Law Enforcement Training for the Amber Alert

Electronic highway signs like this can broadcast AMBER Alerts.

After the 1996 kidnapping and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas, broadcasters in Dallas-Forth Worth created a partnership with law enforcement.They proposed to use the Emergency Alert System---a notification system for severe weather warnings---to circulate descriptions of abducted children and their kidnappers. This became known as the AMBER Alert or "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response." The system has since spread across the United States, where it depends on trained, efficient police officers.

History

Other states and communities adopted AMBER Alert after Texas created the system. In 2002, the Department of Justice embarked on a program to help every state implement an AMBER Alert system, according to the "AMBER Alert Best Practices Guide for Public Information Officers" published by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. The U.S. Department of Justice supplies critical AMBER Alert training and technical support through the National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program.

Function

Police officers must know the local state criteria for issuing alerts so that they don't use the AMBER Alerts necessarily and desensitize the public, according to the U.S. Department of Justice AMBER Alert website. Most states follow DOJ guidelines to reserve AMBER Alerts for kidnapped children under 17 who face injury or death, according to the DOJ AMBER Alert website. Training also ensures that law enforcement agencies can draft "memorandums of understanding" with other states to coordinate AMBER Alert actions across state or jurisdictional lines, according to the DOJ AMBER Alert website.

Training helps law enforcement agencies organize and activate a Child Abduction Response Team. CART teams comprise "a network of trained public safety and other individuals from various agencies, jurisdictions, and disciplines" that respond to missing child cases, according to the Ohio Law Enforcement Foundation website. Without training, teams may lack necessary agency involvement, fall short of ideal personnel levels or fail to coordinate actions.

National Training

The National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program aims to train law enforcement in best practices, such as warning local media about impending alerts, swift activation of CART teams and resisting public or media pressure, according to the January 2010 issue of "The AMBER Advocate," published by the DOJ. The program advocates for legislation, improvements in data collection, and national standards, according to the National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program website.

Types

Police receive several types of AMBER Alert training. CART training teaches the correct composition for a CART team, including police, media, transportation, social service agencies, victim advocates, and fire and rescue. CART certification involves a mock abduction exercise where police undergo a strict performance and policy evaluation. Investigative training teaches interrogation techniques, criminal profiling and legal issues for missing child cases. Leadership training teaches police effective media relations, developing a "memorandum of understanding with other agencies" and developing proper policies, according to the 2010 AMBER Alert Training Calendar for the U.S. Department of Justice's National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program.

Significance

AMBER Alert training nets measurable changes, with 75 percent of participants stating that they "changed their behavior and their policies in missing and abducted children cases" because of what they learned, according to the January 2010 issue of "The AMBER Advocate," published by the DOJ. Utah CART Commander Special Agent Jessica Farnsworth recruited more members to her team after a CART training exercise revealed she had insufficient resources, according to the January 2010 issue of "The AMBER Advocate," published by the DOJ.

Misconceptions

Police only comprise one component of an AMBER Alert response. Many other agencies and organizations contribute resources, including broadcasters, newspapers and public transportation agencies. Professionals from these sectors also participate in AMBER Alert training, according to the National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance website.

References

• National Criminal Justice Reference Service: "AMBER Alert Best Practices Guide for Public Information Officers"
• U.S. Department of Justice: Amber Alert: FAQs
• U.S. Department of Justice: National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program: Home
• U.S. Department of Justice: National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program: Overview
• U.S. Department of Justice: National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program: 2010 AMBER Alert Training Calendar

Resources

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children