Contact: Nona Everett
Date: January 12, 2012
Phone: 1-800-522-5437

National AMBER Alert Awareness Day

 

RALEIGH – On Friday, Jan.13, the nation recognizes National AMBER Alert Awareness Day. Since the program's inception, 550 abducted children across the country have been safely recovered as a direct result of AMBER Alerts.

While there are 120 plans across the country, there is one official AMBER Alert plan in North Carolina and that plan is administered by the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons, in cooperation with the State High Patrol and state broadcasters. This statewide plan is recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Since the inception of the North Carolina AMBER Alert plan in the summer of 2002, there have been 85 successful AMBER Alerts activated. In all cases, except one the children were successfully recovered. (2 year old Edwin Gonzales is believed to be in Mexico with his father Jorge Aguilera.

The North Carolina Center for Missing Persons strictly adheres to the AMBER Alert criteria, as set forth in NC statue: the abducted child must be aged 17 or younger, believed to have been abducted, not taken by a parent (unless the child is in danger), not believed to be a runaway or voluntarily missing, and the abduction has been reported to and investigated by an law enforcement agency.

The Center for Missing Persons credits the success of the NC AMBER Alert Plan directly to the growing number and commitment of national and state partnerships. The Center continues to work very closely with public and private entities to ensure as many ‘eyes and ears' receive an AMBER Alert message in order to quickly and safely locate an abducted child.”

To receive AMBER Alert notifications, the public may sign-up to receive free text messages via www.wirlessamberalerts.org. Those who sign-up will also receive the AMBER Alert cancellation message when the alert is no longer required.

For more information on the North Carolina AMBER Alert Plan, please visit: www.nccrimecontrol.org.