"Seventy-four percent of children who are kidnaped and later found murdered are killed within the first 3 hours after being taken. As AMBER Alert Coordinator, I am working closely with local law enforcement and broadcasters to speed the safe recovery of every abducted child."

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) launched the AMBER Plan in the fall of 2001 in a nation-wide effort to speed the recovery of missing children. This effort was further aided on April 30, 2003 when President George W. Bush signed the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003 into law.

This Act laid out the plans for a federally backed program for the national coordination of state and local AMBER Alert programs. Additional information concerning the national coordination of the AMBER Alert program can be found by visiting the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Program's AMBER Plan Website.

The PROTECT Act Tasks the National Coordinator with the following objectives:

• Facilitate AMBER network development.
• Support development of state AMBER plans and efforts.
• Help eliminate geographic gaps in AMBER networks.
• Provide regional AMBER network coordination.
• Establish guidance on criteria for issuing an AMBER alert.

How can we get involved? By educating ourselves to the threat of predation in our society, learning more about our community and staying alert to potential problems within our neighborhoods.

Additional resources:
AMBER Plan
Amber Alert News