Understanding AMBER Alerts

AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. The acronym was created as a legacy of 9- year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington and then brutally murdered in January of 1996.

The AMBER Alert System began in 1996 as a Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex project when television and radio news outlets teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. The project quickly received recognition across Texas and the Texas Department of Public Safety agreed to be the central agency responsible for issuing AMBER Alerts across the state. While three other states took notice and started implementing their own AMBER Alert programs, it wasn’t until 2005 that all 50 states became part of the AMBER Alert System.

In Texas, a Police Department or Sheriff’s Office, and in some areas Constables and other Law Enforcement agencies, must submit a request for an AMBER Alert to the Texas Department of Public Safety.  For the majority of the program, an alert would only be issued if there was a confirmed abduction of a child.  The criteria typically demanded a description of the child, the child’s last known location, and a description of the abductors’ vehicle if possible. The program eventually adapted criteria for missing children that had medical issues and were in serious or grave danger. The criteria did not accommodate runaways, or children that might have walked away from their guardian and were missing with no evidence of abduction.

In 2022, a seven-year-old girl named Athena Strand was reported missing from her home in Wise County. Local Law Enforcement and other First Responders searched the area, DFW Metroplex news outlets, along with social media platforms all relayed the information to viewers and readers, but the situation did not meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert until hours later when area cameras were viewed.  The next day it was discovered that Athena was kidnapped and subsequently murdered by a delivery driver who had come to her home to drop off packages.

On June 13, 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 3556, referred to informally as the “Athena Alert” bill, in honor of seven-year-old Athena Strand, into law and the law immediately took effect. Considering this new addition to the AMBER Alert System is so new, many Law Enforcement agencies are not yet familiar with it.

Under the new law, a request for an AMBER Alert may be made by a local Law Enforcement agency that knows a child is missing but has not verified the AMBER Alert criteria, and if the Chief Law Enforcement officer of the local Law Enforcement agency believes that activation of the alert system is warranted. Under these circumstances, a local area AMBER Alert would be activated in the following areas:

●within a 100-mile radius of the location from which the child is believed to have gone missing or the location in which the child was last seen; and

●in all counties adjacent to the county from which the child is believed to have gone missing, or the county in which the child was last seen.

The eExtra News group shares AMBER Alerts from across the state because we never know when and where a missing child might show up.  Last summer an AMBER Alert was issued for. a newborn baby out of Coffee City, baby Ryder was located safe in Hunt County after his mother (who abducted him) observed the AMBER Alert with her details on social media and turned herself into the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office.

While Hunt County is part of the DFW Metroplex, we are the most northeastern county, we are also close to the Red River and East Texas regions and will share those local AMBER Alerts,  along with missing children information.

Even when a teenager runs away, it is important to locate them as quickly as possible. Last week an 11-year-old girl from Waxahachie was located in Dallas a month after running away. That successful recovery resulted in the arrest of four adults, including a Dallas ISD teacher, for sex trafficking charges. This past weekend gave us two teenage girls who left with males and prompted AMBER Alerts. A 15-year-old girl from the Paris (Red River) area was found safe the day after the local AMBER Alert was issued, and a 16-year-old girl from Royse City was also found safe the day after the local AMBER Alert was issued.