System that helped find Elizabeth Smart goes
national.
Amber Alert now protects all children
A package of child protection laws signed into law
Wednesday by President George W. Bush was greeted enthusiastically by
Michigan law enforcement officers, many of whom said it was long
overdue.
But police in Metro Detroit also quickly noted that
Michigan has been ahead of the curve on developing a rapid response
network, often referred to as Amber Alert, to help find missing
children. Michigan police departments began implementing alert plans
in 2001. The Amber Alert system is named after 9-year-old
Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, who was kidnapped and murdered in
1996.
Such a system is credited with helping find Utah
teen-ager Elizabeth Smart. The 15-year-old, found in March nine months
after being kidnapped from her Salt Lake City bedroom, attended the
Rose Garden ceremony at which Bush signed the new laws.
"The county and our state have been on an Amber
Alert system for a couple years," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael
Bouchard. "But this new law will strengthen penalties for child
pornographers, sexual abusers and kidnappers as well."
The law provides federal matching grants to states
and communities for equipment and training to create a national
network of Amber Alerts. The new law — "Prosecutorial Remedies and Other
Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003" or
PROTECT — also:
- Gives judges discretion to extend supervision of
released sex offenders for the rest of their lives, amend first-degree
felony-murder statutes to include child abuse and child torture
murders and increase criminal penalties for sexual abuse and
kidnapping.
- Facilitates prosecution for parental kidnappings,
extends the statute of limitations for child abductions and sex crimes
to the life of the child victim and can deny pretrial release for
child rapists and abductors.
- Provides new tools for prosecutors, including
wire-tapping procedures, to go after those who lure children to
pornographic Web sites using misleading domain names.
- Expands the criminal "crack house" statute to punish
operators of rave clubs that sell illegal drugs, such as ecstasy, to
children.
Bouchard takes particular satisfaction in the new
PROTECT law, having advocated Amber Alert proposals as legislative
chair of the national Major County Sheriffs Association, which
represents more than 100 million citizens nationwide.
But it's also personal. As a young patrolman,
Bouchard recalls the Oakland County child killings, which put parents
and children on edge 27 years ago. Two boys and two girls, ages 10 to
12, were abducted in separate incidents across Oakland County between
1976 and 1977, held for several days by their kidnappers and then
murdered. The killer has never been found.
"When you see what people can do to children,
there's no question this is needed," he said.
Sgt. Greg Jones of the Michigan State Police said
the law is so new, it remains unclear what its impact will be in
Michigan. "We've had a program in place for well over a year
in Michigan, working not only with other police but with Michigan
Association of Broadcasters," Jones said. "It (Amber Alert) helped
find an infant last month in Detroit."
First hours are crucial
Knowing the first 24 hours are crucial, a voluntary
system in Michigan -- and more than 16 other states — has encouraged
police agencies to alert the public via electronic media that a child
is missing. The program is activated under any circumstances in which
a police agency confirms the endangered disappearance or abduction of
a child, under age 18, has occurred.
The state police also provide an "Urgent Missing
Child Notice," which details a description of the missing child,
including clothing; descriptions of suspect abductors; and suspect
vehicles. The information is also transmitted on the Law Enforcement
Information Network used by police.
"We don't know exactly how this (Amber Alert law)
will impact what we've been doing in Michigan, but it certainly will
expand efforts across the country," Jones said.
Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said public
awareness had been heightened by popular television shows such as
"America's Most Wanted," where host John Walsh encourages citizens to
become eyes and ears for police and report abductors and other
criminals.
Code Adam Act
Part of the child-safety bill package signed into
law by Bush is the Code Adam Act, which requires all federal buildings
to establish missing child procedures. The act is named after Walsh's
son, Adam, who was kidnapped and killed in 1981.
Other measures of the new law will authorize
criminal prosecution and lawsuits against child pornographers; create
a national Internet site for registered sex offenders and a cyber
tip-line for reporting on-line child exploitation; and creates a pilot
program to check the backgrounds of volunteers in organizations like
Boys and Girls Clubs of America, National Mentoring Partnership and
the National Council of Youth Sports.
Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer said his
department has had a written policy in place for missing children
since September 2001.
"The tragedies that have occurred with the
abductions and murders make us all more aware than ever before that in
any case involving a missing child, we can't act soon enough," Dwyer
said.
How alerts work
Amber Alerts for children typically are broadcast on
TV and radio and are displayed on highway signs after the following:
- Police confirm a child has been abducted.
- They believe the circumstances surrounding the
abduction indicate that the child is in danger.
- There is enough descriptive information about the
child, abductor, and/or suspect's vehicle to believe an immediate
broadcast alert will help.
By Mike Martindale
2 May 2003
http://www.detnews.com/2003/nation/0305/01/a02-152471.htm
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