California AMBER Alert 2.0
In October 2018, California AMBER Alert Co-Coordinator Ed Bertola recognized the California Highway Patrol (CHP) was in a bind. He had been working for months to improve the state’s AMBER Alert plan, but he did not have everything up as anticipated, and the changes the CHP had made had not been tested. However, when California saw three AMBER Alerts within 24 hours; a decision had to be made to go forward with what was in place.
A Primer for Missing Children’s Day
Florida offers step-by-step plan for making a missing children awareness event memorable
AMBER Alert Training Brought to a Town – or Computer – Near You
Missouri law enforcement receives training, specifically designed for their jurisdictional and geographic needs, on effective response to sex trafficking crimes against children
Family Roundtable: Giving Survivors a Voice
Family roundtable meetings have occurred for more than 15 years with the specific purpose of providing a venue for communication and collaboration between victims, surviving family members and law enforcement.
I Had to Become a Warrior Mom
Warrior Mom: Mother of murdered Navajo girl challenges tribal, federal, state and local leaders to be vigilant at 2019 AMBER Alert in Indian County Symposium
Unwelcome Alliance
Unwelcome Alliance: The tragic ties between abducted children and child sex trafficking are the focus of 2019 National AMBER Alert Symposium
From Captive to Advocate
Gina DeJesus uses her personal experience to help find missing and abducted children
Learning from an AMBER Alert
What can you learn from an abducted child’s family after an AMBER Alert? Northeast Ohio’s AMBER Alert program aims to find out.
Training the First Responders
How the Telecommunications Best Practices for Missing and Abducted Children course (TELMAC) promotes readiness from the first report of an endangered, missing, or abducted child.
Ashlynne’s Law AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018
With the passage of this important legislation, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program is hard at work moving the law into action. A law born out of the tragic abduction and murder of eleven-year-old Ashlynne Mike of the Navajo Nation endeavors to bring increased law enforcement coordination, new and expanded resources, and renewed […]
2018 National Missing Children’s Day
Awards presented in the US Department of Justice Great Hall Missing Children’s Day is recognized annually in Washington D.C., as well as states across the nation and countries around the globe. The U.S. Department of Justice held its 2018 awards ceremony on May 23, 2018, in the Great Hall, with event coordination by the Office […]
2018 National AMBER Alert Symposium
The 2018 National AMBER Alert Symposium, held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-17, 2018, was attended by more than 100 partners including AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Coordinators and other child protection officials. More than 40 states, federally recognized tribes, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico were represented at this […]
The Future of Child Protection
AMBER ALERT TRAINING & TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR SHARES VISION FOR PROTECTING CHILDREN Jim Walters has accomplished a lot since becoming AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Administrator in July 2014. Nearly 40 years in law enforcement and the military has helped prepare him for the critical task at hand, and he is […]
AMBER Alert Training Highlights – Fall 2017
Just a month before Hurricanes Maria and Irma brought massive devastation in Puerto Rico, law enforcement officers in the U.S. territory had fortunately received training on how to find missing and abducted children. The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program’s event held August 23-24, 2017, had more than 450 participants representing all 13 regions […]
Justice for Ashlynne
NATIVE AMERICAN GIRL’S DEATH MAY SAVE COUNTLESS LIVES All eleven-year-old Ashlynne Mike and her nine-year-old brother Ian did was accept a ride home from their school’s bus stop in Lower Fruitlands, Arizona. When it was over, Ashlynne had been raped and murdered and her brother Ian was left wandering in the desert. On October 27, […]
2017 AMBER Alert Symposium
PATTY WETTERLING CHALLENGES AMBER ALERT PARTNERS TO NEVER GIVE UP HOPE Patty Wetterling fought back tears while describing how she learned her son’s body had been found after nearly three decades of searching and hoping he was still alive. On October 22, 1989, her eleven-year old son Jacob was riding his bike when he was […]
Why an AMBER Alert May Never Be Issued
A yearlong study on sex trafficking in Las Vegas found the majority of victims were teenagers under the threat of violence from their perpetrators—and more than half of all underage victims were never reported missing. The results of the study have broad implications for the AMBER Alert program because law enforcement and others may never […]
“She Was a Sweet Girl and Did Not Deserve to Die”
Casey Jo Pipestem was raised in Oklahoma City as a member of the Seminole Tribe. Casey’s grandmother raised her until she passed away when Casey was just 7 years old. She then lived with other relatives, but found it difficult to fit in while living in rural communities. Casey dropped out of high school, moved […]
A Victim’s Story: We Have to Remember Who We Are to Break the Cycle of Violence
Jeri Jimenez has had a lifetime of trauma. She was molested at age 4, grew up in a family with physical and sexual violence and became a victim of sex trafficking after leaving her violent husband. Jimenez is a member of the Klamath Tribe. During the Tribal Symposium, she shared her story with tribal […]
2016 TRIBAL SYMPOSIUM
The Tribal Child Protection Leadership Forum and Symposium began with a traditional Native American blessing that included the words, “Oh child where are you?” The events took place in Scottsdale, Arizona, July 19-21, 2016, and included representatives from more than 25 tribes who shared lessons learned and experiences with AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse […]