Now we need a national AMBER alert system
Dianne Feinstein and Kay Bailey Hutchison
Dallas Morning News
September 5, 2002

"MY CHILD has been taken." This was the crushing truth facing Donna Hagerman, the mother of a 9-year- old girl named Amber, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle near her home in Arlington, Texas, on a Saturday afternoon in 1996. Four days later, Amber was found murdered.

When most people would have given in to despair, Donna Hagerman, now Donna Norris, set out on a mission to prevent this tragedy from striking other families. She worked with local police and media to establish the nation's first system to alert the public when a child is abducted. She called it the AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) alert, in memory of her daughter. Today, 16 states and 32 localities have established AMBER alerts, which together are credited with the safe recovery of 29 abducted children. According to a 1990 U.S. Department of Justice study, roughly 4,500 children in the United States are abducted by nonfamily members every year. Evidence shows that a few hours can make the difference between safe recovery of these children or not. An AMBER alert gives these children, and their desperate families, a fighting chance.

Recently, an AMBER alert was sent out to a number of states to help search for 10-year-old Nichole Timmons of Riverside. The alert was delivered throughout California and in neighboring states. Nichole was found in Nevada just a few hours after the alert was issued. Nichole's case illustrates the need for a national AMBER network. That is why we have introduced legislation to provide resources for states and communities to build their AMBER systems and spread information to surrounding jurisdictions with one phone call.

AMBER alerts are powerful tools; they must not be overused. An AMBER alert will be limited to the region where the child is abducted. Recent child kidnappings in California, Utah, Virginia, Texas and other states have brought the issue home to many communities.

In memory of Amber Hagerman, and for every family ravaged by the searing tragedy of child abduction, we are calling upon our colleagues to help us pass this legislation before Congress adjourns later this year. U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced the National AMBER alert legislation (S.2896) on Tuesday