Virginia launched a new alert system on July 1, 2021, to be used when adults with autism go missing. Efforts to create the alert started after a 29-year-old woman with autism went missing and drowned in a swampy area a mile away from her home. The Virginia State Police also began using a new communications platform to notify the public about the state’s six different alerts. Virginia has an AMBER Alert, Senior Alert, Critically Missing Adult “Ashanti” Alert, Missing Child with Autism Alert, and the new alert for missing adults with autism. The platform is designed to get the key details out to the public more quickly.
North Dakota may create an Ashanti Alert system to notify the public when an adult between the ages of 18 and 64 goes missing. The alert would fill the gap for cases that are not covered by an AMBER Alert or Silver Alert.
States can now apply for federal funding for the Ashanti Alert pilot program. The Ashanti Alert notifies the public about missing or endangered adults, ages 18-64, and sets up a national communications network to assist law enforcement in the search. The Bureau of Justice Assistance will make $1 million in technical assistance available to facilitate and expedite the development of statewide Ashanti Alert programs. The alert is named after Ashanti Billie, the 19-year-old college student was abducted and murdered in North Carolina in 2017.
President Trump signed the “Ashanti Alert” Act on December 31, 2018, that allows alerts for missing adults between the ages of 18 and 64. Police will be able to send the Ashanti Alert to notify broadcasters and activate electronic road signs. The alert instructs the U.S. Attorney General to appoint a national Ashanti Alert Coordinator to establish alert systems and develop voluntary guidelines. The alert is named after Ashanti Billie, who was 19 when she disappeared in December 2017. She was too old for an AMBER Alert and too young for a Silver Alert. Her body was found two weeks after she went missing.
The Virginia State Police has started issuing an Ashanti Alert or Critical Missing Adult alert to find missing adults who may be in danger. The alert was launched on July 1, 2018, and was named after kidnapping and murder victim Ashanti Billie. The first alert was issued for a man who was believed to be in danger and in need of medical attention. The second alert was sent out for a mother of four who was believed to have been abducted.
Congressmen from Virginia, Texas, Maryland, and Rhode Island have introduced a bill that would create a system to notify the public when an adult is abducted and believed to be in danger. The “Ashanti Alert Act” is named after Ashanti Billie. The 19-year-old woman was found murdered 11 days after she was reported missing and 300 miles from where she was last seen alive. The alerts would be for missing people between the ages of 18 and 65, and would utilize TV, radio and social media to send messages to the public. Virginia lawmakers have passed a bill that allows law enforcement officers in that state issue an Ashanti Alert.