Pennsylvania legislators are considering creating an alert system to notify repair shops about hit-and-run drivers. The “Jay Alert” would be issued to all Pennsylvania auto body shops so workers could be on the lookout for vehicles involved in hit-and-runs resulting in serious injury or death. The bill is named after Jayanna Powell, an 8-year-old who was killed in 2016 by a hit-and-run driver.
A Pennsylvania state legislator wants to crack down on hit-and-runs by creating a “Jay Alert” which would notify body shops after an incident occurs. Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Williams said the law was inspired by an eight-year-old girl who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home from school. The suspect was caught after a body shop owner notified police. The law would expand the AMBER Alert system and send descriptions of vehicles in hit-and-runs to all state body shops.
A frantic search for a nine-year-old deaf girl took place during a tabletop exercise for the York County Child Abduction Response Effort (CARE) Team in York, Pennsylvania, on September 17, 2020. The drill used realistic documents and involved simulated neighborhood canvassing, checking Megan’s Law offenders, checking video surveillance, and utilizing forensic searches and cell phone tower data.
The team was also tasked with verifying tips called into an actual tip line, and eventually found the scenario “victim” safe. Participants also coordinated medical treatment, family reunification, and forensic interview of the child.
“Our best lessons learned have come from ideas and mistakes from the past,” said Lt. David Kahley, West York Borough, Pennsylvania, Police Department and CARE Team Coordinator.” We find out what works and what doesn’t work. For instance, something as simple as keeping track of our investigative tasks on a whiteboard, so everyone knows what has been completed and what needs to be worked on. It helps the team stay on track and prevents repetitive work.”
The exercise involved 36 members from 17 local, state and federal agencies, including investigators, probation and parole, assistant district attorneys, victim/witness coordinators, forensic interviewers, search and rescue specialists, K9 handlers, 911 dispatchers, and logistic coordinators.
Kahley said all members had an opportunity to weigh in and offer ideas to help with the investigation. For example, the forensic interviewer brought up the need for having an interpreter to help during the search and when the child was recovered.
CARE was organized in 2006 and was certified in November 2010 by AATTAP through the USDOJ’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) certification program. Each new member receives CART training and additional missing person trainings from local investigators.
“After our drill, we complete an after-action report to evaluate ourselves,” said Kahley. “We’ve learned during the past couple years to take everything that worked, improve on it, and fix the things that didn’t work.”
The organization holds quarterly meetings and annual trainings, either tabletop or simulated mock drills. CARE plans to have a full-scale mock drill next year.
A Pennsylvania legislator wants law enforcement agencies to immediately issue a Missing Endangered Person Advisory when a parent or family member reports an abduction. Representative Anthony DeLuca is calling the change to the AMBER Alert program the “Nalani Johnson Rule,” named after a two-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered on August 31, 2019. DeLuca said the child’s father reported the child missing with information about the kidnapper, vehicle, and direction they were traveling. He said the alert was delayed for hours because the approved criterial for an AMBER Alert had not been met.
Pennsylvania Representative Tina Pickett has introduced legislation that would expand the state's AMBER Alert program to include notifications after hit-and-run incidents. The alerts would be distributed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to vehicle repair shops after hit-and-run accidents resulting in the serious bodily injury or death of victims.
Pittsburgh Police issued an AMBER Alert on February 12, 2013, after a 13-year-old girl reported seeing another girl step off a school bus and then get dragged away by a man who had wrapped his arm around her mouth. The witness said the victim was a 14-year-old girl, and she was taken by a heavy-set middle-aged man. Investigators determined the story was false and will meet with prosecutors to determine whether they will file charges.