At this point, pretty much all of us have been woken up in the middle of the night or startled midday by a blaring sound coming from our smartphones, radios or TVs. Accompanying the jarring alarm is a message containing details about a child and/or their alleged abductor, information about a vehicle they might be in, their location within the province, and where they could be headed. It’s called an amber alert (aka an AMBER alert).
The purpose of an amber alert is for the general populace to act as an extra set of eyes and ears for law enforcement when a child has been abducted. The idea is that the more people who are aware of what to look for, the better the chance of retrieving that child (or children) unharmed and arresting the suspect before the situation ends in tragedy. Who was the real Amber"
While the amber in amber alert is an acronym for America?s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response, that?s actually its secondary meaning. Amber alerts were in fact created following a tragic incident involving a young girl named Amber Hagerman.
In 1996, the nine-year-old was riding her bicycle with her brother in Arlington, Texas, when she was abducted in plain sight. A neighbour witnessed the abduction, as did Amber?s brother, Ricky, who went home to tell his family what happened. The police and media were called, and a search began. Four days later, her body was discovered in a creek less than 8 km from where she was taken. There are still no suspects in her murder.
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