Alberta children
safer 
thanks to AMBER Alert
Nine-year-old Amber
Hagerman of Texas was riding her bicycle one Saturday afternoon in 1996
when a neighbour heard her scream. The neighbour saw a man pull Amber
off her bike, throw her into the front seat of his pickup truck, and drive
away.
Four days later, Amber's body was found. She had been murdered.
In the days following, a caller to a Dallas area radio station suggested the idea that Dallas radio stations should carry news bulletins about abducted children just like they do severe weather warnings.
Since then, AMBER Alert, as it became known, has expanded to more than 30 other locations in the United States and the lives of 40 abducted children have been saved because of the program.
Now, Alberta will have the first province-wide program in Canada.
Alberta's AMBER Alerts will be sent to broadcasters over the Emergency Public Warning System (EPWS), the same system that provides immediate notice of impending floods or serious storms. Radio and television stations will immediately interrupt programming to broadcast the warning.
AMBER Alert is a partnership among the Government of Alberta, police and broadcasters to mobilize the eyes and ears of the community in the crucial moments after a child is abducted.
US statistics reveal that 70 per cent of children who are kidnapped and later murdered were killed within the first three hours of being taken. Ninety per cent of the children who are abducted for sexual purposes are killed within 24 hours.
"I first found out about AMBER Alert when I was working on the sex offender registry idea for Alberta," said Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth. "I was doing a lot of research into the different registries in the US. The program is a natural fit with the sex offender registry in our efforts to increase public safety in Alberta."
Forsyth was recently invited to Washington D.C. by US President George W. Bush to attend the White House Conference on Missing and Exploited Children.
"It was a thrill and an honour to be in the same room as the President of the United States," she said.
She was there to
learn more about child abductions and exploitation and hear the president
announce national standards for AMBER Alert. It solidified her commitment
to bring the program to Alberta.
AMBER Alert is strongly supported by police and broadcasters across Alberta. Thanks to the assistance of Alberta Municipal Affairs and the EPWS, the AMBER Alert program is being introduced in Alberta at no additional cost to taxpayers.
