In addition to paying close attention to AMBER Alerts when they are distributed via broadcast outlets or on highway signs, people can receive AMBER Alerts as free text messages on their wireless devices. Text message alert participation will add additional critical eyes and ears to the search for abducted children.
Any wireless subscriber capable of receiving text messages, and whose wireless carrier participates in the Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative, may opt in to receive alerts by completing a simple registration process at www.wirelessamberalerts.org or their wireless carrier's website.
AMBER stands for "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response" and was created in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to find abducted children. The AMBER Alert Program was soon adopted across the nation and is a legacy to Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then murdered. All 50 states have since established AMBER Alert programs.
President Bush authorized the national AMBER Alert program as part of the PROTECT Act signed in 2003. The law formally established the federal government's role in the AMBER Alert program, appointing the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the agency responsible for coordinating AMBER Alerts on the national level. The wireless industry has officially partnered with the . U.S. Department of Justiceand theNational Center for Missing & Exploited Children to make free Wireless AMBER Alerts available to cell phone subscribers.
