An Overview and Analysis of The Amber Alert System in The United States

Amber alert is an adoption by the United States Department of justice in cases of children adoption. One can also refer to it as the Child Abduction Emergency which is an alert system in cases of children abduction. AMBER is an acronym for the name, America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. Most of us must have been privileged as not to undergo injustices related to abduction but this crime has continued to happen in our street, hoods and residential areas throughout the country. This alert system was named after Amber Hagerman who was abducted at age 9 and killed in Arlington, Texas (Ullman et al., 206). It works on the basis that it brings together both tools about law enforcement and the media at large to notify the public of the missing child. The primary purpose of the creation of this alert system is to bring back missing children to be joined with their families. A nationwide survey shows that this system has been crucial saving a total of five hundred and ninety-five children.

Preview statement

My preview statement for this speech will be to tackle on a critical analysis on how the AMBER alert system works to enable us as a class to appreciate this high-speed information passing technology. Secondly, I will address the reason why this topic is relevant to our daily lives activities and as a member of one particular family that in one way or the other can be faced with such misfortune. Lastly, I will address and give account as to why I chose this topic and the reason as to why I feel I am in a position to resolve this matter in length and satisfaction

Critical analysis of Amber Alert System

I would like now to give you a critical analysis of how this system works and why it is a significant boost in fighting criminology as well as injustices. The amber alerts are spread across the country in the event of such cases of abduction being reported by the aid of Emergency Alert Systems and the NOAA Weather Radio. This kind of information from these two organs is conveyed to the public through the use of commercial radio stations in the country, social media pages, satellite radios as well as televisions and cable TVs (Griffin et al., 2008) . This message is spread widely with the help of short messages, emails, traffic condition signs and even electronic billboards. This is often done to ensure message reach the highest number of people as possible.

To support this even further, the Amber alert system has created a Google platform referred to as Google Child alert to enable rapid response in cases of identification. For an Amber Alert to be effected a decision must be critically made by either the state police or highway police as to whether the missing child cannot be fully traced and the public’s aid is urgently needed (Griffin et al., 2007). The AMBER Alert often contains some critical details of the lost child which include, the name of the child abducted and his or her description based on age, sex complexion, height, body size, clothing on abduction date and any unique thing to the missing child. The suspected abductor and the vehicles descriptions if so need be.

It is important to note that the use of the system is a bit strict in that it must meet specific criteria to avoid being dismissed by the public as hogwash. The United States Department of justice gave out a guideline and conditions to which must be met before triggering AMBER alert (Hammond et al., 2010). I will take you through the four of them; firstly, the law enforcement must confirm that abduction has taken the place of which to confirm this, a parent, relative or interested party must report the matter to the police. Second, the child must be at a risk of severe bodily harm or death; this point, however, has often been overlooked by many law enforcement urgencies. Third, a sufficient description of the child and captors vehicle must be explicitly given, and lastly, this child must be below eighteen years of age.

How the topic relates to you as a class

The relevance of this topic on AMBER alert is that it is traumatizing how some children leave their families in the hopes of reuniting later on in the day or afterward, but this dream is often short-lived in the events of abduction. This has often brought about the state of unrest and panic amongst the families faced with such misfortunes. It was important that I present this topic to the class so that as a class we can be able to appreciate the alerts often generated by the system in such cases of emergency (Zgoba et al., 2004). This is to challenge every one of us on the fact that it is a painful situation that parents and family go through in cases of abduction and needs to be supported by showing solidarity.

No one wants to be in a situation of discomfort, tragedy or unrest that is the reason as to why I found this topic relevant. There have been numerous cases of children abduction in our neighborhoods which have made it difficult for each of us to cope. Families and children often live in fear not knowing when they will be victims of such atrocities. In as much as it is the mandate of the police to offer protection to the citizens, we can also take up this responsibility to educate members of our society within our reach on this system to help in such trying scenarios. As scholars, we need to be up to date with current issues and the fact that this method of alert appreciates the use of the internet we are at the helm of supporting the society by the fact that we are the generation which has recognized the use of web overwhelmingly.

Why this topic

The Amber Alert system use has been on the rise for the past ten years, and as to this, I thought it was important to share with the class this wonderful invention. We keep reading the news, court cases as well as social media of people complaining of children abduction. Well some of them are not aware of the Amber Alert System or even the best channel to express their grievances. This can also be attested to by some of the class members not aware of this system. It was so that I update some of us of the current state of things. This topic has a more profound insight of humanity, and it was meant to challenge the class to be able to be each other’s keepers and push them to embrace the system. As well it was to enable me appreciate the impact technological advancement is making in support of humanity and fighting crime (Satyanarayanan et al., 2011).

Why I am a good person to talk about Amber Alert

Well I feel I am the best person to address this topic being that I have researched it for a while and understood the basic concepts under which it was constituted. Secondly, it is important to give reference to a story I read in the local dailies of a family suffering due to the abduction of their only child. This affected my psychology, and I was challenged to understand what the government is doing concerning the issue, and that’s how I came about this wonderful invention that has helped bring back five hundred and ninety-five missing children. In simple terms, this topic was to appreciate the humanity in me always mindful of things affecting the human race.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to state categorically that this invention brought about by the introduction of technology is one very crucial one in support of the increased cases of children abduction in the United States. By the effort of the Amber Alert missing children have been reunited with families making it one of the best adoptions by the department of justice in the country to minimize such cases. A significant shortcoming of this system that is sure most of you will be questioning is why the system does not support all such claims (Miller et al., 2009). It is important to note that everything has a shortcoming, but also this is in accordance to ensure that citizens are given something they can completely relate to and can be of help.