Missouri Joins Amber Alert Consortium to Protect Children

Last week, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt announced that Missouri will join the AMBER Alert Web Portal, a nationally connected communication system to help ensure the safety and rescue of missing children.

The system was developed by the AMBER Alert Web Portal Consortium as a one-stop tool for law enforcement officers, broadcasters, the public and other alerting partners to rapidly issue and access real time information about an abducted child through every possible means of communication.

The new system instantly issues alerts to broadcasters and local government websites for their respective geographical regions. Vital information is released within minutes about an abducted child increasing the likelihood of the child's safe return.

The new AMBER Alert Web Portal offers the following advantages:

• Provides law enforcement with the ability to activate and update AMBER alerts in real time, with up-to-the minute information
  
  
• Authorized participants, like the media and governmental agencies, are able to place real time AMBER Alert content onto their websites
  
  
• The public can subscribe to alerts and status updates via e-mail, pagers or cell phones
  
  
• Public and private organizations recognized as Alerting Partners by the state can receive alerts and rebroadcast them through their own communication networks

"Time is a crucial element and in many cases it is the deciding factor as to whether an abducted child is safely returned home," Blunt said. "The new system will assist law enforcement in instantly releasing AMBER alerts to the community giving a multitude of citizens vital information to search for a missing child."

Missouri, along with Nevada, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma are part of the second wave of states to join the coalition of participating states. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Arizona are already active members of the system.

The AMBER Alert Portal connects law enforcement agencies and the general public by actively engaging them in the search for a missing child. Studies show that the greatest chance of a homicide or victimization occurs within the first few hours to one day after the kidnapping of a child. Enabling officers and the public with instant information from the AMBER Alert Portal increases the chances of catching and deterring offenders before they hurt Missouri's children.