November 5, 2003
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
BY DEBORAH J. DANIELS
October was a good month for the Chicago area's abducted children and their families. A Hanover Park mom was reunited with her 3-year-old son, Lonnie Harger, after he disappeared with his baby-sitter Oct. 1. Three-year-old Marilyn Ali was saved on Oct. 9 by an alert citizen who called the police after seeing a flier about Marilyn's abduction at a Chicago Blockbuster. Although no community ever wants to repeat such a traumatic experience, Chicago area parents can be reassured that there is a plan in place to recover abducted children quickly.
Both Lonnie and Marilyn were recovered due to a system known as the Amber Alert. Amber, which stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, was created in 1996 as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. These alerts are an important tool to help law enforcement track down kidnappers. When police have reason to believe a child has been abducted and is in danger of bodily harm, the Amber Alert can go into effect immediately, mobilizing the entire community to help search for the missing child.
Alerts can be local, statewide or cover multiple states. They quickly employ various media for getting the message out to the public, including broadcasters, highway signs, Internet alerts, even information instantaneously printed on lottery tickets in some states.
Illinois was developing networking plans with other states even before the inception of the Amber Alert. Since 1985, Illinois has had interstate agreements with 13 states in the Midwest that they will assist Illinois in the search for a missing child. Illinois now has informal agreements with neighboring states to activate an Amber Alert if Illinois requests it. Plans are under way to develop formal agreements.
The Chicago Police Department has embraced the use of the Amber Alert, and with Marilyn Ali's recovery, the entire city rejoiced in its success.
On the national level, we have taken great strides to ensure the safe return of abducted children. In October of last year, President Bush hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. At the time, Attorney General John Ashcroft asked me to serve as the national Amber Alert coordinator. That role was codified into federal law in April, when the president signed the Protect Act. The act strengthens law enforcement's ability to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish violent crimes committed against children.
As national coordinator, I have been working with many partners to help states improve their programs through conferences, training and technical assistance.
We also are working with our partners, including law enforcement, broadcasters and other public and private organizations, to develop a strong nationwide Amber Alert network. Children's lives depend on the ability of law enforcement to get their message out instantaneously and broadly, because research has shown that the first few hours are critical to the safe recovery of an abducted child. Seventy-four percent of children who are kidnapped and later found murdered are killed within the first three hours after being taken, and 99 percent are killed within the first 24 hours.
We are making rapid progress. In October of 2001, only five statewide programs existed. At the time of the White House conference in October 2002, 23 statewide programs were in place. As of October 2003, we have 46 statewide plans, and the remaining four states are working toward completion of their plans. We are seeing astonishing results: 106 children have been recovered since 1996 using the Amber Alert -- two-thirds of those just within the last year.
We know that the thin blue line of law enforcement can't possibly stretch so far as to be everywhere at once. However, use of the Amber Alert draws in an army of citizen volunteers, eager to help return children to their homes safely. We've recently seen case after case where the perpetrator has let the child go once an Amber Alert has been issued.
The close cooperation among states, which we at the Justice Department are working hard to enhance, has resulted in the recovery of more children this last year than in all previous years combined. The Amber Alert allows us all to make a difference and gives our kids a real chance for a brighter and safer future.
Assistant Attorney General Deborah J. Daniels is the national coordinator of AMBER Alert.