FDLE Commemorates National AMBER Alert Awareness Day
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner (FDLE) Gerald Bailey joined Florida’s local, state, federal, and private partners today to commemorate National AMBER Alert Awareness Day. Each year, on January 13, the U.S. Department of Justice remembers the abduction and brutal murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman that occurred 15 years ago in Texas, and for whom the AMBER plan was named.
More than 30,000 citizens have signed up at www.missingchildrenalert.com to receive Florida AMBER Alerts via e-mail and cell phone text messages. FDLE encourages citizens to sign up to receive these free alerts to help law enforcement quickly recover a child when they go missing.
“Florida’s citizens, governmental agencies and private sector partners recognize the value of the AMBER plan,” Commissioner Bailey said. “As the numbers indicate, this type of teamwork ensures that we have the greatest chance of success when issuing an AMBER alert in Florida.”
FDLE, in conjunction with the Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Association of Broadcasters, Inc., established the Florida AMBER Plan in 2000. Florida was the second state in the nation to take the partnership for AMBER Alerts statewide. Since that time, the AMBER Plan has expanded to include billboards, dynamic highway message signs and lottery machines.
Each year, approximately 47,000 children are reported missing in Florida, with the majority of those being reported as runaways. The FDLE Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse issued 11 AMBER Alerts in 2010. Since the program’s inception in 2000, 158 AMBER Alerts have been issued in Florida and 52 children have been located as a direct result.
To learn more about Florida’s AMBER Plan or to sign up to receive alerts, visit www.missingchildrenalert.com or www.fdle.state.fl.us.
Tweet
