[BC] Amber ... overused?

[Reader]

The Arizona Daily Star  7/10/05:

Local law authorities defend use of Amber Alerts to find children
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Arizona's use of Amber Alerts, messages meant to help find missing 
children, fits a national pattern of overuse that could reduce the system's 
effectiveness, according to a national study by Scripps Howard News Service.

But local law-enforcement officials said the alerts are issued sparingly 
and are a valuable service.

The Scripps Howard study concluded that nationwide, dozens of Amber Alerts 
should never have been issued. Police issued at least 48 Amber Alerts last 
year for children who had not actually been kidnapped, according to the study.

Amber Alerts are meant to be used rarely to rescue kidnapped children, and 
overuse could lead the public to eventually ignore them, according to 
advocates quoted in the Scripps Howard report.

Nationally, out of 223 Amber Alerts issued last year, at least 46 were made 
for children who were lost, had run away or were the subjects of hoaxes and 
misunderstandings, according to the study, which used records from the 
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That's despite the 
urgings of the U.S. Justice Department that Amber Alerts be used only in 
cases of kidnapping and only when the child is in immediate danger of 
physical harm.

In Arizona, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recorded 
four missing children cases for which Amber Alerts were issued last year, 
Scripps Howard writer Thomas Hargrove said in an e-mail to the Arizona 
Daily Star. All four children were recovered safely, Hargrove said.

"Just as with the national pattern, exactly half of your cases were 
so-called 'family abductions,' raising questions about whether the children 
were truly endangered or merely in the middle of family squabbles," 
Hargrove said.

He said it appeared that the children were with their parents when Amber 
Alerts were issued for a 2-year-old Buckeye girl and a 12-year-old Eloy boy.

The other two Amber Alerts issued in Arizona last year - for a 2-year-old 
Sahuarita girl and a 5-year-old Douglas boy - were "nonfamily abductions," 
Hargrove said.

The Tucson Police Department uses discretion in issuing Amber Alerts, said 
spokeswoman Sgt. Kerry Fuller. "Our agency is very careful about use of the 
media alert system," Fuller said.

The problems with Amber Alerts cited in the study don't apply to Arizona, 
said Officer Jim Oien, a Department of Public Safety spokesman.

The Scripps Howard study faulted the issuance of Amber Alerts in which 
there was no useful information to help the public locate the children or 
notify public safety agents.

But Arizona's alerts had the necessary information, Hargrove said. All four 
alerts provided complete identification of the missing children and, in 
three cases, very complete information about the suspect and the suspect's 
vehicle, Hargrove said.