West Virginia Amber Alert System To Now Include Cell Phone Text Messages

[Editors Note: This story highlights Florida's involvement in the Wireless AMBER Alert Initiative, an effort to notify cellular telephone users of missing children via text message in order to get their assistance in the recovery. The Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative launched last May was the result of cooperation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, CTIA - Wireless Association and participating wireless carriers with the technology platform for the system built by Syniverse Technologes. According to Roxanne Robbins, spokeswoman for CTIA, cell phone subscribers in all 50 states can already go to www.wirelessamberlalerts.org and sign up to recieve AMBER Alerts via text message simply by entering zip codes for which they want to receive information. All a state has to do is encourage its residents to sign up for AMBER Alert notifications.]

On Monday, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin announced the West Virginia State Police has entered into a partnership agreement with 12 national wireless service providers to distribute AMBER alerts by text messaging cell phones, becoming the second state in the nation to expand the reach of the AMBER alert system in this manner.

With this agreement, signed in cooperation with the Department of Justice, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, all law enforcement officers and the public will be able to receive AMBER Alert notifications by way of text messaging free of charge, upon request. Florida state officials announced a similar agreement last week, becoming the first state in the nation to offer the service.

"AMBER Alerts have become a critical tool in our national efforts to protect our children," the governor said. "I am pleased that West Virginia can be a national leader in the effort to expand the reach of the AMBER Alert system, providing more citizens with details and descriptions of a missing child in the precious minutes and hours following a report of an abduction."

Individuals interested in receiving AMBER Alert notifications by text messaging can sign up for the new service by logging on to www.wvstatepolice.com and clicking on the AMBER Alert tab and Wireless AMBER Alert icon. Users will then be redirected to a secure site where they can enter a wireless telephone number to subscribe to the service.