Canadian and US Alerts Now On This Blog

Have you heard of "Code Amber Alerts" yet? If you're not from Canada or the USA, you may not have heard of them. They're systems of alerting the general public when a child has been kidnapped or abducted. If you are from Canada or the USA, please note that I am placing real-time Code Amber Alert system tickers on the blog as of NOW, today. Please take note of the tickers from time to time to see if something has occurred in your area.

In 1996, a little girl named Amber Hagerman was outdoors riding her bicycle in a public area - in Arlington, Texas. Someone kidnappened her, snatching her from her play. Later, this person brutally murdered Amber. People saw Amber with someone on this day, but they didn't know it was the KIDNAPPER, so they didn't do anything. The Amber Alert system had not been developed yet. In fact, the Code Amber Alert system is named in Amber Hagerman's memory. The community in the Arlington area raised a resounding and powerful voice, following Amber's kidnapping and consequent murder, and they urged officials, broadcasting services (radio, TV, internet, ad and billboard services) and the like, to create a better way of informing the public about kidnapping and abduction incidents.

Co-operation was achieved in the state of Texas for quite some time, however, the idea of a widespread Amber Alert system didn't get off thr ground until 2002. On August 23rd 2002, an organization called 'Code Amber' went 'live,' and in less than a year, in April 2003, US President, Bush, signed papers declaring the 'Amber Alert' system a National program!

Code Amber Alert also reaches to cover Canadian regions.

I recall an incident about a year ago in my own area. A woman who needed treatment for psychological, behavioral and addiction issues had her infant taken away by child protective services and other authorities in Alberta. She was overwhelmed and kidnapped her child ('took her child back') during a visit that protective services allowed her to have with the baby. She wasn't a hard-set criminal with intent to kill a child, however, in her state, she was very distraught, and anything could have happened to the child. Nobody knew if she was actively using drugs or if she had 'cleaned up,' but even if she had stopped using drugs, she was deemed as an 'unstable' person.

Anyone who knows anything about the first stages of alcohol or drug recovery knows that it is a time of great emotional, psychological, spiritual and physical distress and that sometimes, one undertaking the 'cleaning up' process is not always in control of their behaviors. In this, though it was her own child and though she likely wouldn't have intentionally harmed her baby, the woman was clearly a danger to the child and the child was yet an infant, unable to cry out for help or do anything in the way of self-protection.

Needless to say...a Code Amber Alert is issued for cases just like this - as well as cases where the 'perpetrator,' 'kidnapper,' or 'abductor' is suspected to have criminal and murderous intent!

Luckily, the Code Amber Alert was broadcast very quickly - within about 2 hours of the act of kidnapping, and the infant was recovered unharmed within 36 hours!

I recall the digital billboards along my transit route displaying the Code Amber Alert only an hour after I saw the regular TV Report on my local news. Further 'Alert' measures continued on the TV screen once regular programming was under way, with a ticker-tape-message-tape being run constantly on-screen while regular programming was maintained. Radio messages ran the audio message every 15 minutes on the station I listened to on the way to my classes, so the effect of a Code Amber Alert was surprisingly wide-spread and extensive! The transit signs which usually just display 'location' even had 'Amber Alert' in place of regular words, so that people would check their radios, TV's, etc.

The rapid rate at which the Code Amber Alert allowed the general public to know about this incident was incredible - and - as stated already - the infant was recovered safely...the mother turned herself in to officials shortly after arranging a way for the baby to be returned first, to child protective and law enforcement services.

A pretty amazing outcome, eh?

Prior to this, I had only heard of the Amber Alerts mainly in the USA and had observed an Alert in my area for a different purpose, however, I hadn't observed such a rapid-fire, successful effect with a positive outcome - right in my area before.

I wish I had found access to the ticker-message for this blog sooner, but I just wasn't paying attention!

Anyhow - I will keep the US and Canada Code Amber Alert tickers on this blog from now on. If you see the ticker with a Yellow/Amber background, that means that there is a current investigation under way and that time is ticking.....someone has just recently kidnapped a child and if you can help, please do so! Pay attention to the messages from the ticker to see if the incident has taken place in your geographical area! You may be able to help a child so that what happened to Amber Hagerman doesn't happen again!

If you notice the tickers are not in working order on this blog, please contact me ASAP so I can find out why and get them back into functioning state.

Thanks, In advance!