabeth Ryan and her team.

Prior to the DOJ-hosted Missing Children’s Day event, the FSG family gathered at their Alexandria, Virginia, hotel for a reception hosted by AATTAP staff. They held the first bound copies of the 96-page Family Survival Guide and previewed the new companion website. They also watched “The Power of Support,” a video encapsulating some of their most powerful messages shared during the Family Survival Guide filming sessions.

“You all embody incredible courage,” Janell said, “and your wisdom and candor will be immensely valuable to both parents and law enforcement, who can learn from it and share it with others.” The parents said they plan to continue helping train law enforcement by working with the AATTAP and NCJTC of Fox Valley Technical College. They also want to continue advocating for legislative changes that support parents facing situations similar to theirs.

They also emphasized the value of volunteering with Team HOPE, a cornerstone program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The group is made up of trained parent and family volunteers who have experienced the trauma of having a missing or exploited child. Counseling is offered 24/7 to families coping with all the complex issues surrounding the search for their missing child.

Parent-author Ahmad Rivazfar tends to the "Family Survival Guide" table during the 2023 National Missing Children's Day event at the U.S. Department of Justice — Parent-author Ahmad Rivazfar tends to the *Family Survival Guide* table during the 2023 National Missing Children’s Day event at the U.S. Department of Justice.

The parent-authors joined members of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance team during National Missing Children's Day 2023 in Washington, D.C. — The parent-authors joined members of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance team during National Missing Children’s Day 2023.

The parents were front and center when the Guide was announced at the 40th annual National Missing Children’s Day event at the U.S. Department of Justice Great Hall in Washington, D.C. “The terror felt by a parent when their child has disappeared is overwhelming,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “I have great respect for the brave and resourceful professionals who work every day to protect children from harm, reunite missing children with their families, and provide support in the aftermath of a traumatic event. There is no cause more worthy of honor.”

Following the event, the FSG team gathered at the OJJDP office to talk with Administrator Elizabeth Ryan and OJJDP Program Managers Lou Ann Holland and Alex Sarrano. The parents thanked the OJJDP team for inviting them to participate in the project, and discussed ways to increase awareness of the Guide and further help searching parents.

One conversation addressed the need for parents and law enforcement to understand what types of financial support are available for crime victims. “The criteria around accessing these funds is not clearly defined or understood,” Ahmad said. Patty then described hardships that her son, Trevor—who witnessed is brother’s abduction—has experienced while trying to receive victim resource support as an adult.

Administrator Ryan assured the parents that her team would help address such obstacles, and assist families of missing children in every way possible. Yvonne expressed her gratitude.

Group photo. Shown at the OJJDP "Family Survival Guide" meeting in D.C. are, front row from left: Lou Ann Holland (OJJDP), Janell Rasmussen (AATTAP/NCJTC), and parents Nacole Svendgard, Elaine Hall, Yvonne Ambrose, and Patty Wetterling; shown back row from left: Denise Gee Peacock (AATTAP), Alex Sarrano (OJJDP), Brad Russ (NCJTC), parent Ahmad Rivazfar, Liz Ryan (OJJDP), Bonnie Ferenbach (AATTAP), and parents Dr. Noelle Hunter and Jeffery Morehouse. — Shown at the OJJDP *Family Survival Guide* meeting in D.C. are, front row from left: Lou Ann Holland (OJJDP), Janell Rasmussen (AATTAP/NCJTC), and parents Nacole Svendgard, Elaine Hall, Yvonne Ambrose, and Patty Wetterling; shown back row from left: Denise Gee Peacock (AATTAP), Alex Sarrano (OJJDP), Brad Russ (NCJTC), parent Ahmad Rivazfar, Elizabeth Ryan (OJJDP), Bonnie Ferenbach (AATTAP), and parents Dr. Noelle Hunter and Jeffery Morehouse.

“The fact that you all are supporting this new Guide, and allowing us to help others—and having us here today to talk about what families need—means the world to us,” she said. In response, Ryan told the group, “What you have built together is immensely powerful—and greatly needed.”

At the meeting’s close, Patty returned the focus on the parent-authors’ children—some of them found, but some still lost—as well as all children who remain missing.

“Why not get ahead of the problem?” she said. “How do we raise our kids to be the way we want them to be, and not cause harm to another human being? I can talk forever about how we want the world to be—the world that Jacob knew, that innocent world in St. Joseph, Minnesota. We refuse to let the man who took Jacob take that too.”

“One of my favorite quotes is by Pablo Casals, who said, ‘We must work to make the world worthy of its children.’ So why not do that?,” Patty proposed. “Let’s all work to build a world where kids can feel safe enough to follow their dreams.”
– Denise Gee Peacock

Photo of Jeffery Morehouse and Dr. Noelle Hunter outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. (May 2023) — **>> Learn about the parent-authors’ advocacy work here.** *Shown above:* *Jeffery Morehouse and Dr. Noelle Hunter outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.*

Page showing various ways law enforcement can help share the new "Family Survival Guide" — **>> Check out “So What Can *You* Do?” to learn how to best use and promote the *Family Survival Guide* by clicking here.**

Unidentifiable man seated at computer screen that reads: "What should law enforcement understand about family needs and expectations when responding to missing child reports?" — **>> Read the *Family Survival Guide* authors’ advice for law enforcement by clicking here.**

Book cover of Patty Wetterling's new memoir, "Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope." Image shows her son Jacob and also a lantern. — >> Click here to read about Patty Wetterling’s new memoir, *Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope.*

By Denise Gee Peacock

“It’s fitting, these images,” said Pascua Yaqui Tribal Councilman Francisco Munoz, pointing to a colorful depiction of Arizona life—one of many created by Salt River Elementary School students that wafted across a giant screen. “Children view the world totally different than we do—through magical eyes. And they need our assistance.”

Munoz was speaking to more than 150 law enforcement professionals who came from nearly every state in the nation—plus Puerto Rico and Mexico—to attend the 2023 AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country National Symposium.

The event, held April 19-20 at the Casino Del Sol Resort & Casino in Tucson, Arizona, was made possible by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To support robust participation, lodging scholarships were made available to Tribal participants with funding from the McCain Institute. And hospitality was provided to attendees by the resort’s owners, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.

Thank you for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our nation’s children,” said OJJDP Associate Administrator Jim Antal. “Your job is not easy, but it’s a worthwhile one.”

The occasion marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that law enforcement officers, AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) leaders, and other key partners were able to meet in person for collaborative learning.

Attendees had their pick of 36 learning sessions presented by more than three dozen subject matter experts. They received updates from U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Gary N. Restaino, whose Office works with 22 federally recognized Tribes (including the nation’s largest, the Navajo Nation). Participants also heard from Marlys Big Eagle, the DOJ’s first Native American Outreach Services Liaison —and a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

What follows is an overview of key topics addressed at the event, with participants’ compelling thoughts about them.

Alerting and Investigating

NCIC entry is essential. “Nothing is more important than nationwide accessibility to essential and timely records about the event, the child, and the abductor. That’s why NCIC entry is federally mandated,” said AATTAP Region One Liaison Joan Collins, a law enforcement telecommunications expert who recently retired after three decades with the Rhode Island State Police.
Follow the leads management system. After conducting a live polling session via participants’ cell phones, retired FBI Special Agent David Fallon found that 73% of attendees had not used a leads management system. “Without one, you’ll be behind the eight ball,” he said. The best systems have a lead assignment log; lead sheet with the lead number; the date information was received and assigned; its priority; the assigned investigator; the information source; related task(s), completion(s), and their follow-up status.
“Don’t be in a homicide frame of mind.” That’s the important lesson El Paso Police Department Sergeant David Camacho learned from Mike Simonds, the on-call sergeant (since retired) who investigated the Amber Hagerman case in 1996. “Race to safely recover the children in peril; then focus on justice for the perpetrator.”
Ensure a recovered child returns to a safe environment. “Look at the big picture. How many 911 calls have come from the child’s house, or domestic violence reports that mention the child?” said Cindy Neff, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager for the New York State Division of Criminal Services.
Neff shared an eight-question screening tool for use in beginning important conversations:

1. What made you want to leave home?
2. How long have you been away?
3. Who have you been staying with?
4. Did someone touch you?
5. Do you have health issues?
6. Has anyone hurt you or tried to hurt you while you were gone?
7. Are you afraid for your safety or the safety of someone else?
8. Do you have someone you can talk to at home or school?

Child Abduction Response Teams

Having a CART is smart. “By being CART-certified, you’re telling your community, the missing child’s parents, even the nation, that your team is ready,” said Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, AATTAP CART Certification Manager. “Training and certification make child recovery much more successful.”
CARTs can deploy for any type of missing child incident, not only for abductions, which represent less than 1% of children who go missing, said Derek VanLuchene, AATTAP Coordinator for CART training.
CART training for Tribal law enforcement is a goal for many in Indian Country.

Indian Country

Savanna’s Act guidelines are being developed and implemented for use in missing and murdered Indigenous persons (MMIP) case protocols training, said U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Gary N. Restaino. After conducting listening sessions with the state’s Tribes, Restaino and his team are focusing on respectfully preserving physical and cultural remains; involving a broader group of family members in investigation updates; and ensuring procedural due process.
AIIC Technology Toolkits, launched in spring 2022 have been making their way to Tribal law enforcement agencies across the country. Funded by the U.S. DOJ and administered by the AIIC, the kits provide an array of portable devices allowing Tribal officers to quickly communicate data involving missing children while working in remote locations. And now, thanks to AIIC’s work with FirstNet (in partnership with AT&T), the toolkits include a Franklin A50 WiFi hotspot device and six months of free AT&T service. And $75,000 has been allocated for select Tribes to receive additional toolkits.
PL280 challenges: Northern California’s Yurok Tribe is a Public Law (PL) 280 state, one of only six in the nation that puts criminal jurisdiction solely in the hands of state, or federal law enforcement. “This hinders a Tribe’s ability to directly respond to, or access data about, crimes that occur on their lands, such as abductions of Native American children or the sexual trafficking or exploitation of Tribal youth,” said Yurok Tribal Prosecutor Brie Bennett. But the Tribe has found workarounds. It recently joined forces with the U.S. Marshals for an MMIP-focused initiative.

Border/International Collaboration

Relationship building is key: El Paso Police Department Sergeant David Camacho credits the strong partnership that Texas law enforcement and U.S. federal agencies have established with Mexican law enforcement and Mexico’s Office of the Attorney General, which oversees its Alerta AMBER. “We’ve established a healthy working relationship with Mexico when it comes to searching for U.S. citizens. “Their officers meet with us quarterly to bread together, and ensure contacts are current.”
So is swift communication: “Since many agencies can’t make international phone calls without permission, we’ve found the WhatsApp tool very helpful,” Comacho said. “You can plug in any number in the world and be instantly connected.”

Bias in Alerting Decisions

Re-thinking the term ‘runaway’: Chitimacha Tribal Police Captain Jada Breaux of Louisiana noted that children categorized as runaways “should be seen as 1) missing and 2) at risk of exploitation,” adding, “Chronic runaways often get lost in the system—or not even put into the system.” Program Manager Byron Fassett agreed: “I would argue that we should no longer even use the term.”
“A lot of officers think sex trafficking victims volunteered to be abused,” said Region 3 Liaison Sarah Krebs-Qureshi. “They’ll say, ‘She was making good money,’ or ‘She’s an entrepreneur.’ And I’ll say, ‘No, she’s a victim. And even if she did get herself into a bind, it’s our responsibility to rescue her.”

Outreach and Understanding

Trust is earned: Black communities have a lot of mistrust about law enforcement, said Texas AAC Mike Nixon. That leads them to try to solve a missing child incident themselves—with parents calling their child’s friends, other family members, the child’s school, pastor, or barber to ask for help. “We need to take more initiative to get into these communities, build trust, and educate them about the need to act quickly so we can help recover their child safe.”
Be OK with discomfort: In working with Tribal or minority communities, “You will be uncomfortable constantly,” said North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Erin Quinn. “You’re showing up to meetings where you were not invited. You’re showing up to places where people will stare at you. So cultural liaisons should be outgoing enough to overcome that.”

Wellbeing

Mental health counseling should be “like an annual physical, which no one questions the need for,” said one participant. Though symposium attendees believe things are changing for the better, unfortunately some command staff see an officer who asks for help as unfit for duty. “Truth is, all the terrible things we’ve seen never leave our heads,” said Texas Region 2 AAC John Graham. “But if someone mentions they’re struggling, it can be a career-ender.”
This subject hits home, and hard, for one Symposium presenter. For Pete Bailey, the suicide of his Dallas Police Department partner led the DPD Sergeant to earn a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling after his retirement. “Everyone has different stress points; it’s important to be a ‘subject matter expert’ on yourself,” he said.

NCMEC Updates

Dr. John Bischoff, Vice President for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s Missing Children Division (NCMEC), shared some alerting updates:

A redesigned poster will soon launch. Expect mobile design-friendly posters with bigger pictures and pared-down descriptive language; a QR code leading to their website, with more details about the child (such as height, weight, and eye color; and ways to make the poster easier to share on social media. “We want to make it clear what we want the public to actually do,” Bischoff said.
Watch for a streaming service. NCMEC is working with Walmart and others to have large monitors prominently display digital posters of missing children updated in real-time.

Leemie Kahng-Sofer, NCMEC’s Director of Case Management, shared several reporting trends:

Children missing from care comprised more than 75% of total endangered runaway reports to NCMEC from 2018-2022, representing a 250% increase.
Black and Native American children are disproportionately over-represented among missing children reported to NCMEC compared to U.S. Census data. Of all the NCMEC Endangered Runaway intakes from 2016 to 2020, 31% of the children were Black, despite 14% of the U.S. population being Black; 1.5% of were Native American, though only .8% of the population is Native American; and 10% were Multiracial, compared to 4% of U.S. Census representation.
Regarding missing children with autism, 2,496 cases were reported to NCMEC from 2013-2022, with 74% of them involving a male juvenile. And of those total cases, 3% were recovered deceased, with 83% of those deaths due to drowning.

Symposium-goers get preview of new Family Survival Guide

An updated and multimedia fifth edition of the U.S. Department of Justice resource, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, was officially announced on Missing Children’s Day, held May 24, 2023, in Washington DC. But during the Symposium, participants were shown a video of the Guide’s parent-contributors, who spoke about the power of the resource—for them and for others.

“This Guide is critical to the work each of you do in the field,” AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen told attendees. “When you’re working with families, it’s nice to give them a resource explaining what they can expect, and what they do, to help in the search for their missing child,” she added.

Symposium participants also heard from a legend in the field of child protection: Ron Laney, a retired OJJDP veteran who was instrumental in not only creating the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, but also the national AMBER Alert initiative.

Laney helped create the first edition of the Guide in 1998 by teaming up with Helen Connelly (retired FVTC Program Administrator and current NCJTC Associate) and a small group of dedicated parents, including Patty Wetterling and Colleen Nick, who also contributed to the new fifth edition.

The original Guide was the first of its kind, offering clear, actionable information on how parents of missing children could work with law enforcement, the media, and volunteers; manage donations and rewards; and simply survive to fight another day in the search for their child. It became a go-to source for parents needing guidance and strength.

The Guide’s new iteration, which has been peer-reviewed by leading law enforcement experts and child/victim advocates, will build on that legacy by offering updated advice and information in easy to navigate online and print formats.

Byron Fassett accepts North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking Award — Byron Fassett, right, receives the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking Champion of Freedom Award from Chad Frymire, Dallas CASA Program Manager. Photo: CASA

From Staff Reports

AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Manager Bryon Fassett recently received the prestigious Champion of Freedom Award from the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

Fassett was honored for his “remarkable leadership in investigations of victimization, exploitation, and trafficking of women and children,” said Dallas’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) organization.

During his decades with the Dallas Police Department (DPD) and the Dallas Child Advocacy Center (DCAC)—and through his longstanding, continued work with AATTAP and the National Criminal Justice Training Center–Fassett has developed, taught, and stewarded methods, resources, and initiatives to improve law enforcement’s work to combat human trafficking and the exploitation of youth.

“This recognition is only possible because of the great team I worked with at DPD, DCAC, and the opportunity to continue this work with the AATTAP and NCJTC,” said Fassett, a Texas native.

“Byron is the real deal,” said AATTAP Project Coordinator Cathy Delapaz, who works with Fassett to develop training.

Delapaz also worked with him at the DPD to create ground-breaking and life-saving human and sex trafficking initiatives. “He is personally responsible for developing and maintaining a model [known nationally as the ‘Dallas High-Risk Victims Model’] hat has led to the recovery of thousands of child sex trafficking victims who never would have been recovered if not for him.”

AMBER Alert Activation Best Practices

April 30, 2024 | Pearland, TX | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Training

March 19-21, 2024 | Beaumont, TX | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily
April 23-25, 2024 | Johnson City, TN | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily
May 13-15, 2024 | Golden, CO | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily
June 17-19, 2024 | Grand Junction, CO | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily

Child Abduction Tabletop Exercises

May 1, 2024 | Pearland, TX | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Indian Country Tabletop: March 28, 2024| Riverton, WY | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Child Sex Trafficking Training for First Responders

March 22, 2024 |Beaumont, TX| 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
June 12, 2024 | Catawissa, PA | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Initial Response Strategies and Tactics When Responding to Missing Children Incidents

May 22, 2024 | Golden, CO | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
June 11, 2024 | Catawissa, PA | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
July 23, 2024 | Mansfield, PA | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Search and Canvass Operations in Child Abductions

May 15-16, 2024 |Huron, OH | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily

Unresolved Missing Person Cases in Alaskan Native Villages

April 2-3, 2024 | Sutton, AK | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily

By Paul Murphy

Janell Rasmussen spent more than 20 years working in public safety, developing, implementing, and operating multiple statewide law enforcement programs. In March 2021, she became the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Administrator, following Jim Walters’ retirement.

Early Life and Career

Rasmussen grew up in Mapleton, a small town in southern Minnesota. She was 13-years-old, close to the same age as Jacob Wetterling when he was abducted in 1989. That crime left an indelible impression on Rasmussen and everyone in Minnesota.

Rasmussen followed the case through Jacob’s mother, Patty Wetterling, and the rest of their family. “She taught me the meaning of real hope,” she said. “She amazed me in her fight to bring Jacob home. I could never have believed how this tragedy could impact my life.”

Rasmussen attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then went to work for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). There, she managed the Minnesota Crime Alert Network, a program that started after the abduction and murder of a boy in Eden Prairie. This position gave her the opportunity to work with Wetterling and a small committee to put together a statewide AMBER Alert Plan. Minnesota’s AMBER Alert Plan was implemented in 2002 and was the seventh statewide plan in the U.S. During her time at the BCA, Rasmussen oversaw the Minnesota AMBER Alert Plan, Missing Children’s Clearinghouse, Communication & Duty Officer Program, the Crimes Against Children in Indian Country Conference, and the President’s Initiative on Missing & Unidentified Persons.

Rasmussen continued working with Wetterling, and they attended the first National AMBER Alert Symposium together. Rasmussen said she was heartbroken when Jacob’s body was found in 2016, 27 years after his abduction.

“Patty believed every day that Jacob was alive and coming home,” Rasmussen said. “She has changed the entire way that law enforcement responds to missing children. She inspired Minnesota and the rest of the world to work together. She is the reason that my and your children are safer today. She is a big reason I fight to bring missing children home.”

In 2016, Rasmussen left the BCA to continue her work in child protection as Deputy Director at the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis. She helped set up protocols and policies to establish a culture and environment where children are safe and those who hurt children are held accountable.

Back to the AMBER Alert

Rasmussen was humbled when Jim Walters approached her to consider the AATTAP Administrator position, because she has worked with so many talented people who have been involved in the effort over the years. Walters not only recognized her passion for protecting children but also her experience in management, training, and technical assistance.

“The thought of any child suffering and any parent having to endure that pain forces me to work as hard as possible to look for strategies to do better for our children,” she said. “Every child deserves the right to grow up in a safe environment where they can learn, play, and live without being hurt. We need to work hard every day to make that happen.”

Rasmussen has been in her new position for a year. The AMBER Advocate asked her to reflect on that time and learn what she hopes to accomplish in the future.

You have been involved in the AMBER Alert program since the beginning–how do you think AMBER Alerts have changed the way we think about missing and abducted children?

I am very fortunate to follow two previous AATTAP Administrators whose passion and diligent work in protecting children I greatly respect. I feel my work as an AMBER Alert Coordinator brings a unique perspective to the program. I have done the same work as our state AMBER Alert Coordinators and Clearinghouse Managers and I know many of the unique issues they face. I also bring insight into working with victims and survivors, given my past work.

I have been blessed while growing up, and, in my career, to have mentors who have taught me to lead with compassion and dedication, with strength and persistence. I feel I bring leadership qualities that highlight that no one person can do this alone, but rather, it takes a team of individuals coming together to be successful. You must allow others to contribute, to lead, to add value, and share their strengths and expertise. Without this incredible support and strong partnerships, you will get nowhere; yet together you can accomplish great things. I know the best leaders aren’t the ones who know everything; they are the ones who continue to learn each day.

What do you think were the biggest successes for AATTAP in 2021? Is there a specific program event or accomplishment that stands out for you?

I have witnessed so many accomplishments. Overcoming the challenges and restrictions of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our ability to continue providing our core services. With shutdowns and travel restrictions, our entire AATTAP team had to pivot rapidly – working incredibly hard to
transition effectively from providing onsite training and technical assistance (T/TA) in the field, to 100% virtual delivery of T/TA events. That work constituted a complete shift of business processes, resource management, and how we work together.

Moreover, the readiness of our AMBER Alert partners across the nation to work with us in this ‘virtual journey,’ rapidly shifting from being on the road, in the field, to being fully ‘online,’ made all the difference. We have seen a great willingness to approach training and meetings in new ways, and have welcomed amazing participation with our events during the pandemic. All of us in AATTAP – and across our partner disciplines – learned that even as the world ‘shut down’, and with restrictions everywhere, children are still being abducted. Law enforcement still needs to respond. And we still need to provide our T/TA so they are prepared to respond.

We also held our first “virtual” AMBER Alert Symposium in 2021. The symposium had great attendance and important topics, and while we would have rather done this in person, it was a complete success. We had the technical support to accomplish what was needed and exceptional speakers, topics, and discussion rooms where participants could discuss and collaborate on those topics ‘face-to-face’ via our Zoom and Whova platform integration. We
gleaned important takeaways from the event, and actively incorporated them into our 2nd virtual symposium held in March 2022. And with future events, we will ensure we continue to build an even greater array of content and engagement activities that fully represent our partner audiences.

Even with the symposium’s success, one of our biggest accomplishments was the first-ever “virtual” Family Roundtable event. In the past, we brought together the families of missing and murdered children to learn from their experiences in-person to enhance our training. But with COVID-19 travel and gathering restrictions, that simply was not an option. We were able to partner with Arizona State University to facilitate these discussions, through carefully designed and respectfully administered one-on-one virtual interviews.

We learned so much from this process, particularly that family members respond differently when they’re in the comfort of their own home. This is a safe place for them, which makes it easier for them to share more easily and openly. We have heard from some family members that the anxiety of traveling
somewhere to talk about the most horrific event of their lives can be too much, and this format provided a better environment. So going forward, when restrictions are lifted, we will consider a combined approach to these events.

Will training go back to what it was before the pandemic? Or will it be a mixture of live-virtual training, self-paced eLearning, and classroom/onsite training?

We are continually evaluating each area of training we provide. We know our symposium is most effective in person because AMBER Alert Coordinators and Clearinghouse managers have an opportunity to more fully network and share information on cases, best practices, or issues they face in their states. I know first-hand from my past work the impact that relationship building has on the effectiveness of the program. From my relationship with the Utah AMBER Alert Coordinator that resulted in the successful recovery of a child abducted from Minnesota and taken to Utah, to cases involving Iowa, Wisconsin, Canada, and others – I know that relationships developed from working together prior to an abduction can have an incredible impact on the recovery of a missing child.

What are the major accomplishments of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative since you joined the team? And what remains to be done?

We know our efforts in Indian Country have been successful, as we are witnessing children being safely recovered because of the issuance of AMBER Alerts. However, COVID-19 restrictions have made our work in carrying out T/TA established through the 2018 Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act very difficult. There are unique challenges, and in many cases outright barriers, to meeting virtually with tribal community members. Internet
coverage, bandwidth and devices needed to connect virtually can be limited or altogether unavailable. This has impacted not only our training, but also our efforts to help tribes develop and implement their AMBER Alert Plans.

While this has been difficult, we continue to push forward where we can. We are working to combat these issues by providing specially designed Technology Toolkits for the tribes. These toolkits provide technology and resources to support the tribes’ ability to attend virtual events, and provide critically important resources for operational response when a child goes missing or is abducted in Indian Country. We look forward to providing the critical training needed in Indian Country in person.

We need to continue our work in Indian Country to ensure all tribes have access to the AMBER Alert program. If you have heard Pamela Foster, the warrior mother who led the grassroots efforts to establish AMBER Alert in Indian Country after her daughter Ashlynne’s abduction and murder, you
know the importance of these efforts. Our endeavors moving forward are focused on the work that Pamela started – engaging tribal leaders and government officials across the country to implement AMBER Alert.

What are your top goals for strengthening AMBER Alert planning and strategy with our border countries Canada and Mexico?

We have been working virtually this past year with both Canada and Mexico. We have been successful in working with Canada on virtual training and meetings. We also held the first virtual training for Mexico and worked with a translation service. Over the next year, we plan to partner with the McCain Institute on our work related to sex trafficking in Mexico. We have reached out to the Vice President’s Office for assistance with the ‘Collaboration on Interagency Agreement with Mexico’ to help resolve more than 82,000 missing persons cases there. We also will use our past work, experience, and relationships with Mexican officials, and our established law enforcement training curricula, to continue training law enforcement in the country.

Additionally, we will continue to collaborate on the best plans of action and training for when children are taken across the border, in either direction, to respond with established protocols.

What will be important in the coming years for working with international AMBER Alert partners?

Our work with our international partners is incredibly important. We continue to collaborate with the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) to provide training and technical assistance. We have learned our training is beneficial to our international partners, and in turn, we learn about different trends, best practices, and issues they are experiencing so we can collaboratively find solutions.

AATTAP’s work with human trafficking (HT) and child sex trafficking (CST) in training related to endangered missing and at-risk youth has grown over the years. How do you see this continuing to evolve as AATTAP works to ensure law enforcement understand the risk factors, investigative processes, and critically-important victim needs in the future?

We have former Dallas Police Department Child Sex Trafficking experts Byron Fassett and Cathy De La Paz on our AATTAP team.

They provide us with a unique opportunity to incorporate these topics into our training and technical assistance areas where appropriate. This is an area that continues to grow and we will provide all T/TA requested, and partner on plans to combat CST.

What do you hope can be accomplished in 2022 for both AATTAP and AIIC?

Our focus throughout 2022 is to develop action plans that will result in the greatest success for safely recovering missing and abducted children. We recently began the “50 state” initiative in which we are working with each state AMBER Alert team to review existing plans and discuss ways we can provide resources to help improve plans, processes, and programs. These meetings have been critical during a time when we have not been able to work together in person. The need to continually evaluate our programs at a state and national level is crucial to the AMBER Program’s growth, success, and effectiveness.

By Denise Gee Peacock

At the close of the 2022 AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Virtual Symposium, March 29-30, family survivor Amy Bloxom shared two unsettling details – ones that no doubt strengthened participants’ resolves to keep people from ever enduring what Amy’s family has. The day of her talk, March 30, marked 12 years since her 12-year-old son, Justin – “a very happy, trusting, innocent young man” – was lured by an adult male sex offender pretending to be a 15-year-old girl. Perversely, the killer called the fictitious teen “Amber.”

Bloxom, a native of Stonewall, Louisiana, detailed her family’s loss, search for justice, and ongoing advocacy work with gripping detail. “Every day I want Justin home with me. I miss that smile. I miss his goofiness. I miss the life we all had together,” she said.

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen later assured Amy that Justin would not be forgotten.

“Everyone with us today is committed to protecting children from crimes like the one your son experienced,” she said. “We want you to know we will work hard on behalf of Justin and the other children who are not here today to fight. His memory will live on in the work we all do to protect children.”

The powerful moment was one of many experienced by hundreds of symposium participants, AMBER Alert coordinators, missing persons clearinghouse managers, law enforcement officers, telecommunications personnel, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) members, emergency management and other child protection professionals from across the nation, including tribal nations and communities. The event focused on 30 topics, touched on more than a dozen cases, and offered hundreds of lessons and tips. The virtual symposium was delivered using the Whova platform with Zoom integration, allowing for a dynamic experience in which participants could log into the event in advance of the start date, share a welcome/ ice-breaker message and reply to others’ welcomes, view the full agenda, and create a custom agenda of sessions they wanted to attend (both plenary and concurrent tracks). They also could view presenters’ biographical information, contribute to polls and discussion board topics, and visit any session to view its recording on-demand for a two-week period following the event’s conclusion. The Zoom integration allowed a livestream of each session, complete with all of Zoom’s advanced interaction tools, such as chat, live polling, feedback indicators, and breakout rooms. Each session could be viewed within the Whova platform, affording participants the convenience of a single login for the event, where they could easily move from one presentation to another, be it live or live streamed.

“The pandemic continues to change the way in which we work. It has created both opportunities and obstacles, but it has not changed the fact that children go missing,” Rasmussen said. “They need us to remain committed in our work to provide law enforcement training and technical assistance to ensure they are safely recovered.”“You don’t have to look far to find examples of how your work and the AMBER Alert network is making a difference. At the start of 2022, more than 1,100 children had been safely recovered because of AMBER Alerts,” said Amy Solomon, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.

Attendees explored current obstacles encountered by their state, tribal, and regional emergency alerting programs, shared best practices, discussed innovative programs, resources, and tools to help support their work and make AMBER Alerts more effective.

Discussions focused on such topics as creating and sustaining Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs); genetic genealogy; Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) strategies and advancements; must-know technology for combatting child sex trafficking; initiatives to reduce the alarming number of missing and murdered indigenous women and children; a program to equip Indian Country law enforcement agencies with new

DOJ-sponsored technology toolkits; how to effectively work with the media and interview high-risk endangered children; understanding disparities in media coverage related to missing and murdered children of color and white children; reviewing the latest findings from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC); and opportunities for AMBER Alert and child protection partner collaboration via regional breakout sessions.Rasmussen closed the symposium by thanking participants for their attendance and recognizing the AMBER Alert Symposium team, noting, “A symposium like this, especially a virtual one, does not happen without the planning, preparation, and work of a lot of people.” She also thanked “our partners at OJJDP, who have assisted us with the planning and approvals for this event. This would not be possible without their commitment to protecting children.”

Rasmussen then commended the symposium’s participants. “Your attendance was critical as we move forward with this program,” she said. “We value your input and suggestions as we continually look for ways to implement initiatives to help you address issues you face every day in the field.”

Thankfully, our CART procedures protected us when it came down to liability and accountability.

Stacie Lick, the Gloucester County Prosecutor/Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Supervisor

Lieutenant Stacie Lick

Gloucester County (New Jersey) Prosecutor’s Office

The Golden State Killer case involved more than $10 million over its 43 year-span; 15 law enforcement agencies, 650 detectives, and 200,000 personnel hours; more than 300 people having their DNA swabbed, and 8,000 subjects reviewed in CODIS – with zero hits. Yet thanks to genetic genealogy, it took $217 and five people to find the killer: Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. “That’s the real value of genetic genealogy – efficiency and a lack of privacy invasion.

Sergeant Eric Kovanda

Carlsbad (California) Police Department

There are more kids on TikTok right now than there are on the playground. That’s also where sex offenders and traffickers are going to recruit their victims. The good news is that the same technology used by predators can lead to their downfalls based on the evidence preserved, even if they think they’ve deleted it.

Blaine Phillips

Agent in Charge, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics

Children who experience “adultification” are looked upon as having made a choice — even if they were abducted, lured away, and/or exploited. Their cases are treated differently. They’re more likely to be disciplined and more vulnerable to discretionary authority. We’re not giving them support nor helping them utilize the resources they need. It gets even worse if they identify as LGBTQ+.

Tina Bigdeli

NCMEC Program Manager, Outreach

To serve and protect — that should include yourself. It used to be that we were expected to hold everything in, to keep it inside, shrug it off. Well, that doesn’t work.

Carol Brusca

SHIFT Wellness Therapist

The unidentified need was to give them their names back.

Carri Gordon

Washington State AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager / AATTAP Region 5 Liaison

Native women on tribal lands are murdered at an extremely high rate – in some communities, more than 10 times the national average – according to research funded by the DOJ. And due to jurisdictional challenges, the disappearances can be hard to track and prosecute.

Ingrid Cumberlidge

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Coordinator, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska

After learning her son had been aggressively lured online by a stranger, “There’s a part of me that asks, ‘Justin, why didn’t you just think?’ But a detective told me, ‘Amy, he was 12 years old. You and I may see through manipulation, but he was too young to fully understand it.’”

Amy Bloxom

Mother of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom, abducted and murdered in 2012

We as a Native society make efforts to work through historical trauma by confronting it. We try to understandit and attempt to ease the pain of it. And we want to surpass the cycles of trauma to give our children better futures.

Valerie Bribiescas

AMBER Alert in Indian Country Liaison

Always thank the community for its support. They are the ultimate conduit to solving crimes.

Mark MacKizer

Special Agent (Retired), Federal Bureau of Investigation

12 Core Components of a CART

We all have a role to play in protecting our children. By working together, we can ensure that every community in Indian Country has the resources and support they need to implement AMBER Alert effectively.

Although we are many nations, we are one in this commitment.

ACTION ITEMS:

Words like ‘sovereignty’ and ‘jurisdiction’ have almost become taboo. But any child who is missing should be the priority. It doesn’t matter where the resources are coming from. Let’s locate that child.

You don’t have to do it alone. Tribes across the U.S. are willing to share what works in getting AMBER Alert in Indian Country.

When missing children go silent, it’s a scream you cannot hear. Reach out to the AMBER Alert in Indian Country program nowto be prepared.

AMBER Alert is the safety net for our children in danger. It’s our job and our responsibility to fight for them and be their voice.

How can we protect our children? How can we ensure the best response is made when a child is missing or kidnapped?

When a child goes missing I can see the hurt in their family’s eyes. That empowers our team to work quickly, and diligently, on their behalf.

Just because nothing’s happened doesn’t mean it won’t. The wolf is at the door. And we need to help each other or we won’tsolve this problem.

Being fortunate doesn’t alleviate the responsibility of having a comprehensive plan for prevention and response in place.

'Telling Stories With Care, Authenticity & Dignity'

Janell Rasmussen

Sayeh Rivazfar

U.S. Representative Andy Biggs

Jada Breaux

Kelsey Commisso

Whytley Jones

Michael Garcia

John Graham

Ana Flores

Learning From Survivors: A Top Theme

'All Abductions Are Local'

Pamela Foster: ‘Indian Country Needs AMBER Alert’

From Resources to Technology: More Takeaways

Click each dropdown box below for highlights from top-rated workshops & events.

Sweet Memory: A Maryland State Trooper’s Compassion

New guide’s sibling contributors

Helpful advice for the helpers

During a law enforcement investigation

Working with traditional/social media

American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

Southern Border Initiative (Mexico) and Northern Border Initiative (Canada)

Serbia and Argentina

Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, and beyond

Collaboration for a clearer path forward

Commemoration highlights

Looking back—and ahead

Parent-advocate Patty Wetterling to DOJ and NCMEC: ‘You save lives. You saved mine.’

Change is inevitable. It’s how we respond to it that counts.

Building ‘responsive’ curriculum

Priming the ‘front-loaded response’

‘Organic outreach’ in Indian Country

‘Inform, educate, and inspire’

Support, passion make a difference

What type of person does it take be a successful CART member?

How can law enforcement agencies recruit personnel who are a good fit for a CART?

What are the biggest challenges in CART training?

How important is preparation?

How do you sustain effective CARTs?

For agencies not sure if they need a CART, what would you tell them?

What’s inside ‘the Blue Ox’?

The power of family perspectives

2) Flock Safety: Real-time vehicle intelligence

3) Doorbell cameras: Public-engaging technology

5) Artificial intelligence: Growing & evolving

Be on the Lookout: More Tech Advances

NCMEC’s QR Code to the Rescue

Policing Bad Apps

Data Mining is Gold—But Tricky

For Searches, the Heat is On

Forensic Genetic Genealogy Cracks Cold Cases

Geolocation Finds Favor

Alerting and Investigating

Child Abduction Response Teams

Border/International Collaboration

Outreach and Understanding

NCMEC Updates

Symposium-goers get preview of new Family Survival Guide

AMBER Alert Activation Best Practices

Initial Response Strategies and Tactics When Responding to Missing Children Incidents

Search and Canvass Operations in Child Abductions

Early Life and Career

Back to the AMBER Alert

You have been involved in the AMBER Alert program since the beginning–how do you think AMBER Alerts have changed the way we think about missing and abducted children?

What do you think were the biggest successes for AATTAP in 2021? Is there a specific program event or accomplishment that stands out for you?

Will training go back to what it was before the pandemic? Or will it be a mixture of live-virtual training, self-paced eLearning, and classroom/onsite training?

What are the major accomplishments of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative since you joined the team? And what remains to be done?