For those in Canada and USA, you might be familiar already with the Code Amber Alert System that is now in place in North America.
The Code Amber Alert System was developed after people in the Arlington Texas USA area finally became overwhelmed with a kidnapping incident in which a young girl, Amber Hagerman, was kidnapped and later killed by the person who took her.
People saw the little girl with someone on the particular day, in 1996, that she was kidnapped, however, they had no reason to believe she was in danger because they didn't know she had actually been snatched away from her playtime in a public area. Amber had been riding her bicycle like many children normally, naturally, and quite safely do, slightly away from home - and in a public place. Had people known that Amber Hagerman was missing, believed to have been 'kidnapped,' they might have called law enforcement officials when they saw her with someone - ANYONE. Later on, the kidnapper may not have had the chance to brutally murder the little girl.
By August 23 2002, an organization called, "Code Amber" went 'live' and functional, broadcasting details about kidnapping incidents in real time to a general public. Sometimes the program was even able to broadcast pictures of known suspects on live real-time TV broadcasts so that the general public could know exactly who they were looking for in their area. The launch and effects were so positive that before a full year was through, President Bush approved the idea. In April 2003, Bush declared the Code Amber Alert System a National program.
This program is dedicated to pushing out any information that won't inhibit investigations - and push that information out FAST right to the public area where certain criminal acts have occurred. It serves not only as a recovery tool for the victims, but also as a 'safety' measure for the public, who might not want to run into and interact with a known 'perpetrator' of a crime. In this, the public has a simple job - simply PHONE THE INFORMATION IN to authorities. Keep your eyes open - and if anything you see fits what you've noticed in any Amber Alerts, report it.
Canada has incorporated the Code Amber Alert System program into its efforts to recovery children quickly from harm, too. In the right-hand column of this blog, please check from time to time at the ticker-messages to see if a Code Amber Alert is currently in progress in your Canadian or American region.
I witnessed a Code Amber Alert in my local area where a distraught mother kidnapped her own infant from child and family (protective) services during a scheduled 'visitation' session. The mother was 'unstable' and 'confused' - possibly under the influence of drugs or only recently 'clean' in order to make the visitation appointment, and the child was an infant, unable to cry out for help or attain any level of self-care, and the situation was quite complicated, to say the least! The Code Amber Alert went out within an hour or two of the known kidnapping incident and the mother made arrangements to have someone 'safe' return the infant once she realized how extensive an effort the local and National authorities placed in this situation! The child was back in safe hands within 36 hours and the mother later turned herself, in, too - realizing that her child needed to be with someone else, in good care for a time while she attempted to straighten out her life.
Even if the Code Amber Alert had no type of relevance at all to the topics reserved for this blog, I would STILL PUT TICKERS on this blog! Just to make them visible to more of the public. Some of the responses to the Alerts have come from people who didn't even know that anything was going on in their area, so I will assume that the same 'help' can come from placing tickers on a blog - where someone who might not be looking at 'newscasts' or 'newspapers' online might still see an Alert dedicated to their local area.
If you notice the ticker-message area 'down' or non-functioning, please contact me so that I can correct the problem and get the tickers back in order ASAP!
Thanks - In Advance!
