AMBER Alert System Strengthened
by Wireless Industry Initiative
JEFFERSON CITY, July 25, 2005-The Missouri Department
of Public Safety in conjunction with the AMBER Alert Advisory Committee
announced today that a recent partnership between CTIA-The Wireless
Association and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
(NCMEC) allows the majority of Missouri cell phone users to sign up
for AMBER Alerts through their wireless provider in addition to using
the AMBER Alert Web Portal.
Any cell phone with text messaging capabilities can
be registered at www.wirelessamberalerts.org and will receive a text
message each time an AMBER Alert is issued in their area, as well
as when the alert is cancelled. Subscribers will not be charged for
receiving the text messages and credit will not be deducted from his
or her text-messaging plan if he or she has one.
Last year in Missouri, there were 11,448 active missing
children cases in the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES).
Of those cases, six involved abductions of children by a stranger,
and three children were found dead. Already this year, four Missouri
children have been abducted by strangers. These are the types of cases
AMBER Alerts attempt to assist with.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt encourages all citizens with
cell phones to sign up to receive AMBER Alert text messages either
through the wireless initiative or through the AMBER Alert Web Portal
at www.amberalert.com.
“It is very encouraging to see the wireless industry use their
reach to communicate potentially life-saving information to millions
of customers,” Blunt said. “It really does exemplify the
partnership that must exist between law enforcement and public and
private bodies to go to the extreme to bring an abducted child home.
This wireless notification initiative coupled with the AMBER Alert
Web Portal has the potential to get every Missourian involved in the
search for and rescue of our children.”
Missourians can choose which service they prefer to
be notified through. The wireless initiative at www.wirelessamberalerts.org
will notify citizens solely through text messages on their cell phones.
The web portal at www.amberalert.com can notify citizens through cell
phones, pagers or by e-mail.
Users receiving notifications issued by the portal
may receive them faster than users registered with the wireless industry
because of the way the AMBER Alerts are issued. After passing stringent
requirements, the Missouri State Highway Patrol activates the alert
on the portal, that in turn notifies the NCMEC, who in turn notifies
the wireless system. The hope is that with multiple opportunities
to participate in an AMBER Alert notification system, the highest
possible number of citizens will be able to join in an emergency effort
to locate an endangered, abducted child.
The wireless providers participating in the initiative
include ALLTEL, Cingular Wireless, Dobson Communications, Nextel Communications,
RCC/Unicel, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless.
Syniverse Technologies of Tampa donated the wireless alert infrastructure
to the Wireless Foundation in partnership with HP, Oracle, SunGard
Availability Services, VERITAS Software, Verizon Information Technology
LLC, and Integrated Research.
Fore more information regarding Missouri’s AMBER
Alert notification systems, please call Terri Durdaller at (573) 751-4819.