AMBER Alerts on Facebook

Posted on January 13, 2015

Today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is announcing a partnership with Facebook to send AMBER Alerts to the social network’s community to help find missing children.

When a child goes missing, the most important thing we can do is get detailed information about the incident out to the public as quickly as possible. The chances of finding an abducted child increase dramatically when more people in the search area are on the lookout – especially in the first few hours.

“Facebook along with other social media have become part of our everyday life,” MBI Director Lt. Col. Larry Waggoner said. “Incorporating social media into our Amber plan gives us additional tools we can use to return abducted children safely.”

Mississippi launched its Amber Alert program in December of 2002. The program has been adapted during the past 12 years to enhance the plan. What started as an analog telephone based system has evolved into one that utilizes satellite technology. Several other improvements have been added as well through partnerships with other public and private organizations.

“For most people, these alerts will be rare because they will only go to people who are in a position to help – those specifically within the designated search area. If you get an alert on Facebook it means there is an active search for an abducted child going on in your area.  The alert will provide the critical information you need to potentially help reunite a child with his or her family,” said Emily Vacher, who leads this initiative for the Facebook Trust and Safety team.

People have already been using Facebook to help find missing children. Last year, an 11-year-old girl was safely recovered after a South Carolina motel employee recognized a photo of the girl in an AMBER alert she saw on Facebook. The woman called the police, and the child was found unharmed. It’s amazing word-of-mouth efforts like this that inspired Facebook to develop a more systematic way to help find missing children.

Facebook’s distribution system will send AMBER Alerts to people’s News Feeds to quickly disseminate detailed information about the child to the people who are in the best position to help – those in the designated search area. Here’s how Facebook will complement existing AMBER Alert distribution systems:

     1. Reach – Facebook’s distribution system will get the AMBER Alert to everyone who is logged into Facebook (on both mobile and desktop) during the alert if they are within the designated search area as specified by law enforcement.

     2. Comprehensive Information – the alert will include important details about the child such as a photo, description, location of the abduction, and any other available information that can be provided to the public to aid in the search for the missing child.

     3. Community Involvement – the Facebook system enables people to share the alert with friends and link to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for the most up-to-date information about the case.

AMBER Alerts are a child abduction alert system that started in the United States in 1996.  AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas.  The decision to declare an AMBER Alert is made by each police organization (in many cases, the state police or highway patrol) investigating the abduction. Public information in an AMBER Alert usually includes the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and license plate number of the abductor’s vehicle.  The AMBER Alert system issues media alerts when a law enforcement agency determines that a child was abducted and is in imminent danger.