AMBER Alerts are emergency broadcasts made when a child is abducted and believed to be in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. They are used by law enforcement to notify the public about missing children thought to have been abducted. The AMBER Alert system was created in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. AMBER stands for Americas Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered.

Once law enforcement has determined that a child has been abducted and the abduction meets AMBER Alert criteria, law enforcement notifies broadcasters and state transportation officials. AMBER Alerts interrupt regular programming and are broadcast on radio and television and DOT highway signs. AMBER Alerts can also be re-disseminated through lottery, digital billboards, Internet Ad exchanges, Internet Service Providers, Internet search engines, as well as wireless devices such as mobile phones.

For an AMBER Alert to be effective in recovering a missing child, the law enforcement agency must have enough information to believe that an immediate broadcast to the public will enhance the efforts of law enforcement to locate the child and apprehend the suspect. This element requires as much descriptive information as possible about the abducted child and the abduction, as well as descriptive information about the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle.

The establishment of AMBER Alert plans in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and the expansion of the program into Indian Country and our northern and southern borders mark an important milestone in our efforts to prevent child abductions. As of January 2, 2023, 1,127 children were successfully recovered through the AMBER Alert system and 131 children were rescued because of wireless emergency alerts.

In summary, AMBER Alerts are used to inform the general public quickly when a child has been kidnapped and is in danger so that the public can be additional eyes and ears to help find the child.