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AMBER Alerts
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio
July 16, 2003

Minnesota's AMBER Alert system has just passed its first anniversary. The system's been triggered six times. Now state officials are looking at ways to improve the system.

Duluth, Minn. — AMBER alerts are named after a nine-year-old Texas girl, who was abducted and murdered in 1996. It's a notification system to quickly tell the public about abducted kids. Messages are broadcast over participating radio and television stations. Participation is voluntary.

Six alerts have been issued with six kids recovered. The first was New Year's Day, when a van was stolen in St. Cloud, with a young child inside. The best known might be an 11-year-old girl taken in Minnesota in May and quickly recovered in Utah. AMBER alerts were issued for the girl in both states.

The system is still being improved. New legislation gives broadcasters legal protection should an Amber Alert contain bad information. According to Jim du Bois, with the Minnesota Broadcasters Association, radio and television executives were worried about lawsuits.

"The broadcaster, or anybody disseminating that Amber information, essentially publishing it, would have been liable for that erroneous information," du Bois says. "And we just wanted some protection in place to help out broadcasters - (to) make sure that they were not subjecting themselves to any potential liability."

Most importantly, du Bois says, radio and television officials wanted to know the system would only be used when needed and effective.

"The big concern that everyone involved in AMBER has, is the need to keep the criteria for activations very specific, and to adhere very steadfastly to that criteria," du Bois says. "The last thing that we want," he adds, "is a crying wolf syndrome."

In Minnesota, an alert is issued only for a child under age 17, taken by a stranger, with a witness who can describe a suspect. Nancy Sabin, who directs the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, says it's important to use discretion before triggering an alert.

"If there was a severe warning, tornado, every single day, or too often, people would stop listening to tornado warnings," Sabin says. "So, we have to be judicious in how we use them, how often, and for what type of case."

Abductions by non-custodial parents, for example, do not quality, because they happen so often. In fact, very few disappearances qualify for an AMBER Alert. That was the case in June when a five-year-old girl went missing from her neighborhood in Chisholm.

"It's difficult, in the Chisholm case, we all really thought initially in terms of the law enforcement and media that she was not abducted, that she was right there in the vicinity and that everything would be found out shortly," Sabin says.

There was no witness to Leanna Warner's apparent abduction. With no suspect, an AMBER Alert might have created a backlash, as people swamp police telephones seeking more information.

Kevin Smith, who represents the State Department of Public Safety on the AMBER Alert committee, says the media's response to the Chisholm case was essentially as useful as an AMBER Alert.

"Because her picture was out there," Smith says. "Her description was out there. The time of day she disappeared was out there. The media has been working with law enforcement to get the names of people of interest that they want to talk to, out there. So, in essence the greater information about this case through the media and to the public has been accomplished in this case, even without an AMBER."

Several additions have been made to the AMBER Alert system. Minnesota's electronic road warning signs now carry the alert messages. Lottery terminals can bring messages into thousands of retail outlets. Qwest Communications announced this week they would send messages to up to 50,000 technicians in 14 states. Kevin Smith says AMBER Alert has raised questions about making the Emergency Alert System more effective.

"How can the EAS be improved to respond not only to an amber, but, say, to an act of terrorism?" he says. "A tornado, a blizzard, some other type of weather information, or anything that would require quick alert of the public?"

The alerts would need to be heard statewide. Right now, some areas can't pick up the announcements. Soon, the system will use Minnesota Public Radio's statewide broadcast system to trigger alerts to stations around the region.

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