It wasn’t a useless alert. Major Kong says it was, but I don’t believe him, because his testimony is directly contradicted by that of two other local posters, as well as the published guidelines for issuing such an alert.
I think that the state police are more qualified to determine whether an alert is warranted than any of us.
And ditto to what Maureen said.
Not really. But I suppose I must.
From National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
This tells me that:
In most cases (remember the recent Amber Alert in California?), the police already have a suspect. No need for me to assist the investigative process.
The Amber Alert is important because its purpose is to 1) prevent a kid from being killed within that 3-hour timeframe and to 2) prevent a pissed-off parent from going underground/across the border. Fair enough. Most useful while I’m driving, not at home.
I’ll do my part and keep an eye out when shown a picture or given a car make, but I will not get emotionally involved OR judgemental. The majority of these cases involve complex, family issues that do not require my assistance or interest, besides keeping a wary eye on what’s going on around me.
I hope the parents expressing concern in this thread are taking what NEMEC has to say at heart. The enemy is almost never the pedophilic lurking stranger. The enemy is the parent or relative. THAT’S where the terror and anger need to be focused.
And do people really not read the scrolling stuff? I always do. If I miss something I think I needed to see or want more details, I go online and look up the news.
So, Rysler, do you really believe it makes one whit of difference to the parent whether their child was abducted by a stranger or an ex? YOUR. CHILD. HAS. BEEN. ABDUCTED. Pain. Fear. Feelings of complete helplessness. Has nothing whatever to do with logic.
Much as we all like to believe that we will handle certain situations in certain ways, when your children are involved you stop being a logical person and become a protective primate. Ever see “Ransom?” That part where Mel Gibson goes on TV, and tells the kidnappers, (paraphrasing) “This money goes as a bounty on your heads. I’ll pay it to whoever tracks you down. But you don’t get one penny.” Rene Russo procedes to puke herself senseless. Like that. Because you can do nothing to prevent what is happening to your child.
So. Yes, your post was relevant. Yes, I’m aware of the statistics. Am I asking you to judge? No. Am I asking you to get emotionally involved? No. I am simply asking you to keep this information in your mind when you see a vehicle/person that matches this description.
And, no. Not everyone reads the scrolling stuff. Not if they’re really interested in whatever else is happening on the screen.
Maybe the answer to Major Kong’s rant is just that these things cannot be argued in the realm of logic. It’s outside of that, and cannot be subjected to evidence-based research or logical argument.
Yes, and that’s why, according to the cites I provided (see first page), the Amber Alert system is typically not used for cases where it is believed a non-custodial parent or family member is the culprit. It’s meant to be used when the child is believed to be in immediate danger, which is generally not the case when a child is kidnapped by a family member.
It’s rather amazing how many people in this thread seem to think they know how to conduct an investigation better than law enforcement proffesionals.
Sure kids getting kidnapped is bad, but is it so bad as to require a TV show I’m watching be completely interrupted? Why not use a crawl? Interrupting a TV show is just too much. How about we use the phone system to call everybody in the country?
Here’s a tip for parents:
If you don’t want your children abducted, take care of them.
Okay, see, I misread your first little jem that I had asked to be my sig, but this one I read correctly.
Mr Kong, you are a special kind of stupid.
:wally
hmmm… count me as still unconvinced that people pay any more attention to a program interuption than they do to a crawl. As others have noted, I’m likely to view an interuption as yet another test and pay little attention, however, I will always read the crawl at the bottom. why? because that’s how they transmit important news. Are you all seriously saying that the difference between life and death for a child lies in people that watch TV with the sound off and their eyes on something else? As Rysler said, the information isn’t all that useful when I’m sitting at home, but rather it’s useful when I’m in my car(though my lack of a cell phone makes it rather useless regardless in my case.). We had one not far from me a few months ago, sure I looked out the window to see if he was hiding in my apartment complex, but what are the chances of that. Or more relevant, how would have a channel interuption(I saw this on a crawl) have better prepared me to see this person in a parking lot?
It is clear that you’re not a parent. If I take my eyes off my children for one second, they could be abducted.
The Amber System is in place due to the abduction and murder of a little girl in my home state, Texas.
Yes, it is so bad as to interrupt your TV show, and you’ll just have to live with it, won’t you?
Wow. Do you wear a helmet when you post?
Wow, all this concern about children’s safety from a nation that has a higher infant mortality rate than almost any other first-world nation, sees nothing wrong about sentencing 16 year olds to death, has a child homicide rate five times the average in the developed world and a suicide rate twice the average,and loves children so much they have the world’s highest rate of teenage pregnancies. But, hey, if this makes you feel better. I know it makes me feel better.
Wow. That was stunningly related.
:rolleyes:
At first, I was worried these Amber Alerts might be too much scaremongering that would tend to induce only more panicking. But it’s clear that the system has worked on at least a couple of occassions, so that’s enough to convince me.
Just for the record, I was on I-90 Eastbound heading to Chicago when this Amber Alert was released, and we have designated billboards for such things. We had a description of the child, the driver and the SUV, including what state the plates were from and what color the car was.
If I were a parent, and my child was abducted, I would buy a fucking billboard MYSELF to tell everyone to keep an eye out for her.
But upon reading Major Kong’s last stunning statement, abduction is as a direct result of Not Taking Care of Your Children.
That Elizabeth Smart, man, sleeping in a bed in a house with her parents. WHY DIDN’T THEY TAKE CARE OF HER??? That’s what I’m asking myself.
Well, moot point. The bugger’s gone.
Happy
Apparently not when it interrupts Geek Hour on t.v.
Ferrous, please actually READ my post before you go off on it.
I said,
Oh look, here’s a cite for the case in California.
And, Maureen, I respect everything you said.
I did read your post. It seemed to be implying that Amber Alerts are unnecessary because most child abductions are done by a relative, and therefore police know who to look for. I replied that your statistic is irrelevant because the Amber Alert system is not (usually) used in those cases.
I’m not clear on what your cited article has to do with anything. The man in that article was apparently not a relative of the kidnapped girl. If an alert was issued in that case (and the article did not, in fact, mention that one was) then it would seem to be appropriate.
Hmm, had some hamster problems. The post went through, but didn’t bump the thread. So here we go…alley-oop!
The cite was merely intended to jog your memory of the event, since it was less than two months ago, and all over the news, yes, BREAKING INTO regular broadcasting.
Here’s a cite that mentions the Amber Alert. An acquaintance case, but one where there was violence involved, hence the alert. I have NO problem with that.
I’ll give clarifying my post one more shot – There is no need for me to experience drama, panic, judgement, or flapping about when I see a missing child on TV, Amber Alert or not, because in 79% of child abduction cases, the suspect is not a stranger. I have no insights to provide to the police that trump the insights of actual people involved in the situation.
The thrust of my post is this: While missing children are none of my business, law-enforcement-wise or otherwise, and I do not care to masturbatorily indulge in endless television coverage of them when there is nothing I can or have a right to do, I will keep a wary eye out.