I know, I’m a terrible cold hearted person, but I’m sick of amber alerts! The ones here come on television with a loud buzzing noise, then a siren. Wow, what could be happening? It is usually some ugly custody dispute 100 miles away.
Anyone else hate these interruptions?
Yeah, I can’t stand them either. We have a siren, but we also get a few notes of dramatic music before the start of the message. I mean, I can understand how its a good thing to let the public know about a missing kid somewhere, but they way they do it is very annoying.
Must be where you are then. Here in DC we don’t get the stupid stuff, just announcements. As a matter of fact the last one I remember from a couple of weeks ago the guy who was reported on the Amber alert turned himself in because he knew he would be caught.
Forgive a poor ignorant Brit; What’s an amber alert?
An Amber Alert is a warning system where a message is sent to TV and radio stations, as well as highway signs informing people about children allegedly taken by force. It’s named after Amber Hagerman, a Texas girl who was raped and murdered. Police had information that could have helped her to return, but had no way of getting that information out to a wide area.
Robin
Its an emergency message that’s broadcasted on radio and TV when a child is kidnapped or something like that.
@dalej42: I didn’t even notice you were from Dallas, I just ended up describing the same stupid siren you were talking about…
It was passed into law because (as with so many of these things) people got on TV and cried their little hearts out over one single terrible emotional case.
Since they’ve had it in Maryland, it seems like there hasn’t been a single case that wasn’t a custody dispute. I could be wrong.
They are good , but they scare my kids. We have to explain to them that most of the time, when the amber alert comes on, its because the kid’s mom and dad are divorced and one parent takes them away when they aren’t supposed to - but you still shouldn’t talk to strangers! That calms them down a little.
Wow, you’d think the ones here in California would be the most dramatic of all, but I haven’t seen a TV Amber Alert yet that wasn’t just a simple announcement.
Plus our roadside Sigalert signs* will show information about the kid and about the abductor’s car if that’s known.
*Automated changeable traffic alert signs. If you recall, by chance, the movie LA Story, one featured prominently as a minor character.
Many thanks - it comes back to me now. We have had a similar system in parts of the UK for a few years (and I think it is being rolled out in other areas) but I don’t think it has been used that ofter.
Haven’t seen one here.
The majority of “missing child”/“child kidnapping” cases have always been parental disputes, right?
And so what if it’s a custody battle? What if the mother is divorcing the father because he was sexually abusive to the kids (or vice versa, don’t mean to sound sexist)? Why would that be less alert-worthy than a stranger kidnapping a kid to abuse?
Kids being with someone they shouldn’t be with is bad no matter what.
Yeah, obviously, a sexually abusive parent taking their kid is bad.
But, if we’re just making stuff up. . .a mom calling the cops because she forgot that dad was taking the kids out for an ice cream and and getting the local TV crews to make an annoucement, and broadcasting it on electronic billboards, and scrambling the police because someone “cried wolf” isn’t exactly helpful either.
Well, sometimes information and publicity does help - remember that kid in, what, Oregon or Idaho or something, and that guy murdered her parents and her brother with a hammer? A waitress at a Waffle House or similar recognized her from the media saturation and called it in and they saved her.
Trunk:
Oh, 100% agreement - show me a tool that exists, and I’ll show you a tool that has been somehow abused. But so many of the posters above me seem to just think that parental custody disputes are a private matter that shouldn’t interrupt their precious TV programs when, quite frankly, there could be darned good reasons why the non-custodial parent isn’t supposed to have the kid.
As a fellow web-footer, I can say that I’ve seen them very occasionally, most commonly on the electronic traffic-notice displays over the freeway. I recall hearing one mentioned as an afterthought during a news broadcast, also. But you’re right, around here they’re a non-event.
I think the idea has merit, the execution is what is bad…
A scroller along the bottom of the tv (no noise needed, we are reasonably visual folks if the TV is on) and interupt the fracking commercials for any visual details… cause face it, if we’re home wathcing TV, the likely hood of us seeing the fleeing vehicle is next to nil.
Highway signs and radio stations can do more if you’re trying to catch them.
And hi penalties for mis-use of the system.
I can not say that it is being used correctly in all 50 states but Amber alerts are certainly not for solving custody disputes. There are many missing/abducted children that are not sent out as an Amber Alert. It has to meet specific requirements. The child has to be in immediate danger. There has to be specific information that the public can use to help. Usually a plate number or something concrete like that. They are not supposed to be for when daddy takes them to grandmas and doesn’t return. If used properly the alerts might go out once or twice a year. Police are very aware of the cry wolf factor. That is only for official Amber Alerts. What a local news organization wishes to report is up to them.
I think they’re good, but I wish they didn’t get used for cases of non-custodial parents taking the kid unless there is reason to believe that parent may be a danger to the kid. The alert should only be used for real abductions where the kid is really in danger.
Right.
This is the Maryland Amber Alert page, which lists 6 criteria
http://www.mdsp.org/hsib/amber_intro.asp
I was there looking for a history of it’s use, which I couldn’t find. It sure seems that it’s mostly been a parent or family friend without nefarious intentions since I’ve seen it used in Maryland.