It was a warm Saturday afternoon in Texas in January 1996. Nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was riding her bicycle when a neighbor heard Amber scream. The neighbor saw a man pull Amber off her bike, throw her into the front seat of his pickup truck, and speed away.
The neighbor immediately called police and gave a description of the suspect and his truck. A search ensued, but four days later, Amber’s body was found in a drainage ditch four miles away, her throat slashed. The young girl’s assailant has never been found.
Amber Hagerman
A citizen made a suggestion to a Dallas radio station that the news media repeat bulletins about kidnapped children the same way they treat messages about severe weather. The Amber Alert system was born and has spread across the country.
Wisconsin’s Amber Alert Plan was started by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2003. When an Amber Alert is activated, Wisconsin radio and television stations cut into programming to broadcast information about an abducted child using the Emergency Alert System. Highway message board signs also convey information about confirmed child abduction.
Seven states have instituted an Amber Alert-type system for the elderly who wander or become lost. The system that helps find Alzheimer’s or dementia patients who go missing is called the Silver Alert, and it operates in the same way as the Amber Alert program, piggybacking on current Amber Alert systems. That keeps costs down.
Stateline.org reports:
“At least 5.2 million Americans suffer from dementia, and research shows that six out of 10 of those will wander. Only 4 percent of those who leave home alone are able to find their way back without help, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Every year, hundreds of seniors and others with dementia wander away, on foot or driving, and if not found within 24 hours, at least half suffer serious injury or death, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. As baby boomers age, the toll is expected to multiply.”
Congress is considering giving grants to states to start their own Silver Alert programs. Another bill to be introduced in Congress this month would make Silver Alert a federally-run program in every state.
Read more about Silver Alert.
