Senators Feinstein and Hutchison Introduce Legislation
To Create Nationwide AMBER Alert Network
September 3, 2002
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Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today introduced legislation to create a nationwide AMBER Alert network.

"Put simply, the AMBER Alert system, more than any other single law enforcement tool, can result in an abducted child being brought home safely," Senator Feinstein said. "In the month that the AMBER Alert system has been implemented in California, thirteen alerts have been issued by the California Highway Patrol. Eight instances involved stranger abductions, four cases involved family members and one case was a false alarm. But the bottom line is that in all thirteen cases, AMBER Alerts have resulted in the child being returned to his or her family."

"This is powerful evidence. We know it works, and we know that it is a program that should be nationwide."

Specifically, the legislation would:

· Establish a national coordinator for AMBER Alerts in the Department of Justice to expand the network of AMBER Alert systems and to coordinate the issuance of region-wide Amber Alerts.

· Establish a grant program to provide for the development of electronic message boards, and training and education programs in States that don't have AMBER Alert systems.

· Direct the Department of Justice to establish minimum standards to help states determine when and how broadly to issue an alert.

To date, AMBER Alert systems have been implemented in only 15 states and 32 local and regional jurisdictions.

The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), Jean Carnahan (D-MO), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Jessie Helms (R-NC), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Tom Harkin (D-IA).

"To date, AMBER Alert systems have been implemented in only 16 states and 32 local and regional jurisdictions - but the alerts issued in these jurisdictions have been extremely successful," Senator Feinstein said. "AMBER Alerts, in fact, have resulted in the return of 29 abducted children across the country. These are 29 families who didn't have to suffer the pain of losing a loved-one. 29 families who didn't have to live through the trauma of burying a child. This is why our legislation is so important."

"The first hours after a child is taken are critical. If the child is not found in those first few hours, chances increase dramatically that he or she will disappear forever. And this is the power of the AMBER Alert system. An Alert can be issued within minutes of an abduction - disseminating key information of the crime to the community at large."

Following are three key cases in which an AMBER Alert was successful in reuniting California youngsters with their parents:

· Jessica Cortez, 4, disappeared from Echo Park in Los Angeles on August 11, 2002. But when Jessica's abductor took her to a clinic for medical care, receptionist Denise Leon recognized Jessica from the AMBER Alert and notified law enforcement. Without the publicity generated by the Alert, Jessica would most likely have been lost forever.

· Nichole Timmons, 10, was kidnapped from her Riverside home on August 20. In Nichole's case, an Alert was issued not just in California, but in Nevada as well. There, a tribal police officer in Nevada spotted the truck of Nichole's abductor (Glenn MacArthur Park) and stopped him within 24 hours of the abduction. He was found with duct tape, and a metal pipe. The AMBER Alert enabled law enforcement to help bring Nichole home to her parents - safe.

· On July 31, 2002, Tamara Brooks, 16, and Jacqueline Marris, 17, were abducted from their vehicles at gunpoint in Lancaster, California. Shortly thereafter, an AMBER Alert was issued on the girls' disappearance, and over the next few hours, local law enforcement agencies received numerous tips from concerned members of the public on the location of the suspect's vehicle. Twelve hours later, sheriff's deputies found the girls and their abductor, Roy Ratliff, in a vehicle in a dry riverbed in Kern County. Ratliff was killed during an exchange of gunfire with sheriff's deputies, and the girls were returned safely home.

The AMBER Alert program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies and broadcasters to activate an urgent alert bulletin in serious child-abduction cases. The goal of the AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and safe return of the child. The AMBER Alert program began in North Texas six years ago. The alert was named for Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered while visiting relatives in Arlington, Texas.

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