Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Hutchison-Feinstein Legislation To Create Nationwide AMBER Alert Network

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Hutchison-Feinstein Legislation To Create Nationwide
AMBER Alert Network
September 5, 2002
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Washington, DC - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today approved legislation sponsored by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would create a nationwide AMBER Alert network.

"Yesterday, we heard moving testimony in the Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government information from Sharon Timmons describing how an AMBER Alert saved her daughter Nichole's life. There is no question that AMBER Alerts are effective in returning abducted children to their parents, and there is no question in my mind that they should be used in every state. Simply put, this will save children's lives."

"I want to thank Senator Hutchison for sponsoring this legislation, and Senators Leahy and Hatch for moving this legislation through committee so quickly. It is my hope that the full Senate will take up and approve this legislation soon."

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. The coordinator would consult with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other private organizations with expertise in this area.
Establish a grant program to enable states to develop or upgrade electronic message boards, and training and education programs.

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 16 states and 32 local and regional jurisdictions.

"Despite the fact that they are in only a few states, AMBER Alerts have resulted in the return of 30 abducted children across the country. These are 30 families who didn't have to suffer the pain of losing a loved-one. Thirty 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."

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.

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.

The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Wayne Allard, Joseph Biden, Robert Bennett, Jean Carnahan, Hillary Clinton, Susan Collins, Michael Crapo, Christopher Dodd, Richard Durbin, John Edwards, John Ensign, Russell Feingold, Peter Fitzgerald, Tom Harkin, Peter Fitzgerald, Jesse Helms, Tim Hutchinson, James Inhofe, Tim Johnson, Jon Kyl, Mary Landrieu, Patrick Leahy, Trent Lott, Richard Lugar, Bill Nelson, John D. Rockefeller, Rick Santorum, Jeff Sessions, Olympia Snowe, Debbie Stabenow, George Voinovich, and Ron Wyden.