There's always a danger, however, when too many people want to help. Despite the best of intentions, too many people trying to do one thing at one time can create chaos -- and chaos generally gets in the way of progress.
That could be what's happening to the world of Amber Alerts.
First came the original Amber Alert program. Then came a version from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Then came the Amber Alert Portal. Now come wireless Amber Alerts from a partnership between the NCMEC and the Cellular and Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA).
Do too many Amber Alert programs now vie for the public's attention? Could this cause more harm than good?
One problem is confusion. If a good, decent person wants to receive Amber Alerts so he or she can be on the lookout for missing kids, to which Amber Alert program does he or she subscribe? One of them? All of them? Is one particular program "better" than the others? How does one decide?
Perhaps a subtler problem with multiple Amber Alerts is the public's perception of them.
If the Amber Alert Portal, used by six states and under consideration by four more, is the closest thing to an "official" Amber Alert program -- official meaning linked to government -- what is the average Jane supposed to think about all this competition? It's not a stretch to wonder if the existence of several nongovernmental Amber Alert options undermines the credibility of the Amber Alert Portal.
This highlights a larger, but related, question: Just who should be responsible for issuing Amber Alerts?
The argument could easily be made that the job belongs to state and local law enforcement alone. A missing child's family calls the cops first. Law enforcement is first on the scene, first to collect important information, makes the arrest and recovers the missing child.
A secondary Amber Alert organization is getting the information second-hand, which means having to manually enter the data into a secondary system, increasing the chance of wrong information being sent out.
An equally compelling argument is that more than one system for sending Amber Alerts is necessary. Many people probably haven't heard of the Amber Alert Portal, but most people know who their cell phone company is.
If it's easy for people to receive Amber Alerts via their cell phones, it's hard to argue with more eyes on the street looking for a lost child. Cops can't be everywhere, and they're hardly omniscient. Finding a missing kid is best done very quickly, or the chances of finding the child dim dramatically.
Too many Amber Alerts could cause unnecessary trouble, or it could save more lives.
The jury is necessarily out.
