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Angel Cruz is a Project Coordinator with the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College. Angel leads program efforts funded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Angel previously worked as a Domestic Violence Shelter Coordinator for the Gila River Indian Community, where she managed the overall operations of a 30-bed shelter for domestic violence survivors and their children. Prior to that, Angel served as a Sexual Assault Program Coordinator with Gila River. In this position, Angel coordinated, developed, and monitored training plans for Sexual Assault Advocates in order to increase staff competency. She also helped develop and establish healing support groups for survivors of sexual violence. In 2011 Angel worked as a Chemical Dependency Counselor Aide at the Desert Visions Youth Wellness Center, and later, in 2012, a Social Worker II/CPS Investigator with Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

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Our second issue of 2024 reflects our collective mindset, “One team, one fight” (a phrase coined by Hawaii AMBER Alert Coordinator Amanda Leonard at our recent National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium.) We share highlights from the productive and inspiring two-day event in New Orleans. We also talk with Michigan AMBER Alert Coordinator Jolene Hardesty about her work on the Not Invisible Act Commission, which focused on finding solutions to the key problems faced by Indigenous communities. We delve into the high-profile abduction and rescue of a 9-year-old girl in New York—a case that underscores the importance of prudent alerting decisions. And we provide the latest AMBER Alert-related news you can use.

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Keynote speakers for the Symposium—Pamela Foster (front row center), Marlys Big Eagle (front row, second from right), and Kimber Biggs (second row, second from left)—join the AATTAP team after the event. Also shown (at top left) is Brad Russ, Executive Director of the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College. {Photo: AATTAP}

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen speaking at podium

AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program Administrator Janell Rasmussen speaks to more than 200 Symposium attendees. {Photo: AATTAP}

AATTAP staff member handing QR code for check-in to attendee.

AATTAP Region One Liaison Joan Collins helps Megan Eschleman of the California Department of Justice use a QR code to check in for a session using the Whova app. {Photo: AATTAP}

AMBER Alert Coordinators from across the nation and abroad reunited for the annual learning event. {Photo: AATTAP}

Photo of two Symposium attendees from Hawaii

Missing Child Center-Hawaii Coordinator Amanda Leonard and Honolulu Police Department Detective William "Billy" Oku “hang loose” during a break. {Photo: AATTAP}

Photo of AATTAP Region Four Liaison Josefina Sabori holding her name badge

AATTAP Region 4 Liaison Josefina Sabori is honored to wear her badge for the event. {Photo: AATTAP}

Photo of sibling-survivor Kimber Biggs talking at the Symposium.

Sibling-survivor Kimber Biggs shares her story during the Symposium. {Photo: AATTAP}

Photo of Symposium instructor speaking to a class.

AATTAP-NCJTC Instructor/retired FBI Special Agent David Fallon leads a workshop on family member abductions. {Photo: AATTAP}

Photo of guest speakers Pamela Foster, left, and Kimber Biggs, right.

Sibling-survivor Kimber Biggs (right) talks with parent-survivor Pamela Foster at the Symposium. “Pamela is such an inspiration to me—and anyone who has endured a similar loss,” Biggs said. {Photo: AATTAP}

Photo of AMBER Alert lapel pin, a badge, and earrings.

Sibling-survivor Kimber Biggs photographed her AMBER Alert lapel pin and two gifts from Ashlynne’s mother, Pamela Foster: a memorial button and a pair of earrings with wording from the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

Photo of two AMBER Alert in Indian Country leaders: Marlys Big Eagle with the DOJ, left, and the AATTAP's Tyesha Wood.

The DOJ’s Native American Outreach Services Liaison, Marlys Big Eagle (who served as a keynote speaker), discusses her MMIP work with AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood. {Photo: AATTAP}

Two Symposium attendees pose in front of the AMBER Alert banner

AMBER Alert Coordinators Janell Twardowski of Minnesota (left) and Melissa Marchant of Wisconsin pose for a photo. {Photo: AATTAP}

By Denise Gee Peacock

Hundreds of state and regional AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Person Clearinghouse Managers, Tribal law enforcement officers, public alerting/emergency management experts, and federal officials gathered in New Orleans February 27–28 to attend the 2024 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium.

The no-fee training and collaborative learning event, funded through the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and administered by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), engaged attendees in discussing developing trends and case studies, sharing best practices, and training with other child protection partners to better respond to endangered missing and abducted child cases.

Held at the historic Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans’ French Quarter, the Symposium featured 26 workshops led by dozens of subject-matter experts as well as three keynote speakers. It also included six regional and Tribal breakout sessions that allowed for in-depth discussions on issues of importance to their states and Tribes.

Amanda Leonard, Coordinator for the Missing Child Center-Hawaii/Department of the Attorney General, flew more than 4,200 miles to attend the Symposium with Honolulu Police Department Detective William “Billy” Oku.

“The survivors and trainers at this event give us the needed reminder of why we serve as AMBER Alert Coordinators,” Leonard said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to excel in our important collective work. One team, one fight!”

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen welcomed hundreds of participants representing nearly every state in the nation, as well as the program’s Northern Border Initiative partner, Canada.

In crediting the grant support that the AATTAP and its AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) Initiative receives from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Rasmussen recognized two OJJDP attendees—AATTAP Grant Manager Alex Sarrano, and Lou Ann Holland, Grant Manager for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), “for their dedication to protecting children, and their passion for the work being done” by those at the Symposium.

Rasmussen praised attendees’ “hard work—work most people could not do—on behalf of missing children. Many of them are home today, but some are not. Let’s remember Elijah Vue in Wisconsin, Morgan Nick in Arkansas, Mikelle Biggs in Arizona, and Navaeh Kingbird in Minnesota. These children and so many others deserve to be found, to be reunited with their families, and to grow up in a safe environment.”

Training ‘for you, by you’

The AATTAP team develops and delivers training opportunities crafted “for you, by you”—and each Symposium is the standard bearer of that.

“ ‘For you, by you’ isn’t just a catchphrase—it’s our guiding principle,” said Byron Fassett, AATTAP Deputy Administrator. “Everything on the agenda is the result of our team asking everyone at last year’s Symposium—and everyone who participated in hundreds of our classes since then—‘What do you want to see?’ and ‘What are your needs?’”

Additionally, Symposium-goers had a digital, interactive tool for planning, collaborating, and providing feedback: the event app Whova. The platform let participants review the agenda, plan for sessions they wished to attend, map out class locations, check into sessions, weigh in on discussion topics, connect for lunch or dinner, share photos, and much more. Attendees also could suggest topics and locations for next year’s Symposium.

Guest speaker Brad Russ, Executive Director of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), said he was proud to see how far training topics and techniques have advanced from what he experienced during his early days in law enforcement in New Hampshire.

Russ’s respected work would ultimately lead the OJJDP to seek his involvement in nationwide training that began more than 30 years ago. During that time, missing child advocate Patty Wetterling of Minnesota “helped open the eyes and hearts of stoic police officers with her powerful insight into what parents face when their child goes missing,” he recalled.

Russ also commended an early mentor—OJJDP/FVTC instructor and retired Pennsylvania Police Sergeant Gary O’Connor—for advancing traditional training techniques that historically involved staid presentations full of statistics into curriculum and instructional design employing more dynamic approaches, such as engaging participants through robust discussions, knowledge checks, and tabletop exercises. Russ has ensured such effective strategies have carried forward since the NCJTC’s creation in 2009.

The power of family perspectives

Cover of the resource guide "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide" with link to website: https://www.amberadvocate.org/families — **Visit the *Family Survival Guide* website: amberadvocate.org/families.**

Symposium attendees received copies of the newly updated resource, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. They also learned about its companion website, which gives caregivers and law enforcement instant access to the Guide’s multimedia content, including videos of the parent-survivors sharing powerful stories and advice.

“When we released the Guide on Missing Children’s Day 2023, the families involved in its production joined us for a meeting with OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan and her team,” said AATTAP Administrator Rasmussen. “The parent-authors were adamant that law enforcement needed more guidance on how to best work with, and understand, families of missing children. They also emphasized that missing child cases, and relevant training, should be a priority for law enforcement.”

As a result, Ryan asked the AATTAP to help update the resource guide, What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister. “Siblings of missing children often suffer in silence, but need so much support,” Rasmussen said.

Two family members who are helping produce the new sibling guide served as keynote speakers for the Symposium.

Kimber Biggs spoke about the devastating loss of her 11-year-old sister, Mikelle Biggs. On January 2, 1999, Mikelle was abducted while riding her bike near her family’s Arizona home—and never seen again. Biggs was 9 years old when that trauma took place, but she has spent 25 years advocating on her sister’s behalf. She now works as an Associate with the AATTAP-NCJTC.

Photo of young girl with her bicycle. — Mikelle Biggs is shown shortly before she was abducted near her Arizona home in 1999. She is still missing. {Photo: Courtesy Biggs family}

Biggs shared several distressing interactions with law enforcement “that I hope you all can learn from.” The biggest blow, she said, was set in motion after detectives learned that her father was having an affair at the time of her sister’s disappearance.

“And instead of looking at other suspects—including a registered sex offender on our street—they fixated on my dad and the affair. That was a huge setback for the case,” Biggs said. “Their thinking that he was guilty of harming my sister only added to our family’s trauma.”

While it’s taken more than two decades to see renewed interest “in what was a very cold case,” a new detective has been assigned to it, Biggs said. “That’s a great relief. It’s nice to have someone now who is trustworthy and proactive. We communicate at least weekly. And the fact that he’s eyeing a significant suspect in the case makes it feel like something is finally happening.”

On the Symposium’s second day, Pamela Foster shared her powerful story. Foster is the mother of the late 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, whose May 2016 abduction and murder on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico led to Foster becoming a self-described “warrior mom”—not only for her daughter, but for all children in Indian Country.

“Words cannot describe the brokenness I felt when I learned Ashlynne had been murdered,” Foster said. “Words cannot describe the sheer anguish my family and the community felt at the sudden death of our precious little girl. A deep heartache followed.”

Her anguish would be further heightened after learning that the Navajo Nation—the nation’s largest Indian reservation, spanning three states—was not equipped to quickly issue an AMBER Alert. And confusion by outside law enforcement over who had the proper jurisdiction to issue the alert created a major delay in finding Ashlynne.

“Within weeks, I started petitions to bring the AMBER Alert to Indian Country,” she said. “I called for action from my friends, the Navajo Nation, and the federal government. And though I was physically exhausted and spiritually broken, I poured my heart into effecting legislative change.”

With the support of late U.S. Senator John McCain and Representative Andy Biggs, both of Arizona, by 2018, the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act was signed into law—and ultimately lead to the creation of AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative. “I’m always reassured whenever I see an AMBER Alert doing what it’s supposed to do,” Foster said.

Photo of Derek VanLuchene and Pamela Foster holding quilt. — **COVER STORY EXTRA:** Parent-survivor/2024 Symposium keynote speaker Pamela Foster surprised sibling-survivor/AATTAP Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene with an art quilt that she made in tribute to VanLuchene’s late brother, Ryan, and his dog, Herschel. **Read “Healing Through Comfort.” https://www.amberadvocate.org/amber-feature/aa58-healing-through-comfort-quilt/**

After Foster’s talk, AATTAP Administrator Rasmussen and AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood presented her with a gift “in recognition of her ongoing bravery, generosity, and never-ending commitment to moving AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiatives forward in memory of Ashlynne—and all missing children,” Rasmussen said. “Pamela’s tireless work has changed the way we respond to missing children in Indian Country. Today, the Navajo Nation has an AMBER Alert Plan, and many other Tribal nations are working with state and regional partners to ensure that what happened to Ashlynne never happens again.”

“As painful as Kimber and Pamela’s experiences are to hear, it’s important that we do hear them to help improve our response,” said keynote speaker Marlys Big Eagle. A member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, Big Eagle serves as the National Native American Outreach Services Liaison for the U.S. Department of Justice, and has worked in criminal justice for more than two decades. Her work centers on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Initiative and other public safety issues in Indian Country.

Over and out—and energized

At the conclusion of the Symposium, Rasmussen reminded attendees of what family members of missing children said after finalizing their work on the Family Survival Guide. “When we asked them, ‘If you could tell law enforcement what they need to hear, what would you say? ’ One of the parents mentioned earlier, Patty Wetterling, said, ‘We know the work that you do is hard; that you have families to go home to; that the work you’ve done during the day remains with you. But remember: We’re suffering the most horrific event of our lives. So we’re counting on you to do everything possible to bring our child home. But also know that we thank you for everything you do.’”

These and other words of advice and encouragement bolstered conversations long after the Symposium ended. Using the Whova app, attendees could continue discussing how to fund new technology; start and sustain a CART; improve leads management; navigate the changing social media landscape; adapt to the growing number of emergency alert classifications; develop ways to capture data; and keep people properly trained during staffing shortages. They also used the Whova platform to provide important feedback for next year’s Symposium.

Calling the conference “one of the most outstanding ones to date,” Hawaii’s AMBER Alert Coordinator Amanda Leonard also shared this: “On my way home to Honolulu via Houston, as soon as the plane landed, I received an AMBER Alert for a 12-year-old girl abducted in the city. I felt so connected to the Texas law enforcement team working her case and helping her terrified loved ones. The work never ends—and abducted children need us to be prepared to issue a lifesaving AMBER Alert for them.”

(more…)

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AATTAP Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene and Pamela Foster show the quilt Foster made for Derek. — AATTAP Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene and Symposium keynote speaker Pamela Foster show the art quilt Foster made for VanLuchene—and gave him during the Symposium. {Photo: AATTAP}

By Denise Gee Peacock

For those fortunate enough to witness it, one of the Symposium’s most moving moments came in the guise of a small package—one that guest speaker Pamela Foster quietly handed to AATTAP CART Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene.

Both share a unique bond: Foster is the mother of Ashlynne Mike, who was abducted and murdered on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico when she was 11. And VanLuchene is the brother of Ryan VanLuchene, abducted at age 8 (in the presence of Derek, then 17) and later found murdered not far from his home in rural Montana. Like Ashlynne, Ryan was sexually assaulted before being killed. “The trauma of knowing that can be unbearable,” Foster says.

Foster and VanLuchene first met in 2019 at a Montana training conference with the Blackfeet Nation. “That’s when I heard his story,” she says. “I had no idea he and I were going through such similar emotions. And since then, our talks have given me such comfort.”

Around the time of their meeting, Foster was trying her hand at designing and sewing textile art.

“Quilting gave me an outlet to disappear from the world,” she says. “I started giving the quilts to others I’d befriended who were also going through grief.”

But she kept thinking of VanLuchene. What could she create for a former police officer “who’d pretty much seen it all—but also was a gentle soul,” a sibling-survivor of a violent crime? “I wanted to give him something from my heart—especially because he’s doing such good work to help others find missing children,” she says.

She pondered the possibilities until last fall, when she learned VanLuchene’s beloved dog, Herschel, had died.

“That’s when the image came to me. I worked up the courage to design a quilt showing Ryan and Herschel together.” Whenever she found time, she worked on the gift, but only finished it the night before leaving her Southern California home to fly to New Orleans.

Detail of art quilt made by Pamela Foster for Derek VanLuchene. It memorializes Derek's late brother, Ryan, and his dog, Herschel. — The quilt depicts Derek VanLuchene’s late dog, Herschel, watching over Derek’s late brother, Ryan VanLuchene, during a fishing outing. {Photo: AATTAP}

VanLuchene was deeply moved by the gesture. “What a special gift,” he says. “Herschel and I always shared a special connection. It was devastating when he passed this last October. In so many ways he was my comfort dog. So it gives me great peace to see him comforting my brother, Ryan, near the water, which they both loved.”

Derek VanLuchene has given the quilt pride of place in his home office. Pamela Foster is happy to know he will look at it often there. “I hope each time he sees it he’ll know just how much love it holds for him,” she says.

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By Jody Garlock

As the disappearance of 9-year-old Charlotte Sena from an Upstate New York park in the fall of 2023 began to garner national media attention, the parallels to another case flashed through the mind of Victoria Martuscello, Investigator/Assistant AMBER Alert Coordinator for the New York State Police (NYSP).

Photo of the law enforcement group involved in the search for Charlotte Sena in Upstate New York. — New York State Police Senior Investigator and AMBER Alert Coordinator Erika Hock (center) was among the relieved authorities at the command center during Charlotte’s safe recovery.

Shortly before Charlotte was reported missing by her family, her bike had been found abandoned on the side of a road at Moreau Lake State Park. For Martuscello, the report evoked a familiar sense of doom. “It felt like we had a classic case of Amber Hagerman playing out right in front of our faces,” she says, referencing the 9-year-old Texas girl whose 1996 abduction and murder led to the creation of our nation’s AMBER Alert program.

Meanwhile, as the critical window of time for the best odds of recovery loomed, Erika Hock, Martuscello’s supervisor and the NYSP Senior Investigator and AMBER Alert Coordinator who issued the AMBER Alert for Charlotte, couldn’t help but feel hope was waning.

Conversely, Hock and Martuscello were uplifted to see the hundreds of law enforcement professionals engaged in Charlotte’s search, as well as public interest in the case—heightened by the rallying call of New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

After an expansive search lasting nearly two days, the words “We got her! We got her!” bellowed through a speaker phone at the Saratoga County command post. The fact that the fourth-grader was alive and well brought cheers throughout the post and community at large.

Charlotte’s rescue was nothing short of a miracle. Her case had defied the odds. But it would also test the fortitude of New York’s AMBER Alert plan—and offers lessons for other agencies. (See “Five key takeaways” at the end of this story.)

Saturday, September 30, 2023, was a beautiful autumn day in the foothills of New York’s Adirondack Mountains. The Sena family was enjoying the weekend with friends in two wooded camping spots at Moreau Lake State Park, about 45 miles north of Albany (and 20 minutes from the Sena’s home).

Throughout the day, Charlotte, clad in a tie-dye T-shirt, had been riding her green and blue mountain bike with her siblings and friends around the camping loop, a tree-canopied road ringed with campsites close to the park’s entrance. By dinnertime, most of Charlotte’s group were ready to call it a day, but she wanted to make one final loop on her own. When she didn’t return as expected, her parents began searching for her, as did other campers—all of them calling out for the girl in the forested park.

Within 20 minutes (about 6:45 p.m.), Charlotte’s dad and a friend found her bike on the side of the camping loop road, but she was nowhere in sight. That alarmed her mother enough to call 911.

Photo of New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaking at a press conference related to Charlotte Sena's abduction — During the search for Charlotte, “I promised her parents we’ll find their daughter,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul. “She’s all of our daughters.”

New York State Police Troopers arrived on the scene to canvass for information. They soon learned that shortly before Charlotte went missing, a couple at the campground had come across a bike blocking the middle of the road where they were driving. With its kickstand down, they assumed the rider had parked there temporarily, so the driver beeped the horn, hoping its owner would come back and move it. But after several minutes without a response, they decided to move it to the side of the road and continue their drive.

Based on the bike’s orderly position, officers initially didn’t think foul play was involved, Hock explains. “They thought she’d wandered into the woods and gotten lost. Nothing pointed to an abduction.”

With nightfall looming, the search intensified. Around 11 p.m., the Missing Persons Clearinghouse issued a missing child alert and distributed a poster with Charlotte’s photo. Ultimately hundreds of searchers—including police officers, forest rangers, trained canines, drone operators, underwater recovery teams, firefighters, technology experts, volunteers, and the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation—joined in to try to find the missing girl.

Without any sign of Charlotte by early Sunday morning, a NYSP lieutenant and support staff updated Hock, who agreed there was “reasonable cause” to conclude she was in danger, and likely had been abducted, thereby meeting New York’s criteria to issue an AMBER Alert.

At 9:30 a.m., Hock issued an AMBER Alert geo-targeting two regions skirting the park. At that pointin the investigation, an FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team joined the investigation. (New York’s statewide Child Abduction Response Team (CART) was in development at the time.) The governor put out a plea for the child’s safe return. Major news outlets began reporting the story, and hundreds of tips poured in. Still, the 9-year-old’s whereabouts remained a mystery.

As word of Charlotte’s disappearance circulated, the Sena home in Greenfield received a steady flow of traffic from well-wishers—known and unknown—who dropped off messages of support. While the distraught family remained at the park, their house was under police surveillance. Nothing seemed unusual until around 4:30 a.m. Monday, when a dark F-150 pickup truck pulled up to the mailbox and placed something in it.

The trooper watching the home, unable to record the license plate, immediately retrieved the item, and saw it was a crudely produced ransom note—and a critical piece of evidence. As authorities began a search for vehicles matching the truck’s description and conducted other analytical data, they also expedited a fingerprint analysis on the ransom note. Then came a lucky break: A fingerprint was found on the note. And what’s more, it matched that of 46-year-old Craig N. Ross Jr., who had been arrested in 1999 for driving while intoxicated.

By then, the state’s Cellular Analysis Response Team had verified that Ross’s cellular device was in the vicinity of the park when Charlotte disappeared, so authorities obtained search warrants for addresses linked to Ross.

Around 6:30 that evening, tactical teams swarmed a ramshackle camper on Ross’s mother’s property. Ross briefly resisted arrest, but ultimately Charlotte was found safe in a bedroom closet. Ross was arrested and charged with kidnapping, and later would be charged with sexual assault. In February 2024, he pleaded guilty to those charges.

Photos of Charlotte Sena's abductor, Craig N. Ross, and Ross' camper the 9-year-old girl was discovered in. — Craig N. Ross Jr. was booked at the Saratoga County jail shortly after tactical teams found Charlotte concealed in his camper.

As Ross awaits sentencing, Hock and Martuscello continue to field questions about how the case was handled. While there are lessons to learn from every case, the key takeaway for both investigators was that adhering to the state’s protocol for issuing AMBER Alerts worked.

From the outset, their investigative team worked quickly to find Charlotte using comprehensive investigative strategies and tools. The public was alerted once the criteria had been met—and only in a specific area where the 9-year-old was likely to be. The goal is to provide the public with information that can help, rather than confuse, efforts to locate a missing child. Strategic, targeted alerting helps prevent people from becoming de-sensitized to AMBER Alerts, which can be a deadly consequence of public indifference.

Both Hock and Martuscello remain confident in their roles and the established protocols.

“I have friends ask why AMBER Alerts aren’t issued for every missing child, but if you get an AMBER Alert every time a child goes missing, your phone would be going off all day long,” Martuscello says. “I ask them what they think they would do because of that. They say, ‘You’re right, I would turn off that alert.’”

“This case had so many aspects that defied the odds,” says Erika Hock, New York State Police Senior Investigator and AMBER Alert Coordinator. Here she shares insights on what she learned—with lessons other Coordinators can apply.

Be prepared for scrutiny and criticism. Any case—but especially a high-profile one—underscores the need to meticulously follow protocols. Members of the public and media often don’t understand how and why AMBER Alerts are issued, Hock explains, so “as an AMBER Alert Coordinator, you can’t have a weak spine. These cases aren’t cut and dried—each one has a gray area. It’s not easy to make the decisions but you have to [using the information you have at the time].”
Act without delay on the information you have. Having critical details—a license plate number or description of the suspected abductor—helps find missing children faster, but sometimes AMBER Alert Coordinators must alert the public using only a photo and description of the missing child. Geo-targeting focuses the information on the people most likely to see the child, and prevents citizens within a large area from receiving alerts that might prompt them to disable their cellphone’s AMBER Alert function.
Understand that cases are fluid. Some New Yorkers questioned why there wasn’t an immediate AMBER Alert, or why they didn’t receive the notification in their region—which prompted a New York legislator to begin pushing a bill to allow parents or guardians to request early activation. New York’s criteria for an activation specifies “reasonable cause”—defined as an eyewitness account or the elimination of other possibilities—to believe a child has been abducted. Without an eyewitness, Hock knew to let the initial search rule out possibilities, such as Charlotte being injured from falling down an embankment. She was also prepared to expand the alert to other activation regions in the state if new information warranted.
Make it a team effort. Hock advises AMBER Alert Coordinators to loop in their Public Information Officer as soon as the decision to activate is made. That person or team can then help the media and public understand the criteria.
Cultivate relationships with state law enforcement. In the Sena case, some officers had previously worked in Hock’s unit, and thus were familiar with the activation criteria. “In the past we’ve had demands to activate an AMBER Alert when it’s not even close to meeting our criteria,” Hock says. “But we have these criteria for a reason, and take the time to explain it to agencies [and the public] so they can understand.”

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Photo of members of the Not Invisible Act Commission shown with Jolene Hardesty, far right. — After her appointment to the Not Invisible Act Commission (NIAC), Joelle Hardesty (far right) served with 35 people from across the nation to fulfill the NIAC’s goal to effectively address the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples’ (MMIP) crisis. Commission members received testimony from more than 250 surviving victims, families, and others.

Portrait of Joelle Hardesty, Missing Children’s Clearinghouse Analyst and Missing Persons Coordinator for the Michigan State Police. She served on the Not Invisible Act Commission. — When Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appointed Hardesty to the NIAC in 2022, she praised her “extensive experience collaborating with local, state, and federal law enforcement to find and recover missing children.” Hardesty serves as Missing Children’s Clearinghouse Analyst and Missing Persons Coordinator for the Michigan State Police.

By Rebecca Sherman

Jolene Hardesty has faced challenges in her 20 years of public service—from her early days as a 911 sheriff’s office dispatcher to her current role as Missing Children’s Clearinghouse Analyst and Missing Persons Coordinator for the Michigan State Police.

And while she has helped rescue an estimated 600 children by providing analytical, resource, and training support to regional, state, federal, and Tribal law enforcement, she can now count another challenging assignment as a win: 15 months of service on the Not Invisible Act Commission.

For Hardesty, the experience was equal parts daunting, rewarding, and eye- opening. She worked with 35 others from across the nation to fulfill the Commission’s goals, as follows.

Identify, report, and respond to cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) and human trafficking.
Develop legislative and administrative changes to enlist federal programs, properties, and resources to help combat the crisis.
Track and report data on MMIP and human trafficking cases.
Consider issues related to the hiring and retention of law enforcement officers.
Coordinate Tribal, state, and federal resources to combat MMIP and human trafficking on Indian lands.
Increase information-sharing with Tribal governments on violent crimes investigations and criminal prosecutions on Indian lands.

The Commission held hearings across the nation, receiving heartbreaking yet critically important testimony from hundreds of victims, survivors, family members, family advocates, and members of law enforcement.

In the fall of 2023, Hardesty and her fellow Commissioners submitted their final report to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and Congress.

With May designated as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) Awareness Month (and May 5, National MMIP Day, also known as “Wear Red Day”) we talked with Hardesty about her work on the Not Invisible Act Commission—and what’s on the horizon.

Tell us a bit about your work on the Not Invisible Act Commission.
Each day was spent gearing up and prepping for meetings. I read a lot—federal statutes, statistical reports, and notes from other initiatives prior to the Not Invisible Act, such as Operation Lady Justice. Many weeks we met multiple times and brought in subject-matter experts to answer questions. I also gave in-person [congressional] testimony in D.C. as an expert on missing children, and traveled to Minnesota and Montana for public testimony. We were organized into subcommittees based on our experience. I was co-chair of Subcommittee Two, which focused on MMIP data. And on Subcommittee Four, we looked at coordinating resources, criminal jurisdiction, prosecution, and information sharing— for instance, understanding how the NCIC [National Crime Information Center] database is aggregated, and what shortfalls it presents.

How does the way data is collected present a problem?
In NCIC, there aren’t enough race categories—it’s either “Alaska Native” or “American Indian.” Beyond that, it’s also important to know if a person is a member of the Cherokee or Crow Nation, for instance, or maybe also affiliated with another Tribe. Grouping people into one category doesn’t serve justice when you are at the granular level of an investigation.

Why is the term “Indian” still used by government officials?
Growing up I was taught that term was offensive, but during my work for the Commission, I learned that when you’re speaking about Native American land, the legal term is “Indian Country.” Additionally, Alaskan Natives don’t like being called “Indian”—they live on Alaskan land. But if we explain why we need to use the term in certain circumstances, it goes a long way to show respect. I found that changed the entire conversation when talking with Native partners.

How have you built bridges of respect with your Native American partners?
By creating relationships. I reached out to our Mount Pleasant post in Michigan and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe Police Chief and asked them to be experts on relationship matters. Michigan is home to 12 federally recognized Tribes and a few that are not. And in the state’s not-so-distant past, there were at least three state-funded Indian boarding schools, where Indigenous people were not allowed to speak their language, celebrate traditions, or practice their religion. Because of that, Native American law enforcement partners and citizens often associate non-Native [law enforcement/legal] personnel with trauma. It’s important to acknowledge that, to tell them you understand why they may not trust us. Relationships built on a foundation of mutual respect are critical. You’ve got to be able to have difficult conversations with one another honestly and openly, and still be able to respect each other. Accomplishing this is possible, but takes intentional work on both sides.

Tell us about the importance of cultural awareness and historical training.
Learning about the culture really helps. For example, when non-Native people get sick, they go to the doctor. But for Native peoples, it’s very different. [When going to] Indian Health Service care, a person is asked, “How much Indian are you, and what kind?” Some clinics only serve members of certain Tribes. All that matters before treatment. So that’s the kind of thing our Indian partners face on Indian land. Historical awareness is also important [to understand inherent conflicts between Tribes]. Many were warring Tribes for generations before [the U.S. government] put them on the same reservation and said, “Be happy.”

How have you approached the complexities involved in working with different Tribes?
Every Tribe needs its own voice to be heard, and this takes significant communication and collaboration. The best way to address our Tribal partners’ needs is to ask them. We should ask them not only “What do you need?” but also, “What can I help you with?”

As you reflect on your Commission work, what’s next for you?
My work on the Commission was some of the hardest I’ve done. It was frustrating at times, and I had a huge learning curve, but I feel like I’ve helped, and know I’ve made connections with some phenomenal people. And while I’m sad to see the Commission’s work come to an end, I look forward to the next goal: Implementing AMBER Alert in Indian Country. For many of us on the Commission, the focus will be to bring our Native American partners to the table as advisors, equals, and subject-matter experts. Together, we can really address their needs.

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It was nearing dusk one Sunday evening last November when Hillsborough County deputies in Tampa, Florida, were notified about a missing 9-year-old child with autism. With weather conditions worsening, deputies could not use an air unit to help search for the child, but a SafetyNet bracelet he was wearing allowed them to pinpoint his location. SafetyNet works by allowing law enforcement agencies access to GPS information from bracelets worn by those with cognitive conditions when they go missing. The child, who was hiding behind an air conditioning unit, was found about 20 minutes after the signal was detected.

When Chinese exchange student Kai Zhuang was reported missing in December from his host high school in Riverdale, Utah, authorities traced his location by analyzing call data and bank records. Police found the 17-year-old alone in a tent in rural Utah, amid freezing temperatures and with limited food and water, the apparent victim of a cyber-kidnapping scam. Zhuang was unharmed, but the damage was done—his parents in China had already paid “kidnappers” an $80,000 ransom. Zhuang’s case represents a growing type of fraud where cybercriminals target exchange students, particularly Chinese students, tricking them into believing their families are being threatened. They force terrified victims to take photos of themselves bound and gagged, which are then used to coerce the family into paying ransom. The cyber kidnappers continue to extort the family by using photos and voice recordings of the victim that give the impression the kidnappers are with the victim and causing them harm, Riverdale police said. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), experts believe the crimes will continue.

In the aftermath of his son Adam’s kidnapping and murder in 1981, John Walsh became a victim’s rights activist, political lobbyist, and creator of the TV program, “America’s Most Wanted,” which he hosted until 2013. The popular show was credited with helping solve missing child cases, including the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, featured on one of its episodes. In January, Walsh returned to “America’s Most Wanted,” this time with son Callahan Walsh as co-host and co-producer. To help find more missing kids, “America’s Most Wanted” is also working directly with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). “Partnering with NCMEC is so vital to the return of ‘America’s Most Wanted,’” said Callahan, who is also the executive director of NCMEC’s Florida office. “By featuring these cases on the show, we’re putting these missing children in front of a national audience...It’s going to be such a powerful tool to help bring kids home.”

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Advances in rapid DNA sequencing are helping to solve missing persons cases long gone cold, such as that of 20-year-old Ashley Loring Heavyrunner, who disappeared from Montana’s Blackfeet Reservation in 2017. New testing kits can extract thousands of genetic markers from unidentified human remains, making it easier to link them to missing persons. Because few genetic data are available for Native Americans, Hopi Tribe member Haley Omeasoo, a classmate and distant relative of Heavyrunner, decided to pursue forensic anthropology to help locate missing Indigenous people. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Montana, Omeasoo and her graduate advisor, anthropologist Meradeth Snow, are working with the Blackfeet Tribe to create a DNA database of tribal members that can be compared with unidentified human remains. More than 4,000 sets of human remains are found in the U.S. each year; about a quarter remain unidentified, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Nearly 5,500 reports of missing Indigenous women and girls were filed in 2022 alone. Omeasoo is hopeful Ashley Heavyrunner will be found alive, but she knows that her DNA work could ultimately identify her friend’s remains. If that happens, she hopes it will at least give the family closure.

Leah Gazan, a member of Canada’s Parliament, is leading discussions on a proposed “Red Dress Alert” system for missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit (gender-diverse) people, who face a murder rate six times that of other females. Similar to AMBER Alerts for children, Red Dress notifications would be sent to the public on their phones. Ottawa, which recognized the crisis as a national emergency, included funding for an alert system in the federal budget in March 2023. Calling it a matter of life or death, Gazan is urging the federal government to implement the Red Dress program before the next election.

Despite being separated during childhood, two Sioux City, Iowa, sisters and members of the Winnebago Tribe reunited as adults and set out to learn more about their Native American heritage. While digging into their family history, Trisha Rivers and Jessica Lopez-Walker learned of an aunt, Paulette “Paulie” Walker, who left Iowa for California in 1984, and shortly afterward was murdered. The sisters struggled to understand why no one reported the young woman missing, and now aim to have her remains returned to Iowa for burial near family. Their aunt, whose case remains unsolved, is one of the countless Indigenous women who suffer disproportionately higher rates of violence, sexual assault, and murder compared to the rest of the U.S. population. The sisters’ work with the nonprofit organization Great Plains Action Society involves helping find missing or murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) and providing support for other issues Iowa’s Indigenous population faces. Native Americans made up 1.5 percent of missing persons cases in Iowa, despite the state’s Native American population accounting for less than one half of 1 percent, according to an Iowa Public Radio report. “Native women and girls, our relatives, are not expendable,” Rivers said, adding that they’re seeking better treatment for Native communities.

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A novel use of technology is helping to locate missing children around the world, including 9-year-old Phillista Waithera, who vanished in Nairobi in 2021. Two years later, she was reunited with her immediate family with the use of Face Age Progression (FAP) technology, which utilizes an Artificial Intelligence (AI) app to create photos of the child to show what they would look like now. In 2021 alone, the Kenyan nonprofit Missing Child Kenya Foundation located 298 children using AI, according to CEO and founder Maryanna Munyendo. And in central China’s Hubei Provence, a group of students at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) developed an AI system to restore and enhance old blurry photos of children who went missing decades earlier. More than 1,000 photos have been restored to improve clarity, helping reunite 11 missing children, like Sun Zhuo, a 4-year-old abducted in 2007 from his daycare in Shenzhen Province and rejoined with his biological parents in 2021 at age 18.

Ukraine officials have identified more than 19,000 children illegally removed from their homes and taken to Russia or Russia-controlled territory since the war began in February 2022. In some cases, Russian authorities took hundreds of children from Ukrainian orphanages and schools, according to Russian documents gathered by Lyudmyla Denisova, a former Ukraine human rights official. Many children were removed on the pretext of rescuing them from the war zone, or lured with the promise of attending camp. Others were taken from hospitals. Russian authorities have placed children with foster families, and President Vladimir Putin opened the way for Russian families to adopt Ukrainian children. The Russian strategy is deliberate, premeditated, and systematic, according to evidence collected by Ukrainian and international human rights and war crimes organizations. In March 2023, The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and another official, a move that has made it easier to return children. Charities such as Save Ukraine and SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine have taken up the cause, and in recent months have tracked down and returned 387 children to their families.

Dozens of migrant children who sought protection after fleeing war-torn countries have vanished in Ireland since 2017. A 2023 report published by University College Dublin’s (UCD) Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP) indicates some of the children were victims of organized sexual exploitation. Of the 62 who are missing, 44 have reached their 18th birthday and, because they are no longer minors, child welfare has ceased searching for them. MECPATHS (Mercy Efforts for Child Protection Against Trafficking with the Hospitality and Services Sectors), a nonprofit group raising awareness of child trafficking and exploitation in Ireland, said the report confirmed what frontline workers have been telling the organization for years. “Sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced begging, criminal exploitation, forced marriage, the removal of organs, and domestic servitude—it is all happening in Ireland,” said Ann Mara, the organization’s education manager. “So, the fact that these children are missing, and there is a kind of a shrug of the shoulders, is just mind-boggling.”

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By Denise Gee Peacock

Photo of Tyesha Wood, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program Manager of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative — Tyesha M. Wood

Tyesha M. Wood—a Program Manager for the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) who oversees the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) Initiative—is one of five public servants selected by the End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI) organization as a 2024 “Champion of Change.”

EVAWI operates as a catalyst for justice and healing, “so that every survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence gets the right response, every time,” the non-profit group says. “Champions of Change work on a state or national level, to create system-level reforms in the way we respond to sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and other forms of gender-based violence.”

Wood was chosen as a “Champion of Change” because she is a “powerful advocate with an unwavering commitment to justice for children and victims of interpersonal violence in Indian Country,” the EVAWI notes.

Crediting Wood’s 17-year career in law enforcement—during which she was a detective specializing in domestic violence cases and crimes against children—EVAWI notes this about her:

Ms. Wood, a member of the Navajo Nation, is revered for her expertise in helping communities develop strategic, cross-jurisdictional responses to safely recover missing or abducted children. … A national speaker on issues of protecting Native youth from human trafficking and abuse, Wood works directly with communities, traveling to remote villages and Tribal lands around the country. Because culturally specific responses are crucial to protecting Indigenous children, she helps communities apply relevant solutions and implement comprehensive child recovery strategies. …

Wood’s leadership in promoting culturally and trauma-informed responses also extends to survivors of sexual assault. As a detective with Gila River Police Department, she helped launch the first “Start by Believing” campaign in Indian Country.

Wood’s personal dedication and professional effectiveness in strengthening responses to sex trafficking, aiding missing and exploited children, and driving implementation of culturally sensitive approaches make her an inspiration to all.

AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative was established in 2007 by the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs with the goal of creating and expanding child recovery practices, capacity, and resources in Tribal communities. For more details about the AIIC’s training opportunities and outreach, visit https://bit.ly/AIICinfo or its website, amber-ic.org.

The EVAWI was founded in 2003 by Sergeant Joanne Archambault of the San Diego Police Department. During her decades of work with victims, Sergeant Archambault saw a critical need for training law enforcement in how to investigate sexual assault and domestic violence. Criminal justice practitioners simply did not have the training and support they needed to conduct thorough investigations guided by best practices. EVAWI was created to fill this void. For more details about the 2024 “Champions of Change,” visit https://evawintl.org/creating-change/.

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General Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year reign of terror resulted in tens of thousands of Chileans killed, tortured, and imprisoned—and an estimated 20,000 newborns were stolen and put up for adoption abroad. Pinochet was deposed in 1990, but the thousands of families whose babies were illegally taken still feel the pain. To help them and their missing children find answers, the Chilean nonprofit group Nos Buscamos has partnered with online genealogy platform MyHeritage to provide free at-home DNA testing kits for Chilean adoptees and victims of child trafficking. The effort is paying off: One American man has been given his birthright back. In late summer 2023, Nos Buscamos helped Jimmy Lippert Thyden locate his biological mother in Chile after 42 years. Thyden’s DNA test matched him to a first cousin who connected him with his birth mother, Maria Angelica Gonzalez. Thyden soon traveled to Chile with his family to meet her. The NGO has orchestrated over 450 such reunions between adoptees and their birth families in the last decade.

Digital powerhouse Meta has joined forces with Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security to help locate missing children and adolescents up to age 18. In an agreement signed on the International Day of Missing Persons this past August, two of Meta’s platforms—Facebook and Instagram—have begun issuing emergency alerts for Brazil’s missing children. Emily Vacher, Meta’s Global Director of Responsibility and Safety, says the technology has been used in 30 countries since 1990 and resulted in locating more than 1,200 children. Meta hopes to expand the program to other platforms, including WhatsApp and Threads.

United States congressional delegates High Chief Uifa’atali Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa and James Moylan of the District of Guam are co-sponsors of a bill to raise mandatory minimum jail time from 15 to 25 years for convicted child traffickers. The bill, known as the Combating Human-Trafficking of Innocent Lives Daily (C.H.I.L.D.) Act of 2023, also requires uniform sentences for traffickers who exploit victims under the age of 18. The toughened law is expected to send a strong message to those who engage in child sex trafficking. “Human trafficking is one of the greatest crimes imaginable, yet it is a sad reality that we must defeat,” said Congresswoman Radewagen. “Thank you to Congressman Moylan for his leadership on this important issue as we fight for the lives and futures of vulnerable children.” Representatives Don Davis of North Carolina, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, and Don Bacon of Nebraska also co-sponsored the bill, which was introduced last September.

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The 25th Florida Missing Children’s Day event honored citizens, law enforcement officers, and K-9 teams for their exemplary efforts investigating missing persons, rescuing missing children, and preventing abductions. The September 11 ceremony in Tallahassee included a moment of remembrance for all the children who vanish each year. One of them was 14-year-old Demiah Appling, reported missing from Dixie County in October 2022. Her body was found two months later in neighboring Gilchrist County. Her uncle, David Appling, told Tallahassee’s WCTV that the ceremony was a moment of healing: “The people here, they understand. And they know, they explained to us it is OK to be sad, it’s OK to cry and show your emotions and not be ashamed of it.”

More than 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing children, were rescued by the FBI during a coordinated two-week campaign last summer that involved federal, state, and local agencies across the country, working in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “Operation Cross Country,” now in its 13th year, also led to the identification or arrest of 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking offenses; 68 suspects of trafficking were also identified and arrested.

The Santa Rosa County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office K-9 Bloodhounds Unit and K-9 “Zinc” took top honors this past September at the 2023 Southeastern States Manhunt Trials, Single Leash Division. The field trials, which are hosted by the Escambia County Road Prison, simulate conditions that law enforcement K-9 teams experience when searching for a suspect or lost child. The county’s K-9 Unit is comprised of 17 highly trained canines supervised by Sergeants Chrystal Bozard and Robert Lenzo.

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By Jody Garlock

Each second felt like an eternity as Eddie Bertola stared at the blank screen in front of him. While composing an AMBER Alert for the California Highway Patrol, then-Sergeant Bertola was all too aware that a child’s life depended on him getting the procedure right. That’s why he dedicated himself to learning everything he could about alerting technology—and became very good at his job.

We recently caught up with Bertola, and fellow AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Associate Instructor Tony Godwin, to find out what new or emerging technological tools are on their radars for 2024—and think they should be on yours too.

While Eddie Bertola and Tony Godwin have taken different paths in law enforcement, both nationally respected professionals embrace the significant role that technology plays in helping prevent, and find, missing and exploited children.

After 15 years with the California Highway Patrol, Bertola now serves as an Associate with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) and AATTAP, helping train law enforcement to use the latest technological tools and resources to operate better and faster. He’s also working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to test new software that can generate exacting emergency messages with just a few clicks.

NCJTC-AATTAP Associate Godwin is a veteran detective with the Garland Police Department in Texas, and a member of the North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. He remembers when “high tech” meant the ability to send emails. Now he’s a certified cellphone and computer forensics examiner who investigates child exploitation and other crimes against children that occur in areas where young people may be lured into a false sense of safety, such as a gaming app’s chat room. The combined knowledge of Godwin and Bertola is invaluable for law enforcement trainees.

1) Message Design Dashboard: Building a better WEA

New message-writing software is in development that will allow for more effective Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs)—not only to spur the public into action, but also to lessen the pressure on officials tasked with writing and disseminating the alerts.

The Message Design Dashboard, developed by the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany in New York, creates a common structure so that alerting authorities can compile consistent messaging via easy-to-use dropdown menus and prompts.

The Dashboard stems from a FEMA-funded project to support the agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which powers and authenticates the nation’s emergency alerts. The Dashboard project used research to develop the software, which factored in social science to form clear, actionable messaging.

The software should be ready for use with AMBER Alert messaging in early 2024 says Jeannette Sutton, a University at Albany professor who heads the project and specializes in disaster and risk. Bertola and Sutton emphasize the ease of using the Dashboard, where users can click desired descriptors from dropdown menus. As answers are selected, the message is automatically built in a preview box at the side of the screen, with all content remaining editable. “We believe a common structure will improve messaging and get people to follow a consistent set of information and style of writing,” Sutton says.

The software tracks the character count, building a 90-character message that IPAWS requires, along with a 360-character message that most of today’s devices can receive. Hyperlinks are also checked to ensure they don’t go to an invalid page, which can erode public trust in the process.

2) Flock Safety: Real-time vehicle intelligence

One product that’s making a marked difference in how police officers do their jobs is Flock Safety, a system with high-quality cameras, video, and other technology (shown at right) that reads license plates in order to provide real-time actionable intelligence.

“It’s been the biggest game-changer for us,” Godwin says. “It’s really altered how we work in law enforcement.”

Thirty years ago, the process of running tags and finding a vehicle was “almost like trying to catch a unicorn,” he says. With Flock Safety, officers receive alerts when a wanted vehicle passes by a camera. The notifications give the reason for the alert, date/time, and which camera the vehicle drove past. The alert also sends a picture of the vehicle, the license plate, and a map location.

In September 2023, Flock Safety equipment helped Elizabethtown, Kentucky, police safely recover a toddler caught up in a carjacking.

“Of all the years I’ve been doing this, I can’t think of … a more game-changing piece of technology for law enforcement,” said Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson when asking the city council for more Flock cameras to be added to the system installed six months earlier. “I’ve heard council members say that if we recover one kidnapped child, it was worth it. And in my opinion, no truer words have been spoken.”

Flock gathers only open source data, such as car tag information. The cameras read license plates only; they don’t identify motorists (there’s no facial recognition) or record speeds. The system, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, sends an alert to law enforcement only if the vehicle has been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, such as if it’s a stolen vehicle or wanted in connection with an AMBER Alert, or if an officer has entered it as a follow-up on an investigation. Data collected is deleted after 30 days.

At $2,500 per camera per year, the system is decidedly an investment. But if such a cost is prohibitive, Godwin says traditional license plate recognition (LPR) technology is still beneficial.

Screengrab from Ring doorbell: In 2022, a Ring doorbell camera documented the attempted abduction of a 6-year-old Ohio girl who was taking out the family’s trash. A man grabbed her and started dragging her down the sidewalk, but released her due to her screams. The video helped authorities apprehend the abductor. — In 2022, a Ring doorbell camera **documented** the attempted abduction of a 6-year-old Ohio girl who was taking out the family’s trash. A man grabbed her and started dragging her down the sidewalk but released her due to her screams. The video helped authorities apprehend the abductor.

3) Doorbell cameras: Public-engaging technology

Crime-fighting technology is branching beyond expensive equipment in patrol cars and computers in the office. Everyday consumer technology, such as doorbell cameras available for as little as $60, has emerged as a valuable resource to help law enforcement piece together investigations and prosecute cases.

“The growing public engagement in this area is one of the things I’m most excited about,” Bertola says.

He expects a continued increase in the public’s proactive sharing of video from doorbell, security, car dashboard, and cellphone cameras when they think it may help—rather than officers having to knock on doors and ask for the information.

“This type of rapid exchange of information is huge,” Bertola says. “Law enforcement seems to be starting to focus on harnessing that.” Some agencies have begun mapping subdivisions and other areas to note places with doorbell or other security cameras.

“Doing little things like that is going to help with trust in the community,” he says. “And as the community sees this, they’re going to become even more willing to share and become a partner.”

4) Open Source Intelligence: Digging deep for answers

“Any investigation into a child’s disappearance should include Open Source Intelligence (OSINT),” Godwin says. He considers it “one of the most crucial law enforcement techniques in the digital world.”

OSINT is an umbrella term for collecting and analyzing data from publicly available sources, much of it via the Internet, for intelligence purposes. Its origins date to World War II, when William Donovan began using it for the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“It’s an important tool as we are looking into investigations, especially reactive ones where we don’t know much about our person,” Godwin says.

Screengrab of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) research site recommended by AATTAP tech expert Tony Godwin — Godwin suggests investigators use the multiple layers of research tools available at **OSINTFramework.com**.

Most crimes today leave digital traces, and OSINT picks up those fragments of data. The information is vast, so an OSINT framework provides links to the best resources to easily find information about a target and browse various OSINT tools.

The main types of OSINT resources are mass media (such as print, digital, TV, radio); “gray literature” (such as documents and reports from charities, census data, and academic publications); and social media.

Web searches encompass three categories:
• Surface web, which is the traditional method/platform;
• Deep web/dark net, which requires a specific URL or IP address; and
• Dark web, which requires special tools, such as the anonymizing browser Tor.

The OSINT cycle starts with planning to ensure there’s a clear understanding of the types of information needed. It then proceeds to collecting, processing, and analyzing the data before the intelligence is ultimately disseminated.

The process is time-consuming, which is why Godwin is encouraged to see departments hiring full-time crime analysts to lead the charge and ensure information is gathered effectively and ethically.

5) Artificial intelligence: Growing & evolving

No technology has exploded more in recent times than artificial intelligence (AI). It’s considered the next big thing, even though machine learning dates to the 1950s. “AI is not yet widely used internally, but it will be,” Godwin says.

Police departments around the United States already use a form of AI in image recognition technology that reads license plates and other vehicle information. Similarly, Godwin expects facial recognition technology to become a “more powerful and more important” tool in improving efficiencies in law enforcement and getting criminals off the streets.

“There are so many cameras everywhere you go,” he says. “I think that’s where the future will go for us, making it much easier to solve crimes.” (Facial recognition technology helped authorities identify some of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. More recently, authorities in the United Kingdom used it to investigate child exploitation cold cases, which led to the arrest of a Missouri man.)

Analytically, AI is being used in criminal investigations to help sift through vast amounts of data. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) uses Logikcull to filter, gather, and package information for law enforcement and prosecutors. The AI tool has saved NCMEC thousands of hours, allowing its legal staff to operate more efficiently.

The downsides of AI include deepfake technology that can convincingly mimic a person’s physical appearance and voice. Last year, federal officials even issued warnings about virtual kidnapping fraud that uses AI to clone a loved one’s voice.

Godwin expects deepfake detection apps and tools to make strides, though they are evolving.

Detection tools already available include Google’s SynthID and Meta’s Stable Signature, which embed digital watermarks in video and audio; Pindrop and Veridas, which examine details such as how sounds of words sync up with a speaker’s mouth; and AntiFake, which scrambles an audio signal to make it harder to be cloned by AI.

As deepfake technology becomes more sophisticated, some experts are calling on the federal government to regulate it. Additionally, critics claim that law enforcement’s use of AI technology could infringe on privacy and civil rights, leading to false arrests. And there’s concern that “automation bias”—a person’s propensity to trust automated systems over their own judgment—could have authorities failing to look at the information critically.

Godwin knows that organizations will need to balance the risk and rewards of AI, which U.S. Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco calls one of “the most important issues we face in law enforcement, national security, the protection of privacy, and civil liberties.”

Be on the Lookout: More Tech Advances

Better Equipping Indian Country

FEDERAL WINS:

On November 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Interior established a new Office of Indigenous Communications and Technology (OICT) to assist Tribal Nations in managing, developing, and maintaining broadband infrastructure, new electromagnetic spectrum easing mechanisms, and in providing technical assistance for the establishment of wireless, digital, and technological projects on Tribal lands.
The Biden administration has pledged nearly $3 billion to expand access to broadband on Tribal lands. The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, part of the White House’s “Internet for All Initiative,” has so far awarded $1.86 billion in grants to 226 Tribal communities to build highspeed Internet infrastructures, establish affordable Internet access programs, and support digital inclusion projects.

AMBER ALERT IN INDIAN COUNTRY:

The AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) team is continuing to distribute Technology Toolkits to Tribal law enforcement agencies from Alabama to Washington. Equipped with a rugged portable case, Toughbook tablet, digital camera, and more, the toolkits provide Tribal authorities with additional resources to best respond to cases of missing and abducted children. “Tribal communities have long lacked access to high-speed Internet, limiting their ability in the field—especially in remote areas where rugged terrain makes it difficult to build infrastructure,” says AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood.
The AIIC has partnered with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to offer high-speed, wireless Internet service to select Tribes. Congress established the independent authority to develop a nationwide broadband network dedicated to public safety. More than 70 Tribal nations use FirstNet, and in the last two years, coverage (through AT&T) has increased more than 40 percent on federally recognized Tribal lands.
The Navajo Nation—the largest Indian reservation in the U.S., spanning three states—is building a vast modern communications system. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority earmarked its $50 million grant to fund 11 new telecommunications towers, install more than 200 miles of fiber and cable/wireless broadband equipment, and increase or connect high-speed Internet to more than 20,000 Native American households. It also aims to enhance mobile broadband connectivity for first responders.

NCMEC’s QR Code to the Rescue

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is confident one of its newest tech-smart initiatives—using a QR code on missing child posters—can revolutionize the search for endangered missing children.

By scanning the poster’s QR code with a cell phone, the user can get much more information than what a poster typically would allow. Users can also access photos and descriptive details for all missing children reported within a 50-mile radius. “Instead of sharing one missing child poster, the public can view all missing children in their immediate area, whether they are at home or traveling,” said Dr. John E. Bischoff, Vice President of NCMEC’s Missing Children Division, at the 2023 AATTAP-AIIC National Symposium.

NCMEC’s posters will also have larger photos of the missing child and eliminate extraneous details, such as date of birth, when the child’s age will suffice.

Policing Bad Apps

A tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is identifying risky apps concerning child exploitation. The App Danger Project, a website designed to create a safer online environment and help parents determine what apps are safe for their children to use, lists more than 180 apps across Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store that meet its criteria for being considered dangerous. The website also includes a search tool to easily analyze user reviews of specific apps. As a result of the initiative, Apple has removed 10 apps to date that violated the company’s guidelines.

Data Mining is Gold—But Tricky

With the amount of data law enforcement can leverage through technology, it’s crucial to have a strategy to mine the information efficiently and ethically. According to a recent article in Police Chief Magazine, the data should be stored in a single platform that can be accessed by everyone in the department, while ensuring the public’s trust is maintained. Some agencies are innovating to effectively create real-time crime centers (RTCC) that bring together data from various sources to improve efficiencies and enhance public safety.

For Searches, the Heat is On

Drones with thermal cameras are becoming a must-have tool in missing persons searches. The drones, which can be deployed quickly and cover vast areas, are able to detect body heat, even if the person reported missing is in thick brush or dark conditions. The heat signature from the thermal camera provides real-time intelligence to direct searchers to the location.

Forensic Genetic Genealogy Cracks Cold Cases

Even as the debate about DNA-related privacy issues persists, forensic investigative genetic genealogy (“FIGG”) is solving high-profile cases previously thought to be unsolvable. The emerging practice combines DNA analysis with traditional genealogy research to identify suspects and the remains of missing persons. Using FIGG, law enforcement can search ancestry databases containing DNA profiles of consenting people who are tracking family history. FIGG took hold in 2018 after authorities used GEDmatch to identify the Golden State Killer; and one researcher estimates more than 500 cold cases have been solved since.

Geolocation Finds Favor

Police in Pennsylvania have an iPad to thank for the swift recovery of an abducted 11-year-old girl—and the case serves as an example of how geolocation has become a proven investigative tool. Authorities were able to ping the location of the girl’s tablet to track her whereabouts, and ultimately arrest a man on luring charges. Geolocation uses GPS, cell phone towers, and WiFi signals to track a device (such as a cell phone, tablet, or computer), and the pings have become a key part of searches. More recently, geolocation satellite data is being integrated into artificial intelligence to enhance data analysis.

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Photo of Carlos Morales Rojas, Mexico’s Alerta Amber National Coordination Liaison. At a regional conference, he showed faces of missing children—even as he was working a developing case that prompted issuance of a national AMBER Alert. — Carlos Morales Rojas, Mexico’s Alerta Amber National Coordination Liaison, showed faces of missing children—even as he was working a developing case that prompted issuance of a national AMBER Alert.

By Rebecca Sherman

On the morning of August 29, 2023, as AMBER Alert Coordinators from northern Mexico gathered in a Monterrey hotel ballroom for a three-day child protection training conference with top U.S. officials, a real-life child abduction
emergency was unfolding behind the scenes.

Hours earlier, and some 230 miles away, 15-month-old Angela Chávez had been taken from her home in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, by armed criminals during a home invasion that left her parents and another adult dead.

Angela was discovered missing by her distraught grandmother, who arrived at the home with local authorities after the murders. Realizing the infant was in grave danger, officials immediately notified Yubia Yumiko Ayala Narváez, Regional Coordinator of the Gender-Based Violence Unit of the Regional de la Fiscalia del Estado de Chihuahua, or Chihuahua North Prosecutor’s Office. But like many of her colleagues in Mexico, Narváez was at the conference, organized by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) team (based in Mexico City’s U.S. Embassy) and attended by leaders of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP).

Even while at the event, Narváez discreetly sprang into action, issuing a regional Alerta Amber, Mexico’s version of a U.S. AMBER Alert. Posters of Angela—a cherubic girl with large brown eyes—were circulated on social media, and alerts buzzed on cellphones throughout the region.

Narváez also briefed fellow conference attendee Carlos Morales Rojas on the situation. As Alerta Amber National Coordination Liaison, Rojas works with Mexico’s 32 state AMBER Alert Coordinators while based in the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes of Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking for the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), or Office of the Attorney General.

Amid intense and hushed conversations, Narváez and Rojas exchanged information on the abduction during the conference presentations taking place. “Given the seriousness and urgency of the case, we knew we had to work quickly to activate the (national) AMBER Alert, but we also maintained a certain confidentiality of the information,” Rojas recalls.

The effort to rescue baby Angela quickly became a real-time case study that had officials drawing from a deep well of collective experience and training. “That allowed us to disseminate the alert with urgency, encouraging the media to reach as many people as possible,” Rojas says.

Several hours after the first alert was issued—and still with no sign of baby Angela—Rojas elevated the alert to the national level, an expanded presence that would no doubt heighten public awareness of the child’s case. Then, once the national AMBER Alert was activated, Rojas and Narváez informed conference attendees about the developing situation.

Fortuitously, the room was filled with experts on missing and endangered children who collaborated to ensure a swift response in the emerging case. They included: AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen; Yesenia “Jesi” Leon Baron, AATTAP’s Project Coordinator of International and Territorial Programs (including the Southern Border Initiative) and Certification Manager for Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training initiatives; and top officials with the U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, including Gigi Scoles, Gabriela Betance, Flor Reyes, and Oswaldo Casillas.

“All of them facilitated our work, allowing us to carry it out right there at the conference,” Rojas says.

Media and public response came swiftly. Kidnappers, likely aware the case was receiving national attention, abandoned Angela in a doorway in Ciudad Juarez. A woman spotted the infant and promptly called 911, helping authorities to safely recover her 30 hours after the first AMBER Alert was issued.

“Those who took baby Angela definitely felt pressure due to the wide dissemination of the AMBER Alert,” Rojas says. “They knew that many people were looking for her.”

Mexican authorities had baby Angela in their caring hands 30 hours after the first Alerta Amber wasactivated. — Mexican authorities had baby Angela in their caring hands 30 hours after the first *Alerta Amber* was activated. The toddler is now living with relatives.

With Angela’s rescue occurring on August 31—the last day of the OPDAT conference—Narváez and Rojas were offered the opportunity to present what had just unfolded as a successful case study, “one that was the result of excellent coordination between Mexican authorities and the public,” Rojas says.

“With the conference focused on sharing AMBER Alert success stories, the case of baby Angela was significant. Training is the most important aspect of our work; that’s why we constantly share our experiences.”

AMBER Alerts, along with media reports and the public’s help in searching for a missing child, are powerful tools in the effort to recover endangered missing children, as conference attendees witnessed in real time. “Without the support of our citizens, our work would essentially be futile,” Rojas says. “We would simply be spectators of what happens.”

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Photo of Dr. Noelle Hunter with her daughter, Maayimuna “Muna” — Dr. Noelle Hunter shares a happy moment with her daughter, Maayimuna “Muna.”

By Jody Garlock

Sitting in a McDonald’s restaurant in Kentucky on New Year’s Day 2011, Dr. Noelle Hunter had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. Her ex-husband was three hours late to their planned meeting spot, where he was to return their 4-year-old daughter, Maayimuna “Muna” from a holiday visit. Her maternal instinct proved to be right. She and Muna had become victims of international parental child abduction (IPCA).

It was the start of an ordeal that Dr. Hunter never could have imagined.

After the FBI was able to confirm that her ex-husband had illegally taken Muna to Mali, West Africa, Hunter thrust herself into a tireless effort to bring her daughter home. She navigated cultural nuances and complex international law, staged protests in front of embassies in Washington, D.C., pleaded with United Nations members, and worked with a congressional delegation to pressure the Mali government to return Muna. In 2014, she was finally able to bring Muna, almost 7 by that time, home safely. But Hunter never took her foot off the gas.

Dr. Noelle Hunter (at far right) walks with fellow advocates for the iStand Parent Network in Washington, D.C. — Dr. Noelle Hunter (shown far right) walks with her fellow advocates for the iStand Parent Network in Washington, D.C.

For the past decade, the mother-turned-advocate has led the iStand Parent Network, which she co-founded in February 2014 to provide resources, support, and advocacy to IPCA survivors—parents and children alike. With Muna’s help (as an iStand Youth Ambassador), she has been a champion for change to ensure other parents don’t suffer the same fate—and a support for those enduring a similar struggle. Hunter was one of eight parent co-authors of the newly updated multimedia resource, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide.

In September 2023, the iStand Parent Network held its final annual conference and gala as the organization concluded nearly a decade of important and committed work to bring greater awareness and better understanding about the problem of IPCA, and support families impacted by it. Hunter—a clinical assistant professor at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH)—is now transitioning from advocacy work to a behind-the-scenes role in research and policy analysis through the university’s new International Child Abduction Prevention and Research Office (ICAPRO), which she spearheaded. “I’m just hard-wired to fight for children,” she says. We spoke with her about her journey—and what’s ahead.

Quote: “There are far too many parents unaware that it can happen—until it happens.” From Dr. Noelle Hunter—IPCA victim, child advocate, and professor — **>> WATCH:** To hear Dr. Hunter tell her story and share advice for the newly updated, W *hen Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide*, visit familysurvival.amberadvocate.org/video-library/ and click on “Dr. Noelle Hunter.”

How are you and Muna doing? How have you managed to move forward?

Muna is having the best year of her life. She’s 16 and a 10th-grader. She has a close friend group who shares her quirky humor and love for anime. She’s a naturally gifted visual artist, and just started her first job at a supermarket to earn her own money. Most of all, though, she is a truly gracious young lady—very kind, respectful, gentle—with a very strong sense of self. I marvel because she could justifiably be angry, non-trusting, or generally unhappy after her abduction. But she was never that way. As for me, my bedrock faith has always sustained and empowered me—first to bring Muna home, and then to help other families, and speak truth to power. It’s the simplest and greatest reason I thrive.

Did you imagine the iStand Parent Network would last a decade?

I honestly envisioned iStand enduring in perpetuity. Our motto is [the hashtag] #iStandUntilAllChildrenComeHome, so there is grief. But it was time to sunset the organization since its parent-driven engagement had decreased. It had become basically two parts—myself and Jeffery Morehouse [also a Family Survival Guide parent-author]—doing the policy work, with a few others helping. But iStand has catalyzed other organizations to form and continue the work, including iHOPE, a Lebanon-based NGO that will take it to the next level of global engagement. And most importantly, we’ve helped empower parents to bring children home. We’ve seen most elements of our 10-point vision statement come to life. So we can rest knowing that iStand has impacted generations.

What has changed with IPCA—good or bad—in the past 10 years?

We’ve seen legislation enacted, such as the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (aka “the Goldman Act” or ICAPRA) designed to ensure compliance with the Hague Abduction Convention, which set standards of practice between countries to resolve abductions. We’ve seen the U.S. government fully implement an abduction prevention program that includes a no-fly list for at-risk children—I’m most proud of that. We’ve also seen Congress recognize April as IPCA Awareness Month.

In 2014, Hunter, her daughter Maayimuna “Muna,” and a family friend visited U.S. Senator MitchMcConnell. McConnell was part of the Kentucky delegation Hunter worked with to secure Muna’s safe return. — In 2014, Hunter, her daughter Maayimuna “Muna,” and a family friend visited U.S. Senator Mitch
McConnell. McConnell was part of the Kentucky delegation Hunter worked with to secure Muna’s safe return.

But during the pandemic, we lost a great deal of our momentum. We also believe Congress has rested on its laurels after passing ICAPRA, not giving weighty consideration to stronger enforcement of it and other laws. And tragically, there’s been little global reform on this issue. Some nations, such as the U.K., perform relatively well, while others, such as Japan, India, and Brazil, continue to disregard the Hague treaty and international norms concerning abducted children. This is brutal policy work and we’ve been doing it from a parent-advocate prospective, which gets us only so far. It’s time to shift to a data-driven approach.

Tell us about your new research initiative at UAH.

The goal is to begin to create a body of current literature in research on IPCA. Existing research is almost 20 years old and the information is woefully out of date. We want data to illustrate the scope of the problem, the gaps in federal and international responses. We want to take what we learn from the initial research to make policy recommendations to Congress. This all came about in a beautiful way. I teach classes at UAH, and in one of them we created a IPCA think tank. Students did such a wonderful job that I asked permission to develop it into an office concept, which took a year. Our 10th point of vision with iStand was to establish an independent entity that would guide research and engagement, so this is really an evolution of that.

In May 2023, Dr. Noelle Hunter spoke before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing “Bring Abducted Children Home,” televised on C-SPAN. — >> **WATCH:** Dr. Hunter speak before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing “Bring Abducted Children Home,” **televised** in May 2023.

What do you want law enforcement to know about IPCA cases?

No. 1, it is not a civil matter. The response tends to be, “We can’t do anything unless you get a court order,” and a court order is by definition a civil matter. But a parent is not required to have a court order to report their child missing. Federal law requires the child to be immediately entered into the NCIC database. No. 2, there are other laws that require law enforcement to fulfill first-responder duties without waiting for a court order. And No. 3, consider a child to be at risk when they’ve been taken internationally, regardless of if he or she is with a parent.

What was it like being one of the parent-authors of the updated When Your Child Is Missing: Family Survival Guide?

Eye-opening and transformative. I honestly had only thought about international abductions and didn’t see the number of similarities with domestic ones. I was also truly humbled by the grace of my co-authors whose children were murdered. What magnificent valor to continue to help others after the unimaginable. I was honored to be in their company and work with them on this project—which I already know is helping people: I received a call from a parent who was going down the checklist. Our hope is for it to be a widely known go-to source—for law enforcement, attorneys, social services, child and victim advocates, and others—as the first step to empower parents on this awful journey.

What’s next for you?

Besides the work I plan to do with the new International Child Abduction Prevention and Research Office, it’s time for me to live a little. Time to rest. I haven’t stopped since 2011 when my daughter was taken. It’s time to slow down and enjoy life knowing I’ve been a good soldier. And perhaps it’s time to start writing a book of this amazing story that doesn’t seem to have an end.

IPCA Myth Busters

Dr. Noelle Hunter dispels three common myths surrounding international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases

Myth: It’s feuding parents, not criminal action, that harms children and families.
Reality: Local law enforcement initially brushed off Hunter’s abduction claim, assuming she and her ex-husband had simply had a fight that would resolve itself. “I remember the exact words from them: ‘Well, I guess he just got tired of dealing with you and took her.’ ” She urges law enforcement to take parental child abduction seriously and treat it as the criminal matter it is.

∞

Myth: Parents can just go get their child.
Reality: To get her daughter home safely, it took Hunter nearly three years of nonstop work, which involved developing a network of attorneys in both the U.S. and abroad. Despite court rulings in her favor, her ex-husband would file appeals to delay the process. Fortunately for Hunter, Muna’s return happened shortly before she turned 7—the age when a mother’s custodial rights greatly decrease in Mali. Hunter also contends that governments have been lax in enforcing the Hague Abduction Convention and holding non-compliant countries accountable.

∞

Myth: The child is fine because he/she is with the other parent.
Reality: Even if there’s no physical harm, abducted children who have their life uprooted and are forced to adapt to a different culture takes an emotional toll, Hunter says. “My daughter was in a foreign country—she didn’t know anyone.”

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Group of law enforcement and AATTAP staffers during presentation of AMBER Alert in Indian Country Technology Toolkits in Oneida, Wisconsin — Members of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program /AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative team recently presented Technology Toolkits to six Wisconsin Tribal Nations during a quarterly Native American Drug and Gang Initiative Task Force Advisory Board meeting at Oneida Indian Nation Police Headquarters in Oneida, Wisconsin.

Oneida Nation Police Lieutenant Justine Wheelock with a Technology Toolkit in Oneida, Wisconsin — Oneida Nation Police Lieutenant Justine Wheelock shows off her agency’s new Technology Toolkit in Wisconsin.

By Denise Gee Peacock

The AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) team recently provided Technology Toolkits to nearly two dozen Tribal nations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Each durable toolkit—containing a rugged laptop, webcam, digital camera, scanner, and hotspot device with six free months of WiFi—can help Tribes work more quickly and efficiently during missing child cases.

Funding for the toolkits, offered to any federally recognized Tribe, is provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

In Wisconsin, the toolkits were provided during the quarterly Native American Drug and Gang Initiative Task Force Advisory Board meeting at the Oneida Nation Police headquarters in Oneida.

In Minnesota, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Holistic Health Spiritual Care CoordinatorGary Charwood blessed the event with a smudging ceremony. — In Minnesota, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Holistic Health Spiritual Care Coordinator Gary Charwood blessed the event with a **smudging** ceremony.

In Minnesota, the toolkits presentation occurred during a quarterly meeting with leaders from state Tribal law enforcement as well as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS).

The event was held at the Cedar Lakes Casino and Hotel, owned by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

Law enforcement leaders from six federally recognized Tribes in Minnesota recently met with representatives from the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative, as well as the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Department of Public Safety. — In Minnesota, law enforcement leaders from six federally recognized Tribes recently met with representatives from the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative, as well as the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Department of Public Safety, to accept Technology Toolkits.

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The first issue of 2024 looks at the top technological tools our experts believe should be on your radar. We also introduce you to Dr. Noelle Hunter, whose daughter, Muna, was abducted by her father to West Africa—a move that launched Dr. Hunter into international parental child abduction (IPCA) advocacy work (that was instrumental in Muna's safe recovery). We share the story of a toddler’s abduction in Mexico that unfolded during a conference on missing children—with U.S. government and AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance leaders present to experience the rescue of “Baby Angela” in real-time. The issue concludes with U.S., Indian Country, and International news briefs on other important AMBER Alert-related news.

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Don’t delay—register today! The 2024 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium is set for February 27-28 in New Orleans!

Registration for the no-fee training and networking event—and getting a discounted room rate at the event’s venue, the historic Hotel Monteleone—closes January 29, so click here to ensure your spot.

The 2024 Symposium will bring together hundreds of professionals—state and regional AMBER Alert coordinators, missing persons clearinghouse managers, law enforcement officials, emergency management/public safety personnel, and Tribal community officials—to collaborate, discuss developing trends and case studies, share best practices, and train with other child protection partners to better respond to cases involving endangered missing and exploited children.

The two-day event will be hosted by members of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and feature leading subject matter experts. Sessions will focus on the following topics:

Endangered missing and abducted child case studies, including Tribal cases
Decisional considerations for AMBER Alert/Endangered Missing Advisory activations
The importance of CART development, preparedness, and certification
The significant rate of, and complications stemming from, family abductions
Technology and information system best practices
AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiatives and collaboration opportunities
Discussions about current trends in Cross-Border/Southern Border abductions
Tools and resources to bolster long-term/unsolved child abduction cases
Mental health awareness/support for professionals working to combat and respond to crimes against children

The Symposium will also offer regional breakout sessions to foster collaboration among partners and inform future AATTAP outreach and course/event planning. Tracks will provide participants with a self-curated choice of sessions to attend.

We look forward to seeing you in person at the 2024 Symposium. For questions, contact askamber@fvtc.edu, or call (877) 712-6237.

Training is made possible through the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program provided by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

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Our special double issue offers an in-depth look at the issues most important to the eight parents of missing children who helped us create the new multimedia Fifth Edition of When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. It not only highlights their advice for other parents navigating chaos, but also what law enforcement can learn from their experiences. And we spotlight the new memoir of one of the Guide’s parent-authors, Patty Wetterling (Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope). Patty is a longtime advocate for missing children and who has advised countless law enforcement officers on how to best work with families of missing children. We also talk with Chitimacha Tribal Police Chief Jada Breaux of Louisiana. And we look at a complex case, spanning from New York to Mexico, that was resolved by quick and effective collaboration.

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Collage of images showing the eight "Family Survival Guide" parent-authors and their children, along with a candle during a vigil — **>>Click here to learn more about the parent-authors and their children.**

“I remember standing in the middle of chaos, wishing I had a book to tell me what to do.”
Colleen Nick
Mother of Morgan Nick, abducted at age 6 while catching fireflies with friends during a Little League baseball game in 1995

Thankfully, there is such a resource: When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. And its new multimedia format—with updated, actionable information—is more relevant and accessible than ever.

The Guide’s advice reflects the hard-won lessons of eight parents, including Colleen Nick, who have faced “the worst thing any of us could ever imagine—and no parent ever wants to think about: having their child go missing,” says parent-author Patty Wetterling.

Organized with numerous checklists and resources, the fifth edition of the Guide is a compass for parents in the midst of chaos. Its new iteration is fully digital, with a website offering a downloadable, printable guide, plus searchable online content and more than 100 videos covering the myriad of issues a parent may face during the search for their child.

Officially released on National Missing Children’s Day in May 2023, the Family Survival Guide was a labor of love for its parent-authors, who worked with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) publications team and others for nearly two years to bring it to fruition. Reliving their experiences “is never easy; in fact, it’s agonizing—but it’s important for us,” Patty says.

Cover of "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide" (Fifth Edition) — **>> Visit the “Family Survival Guide” website to download the publication or browse its searchable content and videos.**

When first published in 1998, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide was the first comprehensive resource of its kind, offering parents of missing children guidance on effectively working with law enforcement, the media, and volunteers; managing rewards and donations; and “simply surviving to fight another day in the search for their child,” Colleen says.

She and Patty were among a small group of families that Ron Laney of the U.S. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) invited to work on the project with help from Helen Connelly, then a senior consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)—and later a Program Administrator for Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), home to AATTAP and the National Criminal Justice Program (NCJTC).

The Guide quickly became the go-to source for people who “speak the language of missing”—not only in this country, but also abroad, where agencies from the United Kingdom to Australia include it on their websites. “But a lot has changed in 25 years,” Patty says. “It was time for a new look, both in its content and design.”

Patty and Colleen rejoined Helen to work with six other parents to produce the Guide’s update with the AATTAP publications team—an initiative funded and guided by the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and the OJJDP.

“Though there have been several prior updates to the Guide, this one is especially important,” Helen says. “It incorporates the most current information on a wider range of missing child situations. It also gives families immediate access to information via its online format. And there they can hear the parents’ advice and encouragement from the parents themselves, who speak directly to them through powerful videos.”

The parents share these goals: To give voice to children who have been forever silenced. To give hope to parents of missing children when life is at its lowest point. And to help law enforcement best work with parents who desperately want to find their missing child.

For 18 months beginning in fall 2021, the parents worked with the AATTAP project team to begin analyzing every aspect of the Guide: deciding what needed revision, what information needed emphasis, and what new resources and guidance should be added.

Getting the Guide to completion took numerous virtual meetings, independent work spanning weeks, and multiple rounds of peer review that included input from top law enforcement professionals with expertise in finding missing children. The parents aimed to highlight more advanced technology, new and helpful laws, better ways of investigating, and expanded resources. Another goal was to speak more directly and clearly to parents.

Beyond being able to download a PDF of the document, they wanted to ensure parents could access its content from any place with WiFi. They worked diligently to develop information on topics relevant to today: broader classifications of missing children; the impact of social media and communication apps; ever-growing concerns about trafficking; increased public alerting options; and “how to work with law enforcement who may not be trained on new laws, or know how to access specialized resources,” says parent-author Jeffery Morehouse.

The parent-authors shared advice for searching parents and law enforcement during video filming sessions earlier this year in Salt Lake City. See highlights of their advocacy work by visiting [ADD HERE] — The parent-authors shared advice for searching parents as well as law enforcement during filming.

In January 2023, a week of filming took place in Salt Lake City. The parents flew in from New York, Washington, Minnesota, Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, and Alabama to help contribute to what would become a vast library of video segments for the Guide’s website. (Colleen was unable to attend the session due to her work on the documentary “Still Missing Morgan.”)

The film crew and AATTAP team worked carefully and compassionately with families to capture the parents’ heart-wrenching stories and invaluable guidance available only from those who have survived what they have and been left resilient. Tears flowed. Hugs were plentiful. Connections were electric.

On the final day, parents were asked to speak directly to law enforcement to share advice that could be used for both the Guide and AATTAP training events. And at the end of the session, not a dry eye was visible.

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen was in attendance—and awe. “The strength in this room is so powerful,” she said. “The wisdom you’ve shared inspires me to share a quote [from Saint Augustine] that I think is appropriate for this moment.”

Parent-author Dr. Noelle Hunter replied, “As Ahmad says, ‘This is the club that none of us ever wanted to be in.’ But we’re in it. And, oh, my goodness—the power of solidarity you feel with people who get you exactly is transformative. It’s one of the reasons I never gave up working to see my child returned, and why I stay in this cause to help parents reunite with their children. There is no substitute for the new family that we have built through this work.”

For parent-author Yvonne Ambrose, “this process has been like going to counseling,” she said. “We all had a support system in place until our child went missing. Then we lost people who didn’t understand what we were going through. But even though we’ve lost them, we’ve found each other. That gives us the strength to keep fighting—and be there for others.”

Four months after filming, the Family Survival Guide “family” (or “FSG power team,” Yvonne calls them) reunited in Washington, D.C., to attend this year’s National Missing Children’s Day—where the completed Guide was first announced May 23. They also were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with OJJDP Administrator Elizabeth Ryan and her team.

Prior to the DOJ-hosted Missing Children’s Day event, the FSG family gathered at their Alexandria, Virginia, hotel for a reception hosted by AATTAP staff. They held the first bound copies of the 96-page Family Survival Guide and previewed the new companion website. They also watched “The Power of Support,” a video encapsulating some of their most powerful messages shared during the Family Survival Guide filming sessions.

“You all embody incredible courage,” Janell said, “and your wisdom and candor will be immensely valuable to both parents and law enforcement, who can learn from it and share it with others.” The parents said they plan to continue helping train law enforcement by working with the AATTAP and NCJTC of Fox Valley Technical College. They also want to continue advocating for legislative changes that support parents facing situations similar to theirs.

They also emphasized the value of volunteering with Team HOPE, a cornerstone program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The group is made up of trained parent and family volunteers who have experienced the trauma of having a missing or exploited child. Counseling is offered 24/7 to families coping with all the complex issues surrounding the search for their missing child.

Parent-author Ahmad Rivazfar tends to the "Family Survival Guide" table during the 2023 National Missing Children's Day event at the U.S. Department of Justice — Parent-author Ahmad Rivazfar tends to the *Family Survival Guide* table during the 2023 National Missing Children’s Day event at the U.S. Department of Justice.

The parent-authors joined members of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance team during National Missing Children's Day 2023 in Washington, D.C. — The parent-authors joined members of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance team during National Missing Children’s Day 2023.

The parents were front and center when the Guide was announced at the 40th annual National Missing Children’s Day event at the U.S. Department of Justice Great Hall in Washington, D.C. “The terror felt by a parent when their child has disappeared is overwhelming,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “I have great respect for the brave and resourceful professionals who work every day to protect children from harm, reunite missing children with their families, and provide support in the aftermath of a traumatic event. There is no cause more worthy of honor.”

Following the event, the FSG team gathered at the OJJDP office to talk with Administrator Elizabeth Ryan and OJJDP Program Managers Lou Ann Holland and Alex Sarrano. The parents thanked the OJJDP team for inviting them to participate in the project, and discussed ways to increase awareness of the Guide and further help searching parents.

One conversation addressed the need for parents and law enforcement to understand what types of financial support are available for crime victims. “The criteria around accessing these funds is not clearly defined or understood,” Ahmad said. Patty then described hardships that her son, Trevor—who witnessed is brother’s abduction—has experienced while trying to receive victim resource support as an adult.

Administrator Ryan assured the parents that her team would help address such obstacles, and assist families of missing children in every way possible. Yvonne expressed her gratitude.

Group photo. Shown at the OJJDP "Family Survival Guide" meeting in D.C. are, front row from left: Lou Ann Holland (OJJDP), Janell Rasmussen (AATTAP/NCJTC), and parents Nacole Svendgard, Elaine Hall, Yvonne Ambrose, and Patty Wetterling; shown back row from left: Denise Gee Peacock (AATTAP), Alex Sarrano (OJJDP), Brad Russ (NCJTC), parent Ahmad Rivazfar, Liz Ryan (OJJDP), Bonnie Ferenbach (AATTAP), and parents Dr. Noelle Hunter and Jeffery Morehouse. — Shown at the OJJDP *Family Survival Guide* meeting in D.C. are, front row from left: Lou Ann Holland (OJJDP), Janell Rasmussen (AATTAP/NCJTC), and parents Nacole Svendgard, Elaine Hall, Yvonne Ambrose, and Patty Wetterling; shown back row from left: Denise Gee Peacock (AATTAP), Alex Sarrano (OJJDP), Brad Russ (NCJTC), parent Ahmad Rivazfar, Elizabeth Ryan (OJJDP), Bonnie Ferenbach (AATTAP), and parents Dr. Noelle Hunter and Jeffery Morehouse.

“The fact that you all are supporting this new Guide, and allowing us to help others—and having us here today to talk about what families need—means the world to us,” she said. In response, Ryan told the group, “What you have built together is immensely powerful—and greatly needed.”

At the meeting’s close, Patty returned the focus on the parent-authors’ children—some of them found, but some still lost—as well as all children who remain missing.

“Why not get ahead of the problem?” she said. “How do we raise our kids to be the way we want them to be, and not cause harm to another human being? I can talk forever about how we want the world to be—the world that Jacob knew, that innocent world in St. Joseph, Minnesota. We refuse to let the man who took Jacob take that too.”

“One of my favorite quotes is by Pablo Casals, who said, ‘We must work to make the world worthy of its children.’ So why not do that?,” Patty proposed. “Let’s all work to build a world where kids can feel safe enough to follow their dreams.”
– Denise Gee Peacock

Photo of Jeffery Morehouse and Dr. Noelle Hunter outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. (May 2023) — **>> Learn about the parent-authors’ advocacy work here.** *Shown above:* *Jeffery Morehouse and Dr. Noelle Hunter outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.*

Page showing various ways law enforcement can help share the new "Family Survival Guide" — **>> Check out “So What Can *You* Do?” to learn how to best use and promote the *Family Survival Guide* by clicking here.**

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By Denise Gee Peacock

The Family Survival Guide parent-authors–and subject matter experts who work daily to prevent and prosecute crimes against children–want law enforcement to consider the following when working missing-child cases:

Be compassionate

“It’s easy to become immune to horrific crimes; you deal with them daily. But work to counter that. Each case is not just a number. Each case involves human beings.”
– Ahmad Rivazfar

“When someone in law enforcement tells me, ‘I can’t imagine what you’re going through,’ I often think, ‘Well, you do know.’ Anyone who’s ever lost sight of their child in a crowded environment can relate.”
– Jeffery Morehouse

“One of the officers initially working my daughter’s missing case told me, ‘Well, I guess [your ex-husband] got tired of you and left with Muna.’ That left me speechless. Fortunately the FBI agent I ultimately worked with was deeply empathetic and helpful. He said, ‘It’s going to take a long time to help you, but we are going to help.’ ”
– Dr. Noelle Hunter

Know the laws—and think ahead

“I’m a father who had legal custody of my son but had to convince people of that. It’s important to know that IPCA [international parental child abduction] actions are not a custodial dispute, but a federal crime that requires local law enforcement to enter the case into NCIC. … Also, when a missing child becomes an adult, please don’t remove them from NCIC. That sorely limits parents’ resources, such as access to age-progression photos available from NCMEC.”
– Jeffery Morehouse

“Federal law requires immediate entry of missing children into NCIC. … But we know what kind of stress you’re under. We know you might get four more calls after ours and then it’s time to leave your shift. But while you might forget, we don’t. These are our children.”
– Nacole Svendgard

Communicate regularly and respectfully

“When talking to parents, talk to them the way you would want to be talked to if your child was missing. Treat us with dignity. … Also, check in with us at least once a week to update us with any news or a good support resource.”
– Yvonne Ambrose

Stay current with training and technology

“Let’s train all our first responders, from dispatchers to the hospital workers who handle sexual assault exams. And let’s provide more training at the academy level, where there’s little to no time spent on the subject.”
– Nacole Svendgard

“Everything is changing for the better, but you have to know what exists and how to use it. Not knowing can be a matter of life and death.”
– Patty Wetterling

Learn the signs of sex trafficking, and why children go on the run

“Look closely into what, or who, has caused a child to leave home. There’s the real danger.”
– Yvonne Ambrose

“In talking with detectives about runaways, I’ve heard, ‘Well, she’s 17 and with her boyfriend.’ That’s when I respond, ‘Well, until she’s 18, she’s our responsibility.’ ”
– Captain Stacie Lick, CART Coordinator, Gloucester County (NJ) Prosecutor’s Ofﬁce

Be cognizant of cultural bias

“Not all parents of missing children speak English or understand American laws and cultures. Sometimes I felt like my Iranian heritage had law enforcement looking at me as a criminal.”
– Ahmad Rivazfar

“Why isn’t the media reporting more on crimes involving marginalized or minority communities? Are they not learning about them from law enforcement? Or are they choosing to overlook these cases?”
– Patty Wetterling

With a family member’ doesn’t always mean ‘safe’

“Just because a child is with a biological family member does not mean they are safe. On the contrary, family abductions are the leading cause of AMBER Alerts. In my situation, law enforcement was convinced that a father could never hurt his child. That took a whole week out of the [investigation] process. So much can be lost in that time.”
– Elaine Hall

“I would often hear, ‘At least you know he’s safe; he’s with his mother’—completely discounting that a federal and state crime occurred, and that a healthy parent does not kidnap her child to a foreign country, cutting him off from the only life and people he has ever known.”
– Jeffery Morehouse

Find out what resources exist for victim & family emotional and financial support

“People think that once you and your child are reunited it’s all hugs and kisses and happily-ever-after. But that’s really when the hard part starts. It’s critical for parents to connect with a survivor-led advocacy group. Find out which therapists can ‘get’ where a child is coming from—or where they need to go as a family.”
– Nacole Svendgard

“Help parents understand what victim assistance funds may be available, and how to access them. … I know parents who just walked away from trying to find their child because of the heavy emotional and financial cost involved. It really takes a toll.”
– Dr. Noelle Hunter

Photo collage featuring the eight parents of current and former missing children who helped produce the new "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide" (Fifth Edition) — **>> Learn more about the *Family Survival Guide* parent-authors and their children here.**

Cover of the Fall 2023 AMBER Advocate double issue showing the "Family Survival Guide" team and the words "We Speak the Language of Missing" — **>> Cover Story: Click here to learn how the parent-authors and others worked to update the *Guide*—and made lasting bonds in the process.**

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Yvonne Ambrose is the mother of Desiree Robinson, who was lured away from home, then exploited and enslaved through sex trafficking. Desiree was murdered December 24, 2016, as she fought to escape the perpetrator to whom her trafficker first sold her, primarily via the now-defunct Backpage site. Yvonne vowed to be her daughter’s voice, in support of all victims of child sex trafficking, and has been instrumental through her work with law enforcement and congressional testimony to strengthen federal laws against traffickers. Yvonne describes her daughter as “a beautiful girl born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, with a smile to brighten any room. She had a bright future with hopes of being a physician in the U.S. Air Force.” For more, visit the Desiree Foundation Against Sex Trafficking page on Facebook.

Elaine Hall is the mother of Dylan Redwine, 13, who was murdered by his biological father in November 2012. After a relentless search effort driven by the steadfast commitment of his mother, Dylan’s remains were found in La Plata County, Colorado, in June 2013, just miles from the home of Dylan’s father. Elaine’s work with local and state law enforcement and district attorney’s offices in her home state of Colorado has resulted in better awareness and understanding of, and training on, endangered missing children for law enforcement and search personnel. See the Dylan Redwine: Journey to Justice page on Facebook here.

Dr. Noelle Hunter is the mother of Maayimuna “Muna” N’Diaye, who in December 2011 was abducted internationally by her noncustodial father. Noelle’s Mission4Muna campaign led her to rally local, state, federal, and international resources; stage protests in front of the Embassy of Mali in Washington, D.C.; plead with the United Nations to help return her daughter; and work with a Kentucky congressional delegation to pressure the Mali government to return Muna. (“Until she’s home, I won’t sit down, I won’t be quiet,” she attested.) Noelle was able to bring Muna safely home in July 2014, and founded the iStand Parent Network.

Jeffery Morehouse is the father of Atomu Imoto “Mochi” Morehouse, who was abducted internationally by his noncustodial mother on Father’s Day 2010. Since that terrible day, Jeffery, an award-winning filmmaker, has worked relentlessly to find Mochi and bring his son home through complex and discerning work with local, state, federal, and international law enforcement. Jeffery is a founding partner and executive director of the nonprofit organization Bring Abducted Children Home, working for the return of abducted children wrongfully detained in Japan. Every day for him is ﬁlled with painful reminders of his son—“a familiar phrase, a look, or smell can remind me of life before my son’s abduction. Then I realize he’s still missing.”

Colleen Nick is the mother of Morgan Nick, who at age 6 was kidnapped from a Little League baseball game while catching fireflies with friends. Since that day (June 9, 1995), finding Morgan has been a steadfast priority for her and her family. In 1996, Colleen became CEO of the Morgan Nick Foundation, which has assisted thousands of families in crisis, successfully providing intervention, support, and reunification assistance to missing children, missing adults, and their families. She is also a nationally recognized advocate for missing children and adults; the co-founder of NCMEC’s Team HOPE, a peer support mentoring program for families of the missing; and the embodiment of unwavering hope. Learn more via the documentary, “Still Missing Morgan.”

Ahmad Rivazfar is the father of Sara, brutally murdered by her custodial mother’s boyfriend on September 22, 1988. Sara’s older sister, Sayeh, was badly beaten in the incident, but miraculously survived. Ahmad emigrated to the U.S. from Iran in 1976, joining the U.S. Navy and becoming a decorated pilot. He believes his heritage played a key role in the girls’ reported abuse not being taken seriously, and for “being treated like I was the criminal during the investigation.” Since Sara’s death, Ahmad has served other families of missing children through NCMEC’s Team HOPE and the Surviving Parents Coalition. Read more about Ahmad’s family tragedy here.

Nacole Svendgard is the mother of Jessika, who was lured away from home and trafficked in 2010. Nacole struggled with navigating the law enforcement process; not knowing her daughter’s whereabouts; and later, how to appropriately handle the family’s reunification with Jessika. Through the journey of recovery, Nacole and Jessika have become powerful advocates for victims of sex trafficking and have been instrumental in the passage of legislation to increase victim rights, issue harsher punishments for sex offenders, and shut down websites that facilitate sex trafficking. Nacole recently told her daughter, “I could not be prouder of the woman, mother, and advocate you’ve become. Your resiliency is inspirational.” Learn more via the documentaries “I Am Jane Doe” and “The Long Night.”

Patty Wetterling is the mother of Jacob Wetterling, abducted at age 11 on October 22, 1989, by a masked gunman near their home in St. Joseph, Minnesota. She and her husband, Jerry, would later create the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, dedicated to ensuring child safety. Patty co-founded and is past director of NCMEC’s Team HOPE, and has shared countless victim impact sessions with law enforcement across the United States. On September 1, 2016—almost 27 years after his abduction—Jacob’s remains were found, and his abductor charged with murder. Jacob’s zest for life is embodied in “Jacob’s 11,” which promotes 11 of his most endearing traits.

– Denise Gee Peacock

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Photo shows President Bill Clinton meeting in the Oval Office with "Family Survival Guide" parent-author Patty Wetterling after passage of Megan's Law in 1996. — President Bill Clinton meets with *Family Survival Guide* parent-author Patty Wetterling following passage of Megan’s Law in 1996.

1994

Patty Wetterling championed passage of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, the first U.S. law to mandate that each state maintain a sex offender registry.

1996

Patty Wetterling helped accomplish:
• President Bill Clinton’s executive memorandum requiring federal agencies to receive and post missing children’s fliers in their buildings.
• The passage of Megan’s Law—which amended the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. It requires sex offender registration and public access to the offender’s name, picture, address, incarceration date, and conviction.

"Family Survival Guide" parent-author Ahmad Rivazfar, right, with Ed Smart (father of kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart) during their annual cross-country bike rides to raise awareness about missing children. — *Family Survival Guide* parent-author Ahmad Rivazfar, *left,* with Ed Smart (father of kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart) in 2010.

2008

Ahmad Rivazfar and Ed Smart (father of kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart) lobbied for passage of the PROTECT Our Children Act (aka the Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology to Eradicate Cyber Threats to Our Children Act).

2010

Ahmad Rivazfar and Ed Smart embark on the first of many annual cross-country bike rides (from Rochester, New York, to Los Angeles—about 3,500 miles) to raise awareness about keeping children safe.

Nacole Svendgard, *top left,* with fellow parent-author Yvonne Ambrose, *top right,* during a *Family Survival Guide* filming session.

2018

Nacole Svendgard and Yvonne Ambrose helped champion two bills into law: The FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) and SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act), which make it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking, and amend the Section 230 safe harbors of the Communications Decency Act (which makes online services immune from civil liability for the actions of their users) to exclude enforcement of federal or state sex trafficking laws from its immunity. The effort led to the shuttering of Backpage.com, which generated millions of dollars annually through advertisements of innocent women and children forced or coerced into sex trafficking—including Yvonne’s late daughter Desiree and Nacole’s daughter, Jessika.

2019

Backed by the Morgan Nick Foundation, Arkansas became the first state in the nation to achieve multi-agency certification for its Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs). The certification recognizes that Arkansas’ CARTs were developed according to standards set by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) after they completed numerous training sessions. The teams consist of school personnel, victim advocates, and emergency management personnel, among others.

2020

After the death of her son, Dylan, Elaine Hall joined forces with the mother of another murdered child to make tampering with a dead body a more severe crime. After lobbying and publicly addressing Colorado politicians, Elaine and Laura Saxton succeeded in elevating the offense from a misdemeanor to a Class 3 felony. (The charge is usually added to a more serious crime, such as murder, and carries a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.) The new law was first used in the case of Chris Watts, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters.

Photo shows "Family Survival Guide" parent-authors Jeffery Morehouse, left, and Dr. Noelle Hunter outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. — Parent-authors Jeffery Morehouse, *left,* and Dr. Noelle Hunter enter the U.S. Department of Justice for the 2023 National Missing Children’s Day event.

2023

A day before the National Missing Children’s Day event (May 23, 2023) at the U.S. Department of Justice, Dr. Noelle Hunter and Jeffery Morehouse spoke before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing “Bring Abducted Children Home,” which was televised on C-SPAN. “We called for greater transparency in understanding why cases are closed without the victims being located or returned, and prescriptive responses in using existing laws and tools,” Jeffery said. Both have testified numerous times individually and jointly on international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases, advocating for improvements in federal and state legislation. “There’s been a groundswell of advocacy and awareness regarding children and families who are the victims of IPCA,” Noelle said. “Parents are standing together to hold leaders accountable.”

— Denise Gee Peacock

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“Operation We Will Find You” has safely located and recovered 225 endangered missing children, including a 6-month-old infant. Led by the U.S. Marshals Service, which worked with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the 10-week initiative was the first of its kind to involve state and local agencies in 15 areas with large clusters of critically missing children. Searches were conducted in Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County areas from March 1 to May 15. According to law enforcement, more than 40 cases involved trafficking, and of the cases closed, 86 percent were endangered runaways.

Imposter scams have been around for years, such as ones involving callers claiming a grandchild has been in an accident or robbed—and needs money. In those cases, would-be kidnappers pose as the grandchild or use generic recordings of someone screaming in the background. These attempts to extort money weren’t always successful, but federal officials are now warning about a new virtual kidnapping fraud that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to clone a loved one’s voice. AI programs are inexpensive, easily accessible, and can create good voice likenesses from just a few seconds of dialogue taken from social media posts. The FBI reports that most scam calls involving AI originate from Mexico and target Latin communities in the southwestern U.S. These sophisticated ruses can be successful, with fake kidnappers stealing an average of $11,000 from each victim. To avoid getting scammed, families are advised not to mention upcoming trips on social media or to give financial information to strangers on the phone. They also should create a family password or phrase that can help identify whether a kidnapping is legitimate.

Police in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, were training to use a new technology called “Project Lifesaver” when an opportunity to effectively use it in real-time came with the report of an endangered missing child with a medical condition. Officers ended their training session and immediately began a search for the child, who to their relief, had previously been enrolled in the nonprofit Project Lifesaver program. The child was found in just 11 minutes using radio technology that tracks signals from a transmitter worn on the child’s wrist or ankle. The technology was developed to protect and locate “at risk” individuals with cognitive disorders and relies on specially trained search and rescue teams to use it. Beaver Dam police have been using the program since 2018, and the officers involved in locating the child are certified as electronic search specialists by the Project Lifesaver International organization.

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Cover of Patty Wetterling's new memoir, "Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope' — *Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope* takes its name from the poignant letters Patty Wetterling wrote to her son, Jacob, during the years he was missing. The lantern on the cover reflects Patty’s request that on each October 22 (the day Jacob was abducted) her community, and the nation, leave its porch lights on for him—and all missing children. “Each light helps illuminate a world that Jacob believed in, where things are fair and just,” she says.

By Denise Gee Peacock

Patty Wetterling may be retired from offering her unique parent’s perspective on missing child investigations for AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) classes—but in a way, she’s still teaching.

Her newly released memoir, Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope, is practically a 336-page course on her nearly 27-year quest to find her missing son, Jacob, with the help —and sometimes hindrance—of local, state, and federal law enforcement. (Read her bio here.) Patty speaks frankly about what went right and what went wrong during the years. And for a few officers involved in the case, “it may be a harsh read,” she says. “But it was important that I provide an honest perspective. There are many lessons that law enforcement can learn from the book.”

Dear Jacob is Patty’s movingly personal take on the events leading up to and following Jacob’s abduction on October 22, 1989, in St. Joseph, Minnesota. That day, as night began to fall, her 11-year-old son Jacob, his 10-year-old brother, Trevor, and their friend, Aaron, 11, were riding their bikes back to the Wetterling home from a nearby convenience store when a masked gunman emerged from the roadside. Ordering them into a ditch, he asked each boy his age before telling Trevor and Aaron to get up and run toward the woods. “Don’t look back or I’ll shoot,” he told them. Ultimately, they did look back, and Jacob and the man were gone.

What unfolded was a search that would last nearly three decades—and become one of America’s highest-profile child abduction cases.

In the early days of the investigation, the Wetterling family saw “amazing community and investigative support,” Patty says, noting, “Compared to what many parents experience, we had the sun and moon and stars” in large part because an FBI agent happened to have a son in Jacob’s class. “It was personal for him.” The agent called the Minneapolis bureau, which sent an agent to help oversee the search effort for about six months. “Plus the Stearns County sheriff at that time helped us in every way—we had dogs, horses, the National Guard, you name it. But one by one, the resources, and ultimately our contacts, went away,” she says.

Meantime the Wetterling family endured extortion attempts, erroneous psychic visions, and “horrifyingly false leads,” Patty says— including one from a tipster who said Jacob had been abducted by a satanic cult and was sacrificed on Halloween.

As the case appeared to be going dormant, Patty did her best to keep Jacob top of mind for every investigator connected to it. She also dedicated herself to helping other searching parents. In 1991 she joined the board of directors for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), serving as chairperson for three of her 27 years with NCMEC, and co-founding its parent-to-parent support program, Team HOPE. She also helped create national policy change through her advocacy work.

As time passed, leads dwindled, communications ceased, and staffing turnovers occurred—along with missteps and missed opportunities.

Photograph showing 'Family Survival Guide' parent-author Patty Wetterling, right, with her memoir co-author, Joy Baker, in front of the Minnesota Historical Society — Patty Wetterling, *right*, and her co-author, Joy Baker, are photographed outside the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul. “It was important to find the right publisher—one that could help tell the story in more of a historical context rather than a sensationalized way,” Patty says.

Despite her national efforts, back in Stearns County, Jacob’s languishing case was almost unbearable. Whenever Patty was working with NCMEC or meeting with lawmakers in D.C., “I felt relevant, impactful—that my work was truly making a difference,” she says. “Yet in my own hometown I felt powerless, insignificant, and somewhat brushed aside” while trying to get updates on her son’s case.

Then, in 2013, a Minnesota blogger introduced herself to Patty at a fundraising event. Joy Baker, a writer and marketing consultant, had written about Jacob’s case several years earlier for her blog, JoyTheCurious.com. Patty was unaware of Joy’s work, but learned that Joy had recently received new insight into the case from a man named Jared Scheierl. Nine months before Jacob’s abduction, Scheierl, then age 12, had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a man who, after releasing him, told him to run and not look back or he would be shot.

When Scheierl decided to share his story publicly, other victims came forward, and new leads were generated. Joy also befriended the man the sheriff had identified as a “person of interest” in Jacob’s abduction, and helped him share his side of what happened that night.

“It was important for him to clear his name and also find out who took Jacob,” Patty says. Though Joy’s approach seemed unconventional, Patty ultimately realized that she was “reaching all kinds of people with her blog that never have been reached using traditional media.” And “between Joy’s investigative skills and Jared’s desperate quest for answers, they were asking questions that had never been asked—and truly making a difference,” she recalls.

What most concerned Patty was the feeling that merely by talking with Joy and Jared “somehow I was betraying the very people I had trusted the most” in Jacob’s case—law enforcement.

“We just needed to figure out how we could all work together” without compromising the integrity of the case. Thankfully, “Joy was willing to share all her leads with investigators,” Patty says (though she was later dismayed to learn that many of those leads were apparently not followed up on).

Photo of Jacob Wetterling in the hands of his mother — Jacob Wetterling pictured shortly before his 1988 abduction and murder

Joy’s efforts helped “shake the tree,” sparking renewed public interest in Jacob’s case and related media coverage. Emboldened, Patty convinced state and federal law enforcement to take another look at Jacob’s case in 2014. Within a year, the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team would use advanced DNA technology on old evidence to pinpoint Jared’s abductor, who they also believed to be Jacob’s killer.

The man had been arrested in 1990 but released due to a lack of solid evidence to charge him. He ultimately took a plea deal before informing law enforcement where they would find Jacob’s buried remains, which were discovered on September 3, 2016.

When the search for Jacob ended, Patty felt like her son had been taken away from her all over again. Throughout the years she had never lost hope that Jacob would one day return home, much like other missing youth that had been reunited with their families, including Steven Stayner, Elizabeth Smart, Shawn Hornbeck, Jaycee Dugard, and the three young women in Cleveland: Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina DeJesus.

After a period of grief and self-reflection, Patty emerged with a renewed commitment to continue helping other children from falling victim to predators—and advising parents of missing children as well as law enforcement.

“There are missing children still out there, and it is up to us to find them,” Patty says. (As of the book’s publication, “NCMEC had found 56 children who were recovered after more than 20 years,” she notes.)

“One of the main reasons I wrote the book was to help other families going through trauma. They may not be experiencing their journey the way we did, but hopefully they can learn that they will get through it,” Patty says. “They’ll get through it by finding resources and supportive people—and never giving up.” And no matter the outcome, she says, “everything they experience will help them help the next person in need.”

Patty also wants the book to help inform law enforcement, “for whom I have tremendous respect,” she says. “I hope they’ll be energized by what they learn.”

Top 5 Takeaways for Law Enforcement
Acclaimed Minnesota crime reporter Carolyn Lowe calls Wetterling’s memoir ‘a must-read for anyone working unsolved abduction cases.’

Don’t get stuck on a single suspect if the facts aren’t adding up. “Toward the end of Jacob’s case investigation, it was clear that our sheriff was onto to the wrong guy; he wouldn’t even look at other people, despite new information emerging,” Patty says. “But when Jacob’s remains were found, he was in tears. I could see how much he cared. He’d just been going in the wrong direction.”
Avoid the “been there, done that” mindset. Just because evidence has been reviewed “a million times” doesn’t mean it won’t require another look. “After the FBI sent in their CARD team, they looked at the evidence differently. They re-analyzed the clothing Jared had been wearing during his assault, which was still held in evidence. And though it been tested several times, they used advanced DNA technology and got a hit on the guy who assaulted him—who turned out to be the same man who assaulted and killed Jacob.” So as technology advances, “don’t stop looking at what you have,” Patty says. “Don’t stop talking to earlier suspects.”
Pay attention to the periphery. Regularly scan social media sites and discussion platforms for pertinent information or suspicious posters. Create Google searches for your crime victims and suspects. And follow the findings of reputable crime blogs. “Some true-crime bloggers are careless with the information they receive,” Patty says. “Joy, on the other hand, was trained as a reporter, and her writing, reputation, and tenacity reflect that” (which is why Patty tapped her to help write the memoir). She also sensed that “Joy was working harder to find Jacob than anybody else on the planet.”
Training is everything. So is knowledge of specialized resources. “The training provided by Fox Valley Technical College and NCMEC is such a gift for law enforcement—as is the training offered by the FBI and state crime bureaus,” Patty says. She recommends attending conferences where survivors of missing child cases are slated to speak or missing child cases are given an in-depth review. For specialized assistance, NCMEC “should always be a first call,” she says, noting the experienced support available for law enforcement via Team Adam, and for families, caring mentoring from Team HOPE.
Don’t let cases truly go cold. “Have a plan to revisit them every five years or so,” Patty says. “Schedule a roundtable meeting of all the best minds in law enforcement and ask, ‘What more can we do with the tools and information that are now available?’”

>> Cover Story: Find out how the parent-authors and others worked to update the Guide—and made lasting bonds in the process.

>> Check out the parent-authors’ advocacy work highlights by clicking here. Above: Patty Wetterling meets with President Bill Clinton after helping pass Megan’s Law in 1996.

>>Find out what the Guide‘s parent-authors want law enforcement to consider when working missing child cases by clicking here.

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According to a newly released “2022 Missing American Indian and Alaska Native Persons: Age 21 and Under” report from the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), of the more than 10,000 cases of American Indian and Alaska Native youth reported missing in 2022, 65 percent were between the ages of 12 and 17; girls represented 4,000 of those cases compared to 2,500 males. Additional statistics from the report, based on data from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC), showed that 190 of the case entries (about 4 percent) were for males under age 12, compared to 165 entries (3 percent) for missing girls under age 12. More detailed information can be found in the report.

In response to the ongoing crisis of people missing from Tribal communities, California has enacted a new Feather Alert. The statewide notification, similar to an AMBER Alert, can be issued for missing Indigenous people or Tribal members. “We’re hoping it’s beneficial, because we really need it,” said Keely Linton, who heads the Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition in Escondido. Linton noted that while much of the concern is for missing Indigenous women, some Tribes report more missing men.

Native Americans who lost loved ones to violence, or experienced injustice, testified during a Not Invisible Act Commission field hearing in Minneapolis. As part of the federal government’s efforts to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) crisis, Tribal members detailed their emotional losses and the apathy they experienced in trying to get cases investigated. They recommended more collaborative training between law enforcement and Tribes. Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a Native American, said there is “an urgent and critical need” to keep communities safe and support those who have lost loved ones. The commission will use information gathered at its hearings to recommend best practices for solving MMIP cases.

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After an international manhunt, five missing and endangered children from the United States have been safely recovered in Mexico and their fugitive father and his girlfriend apprehended. Edgar Salvador Casian-Garcia and Araceli Medina—formerly on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted List—were charged not only with multiple counts of child sex abuse, but also for the murder of Casian-Garcia’s son, whose remains were found near the boy’s Pacific Northwest home. An official at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which assisted law enforcement in the search, said the fugitives’ capture is testament to the importance of collaboration and community involvement in safeguarding children.

After being kidnapped by his foster parent and her mother, a 5-year-old U.S. boy was found safe in Vietnam and returned to his biologicalmother in Washington State. Foster guardian Amanda Dinges and her mother, Amber Dinges, fled with the boy after it appeared he would soon be transitioning back to living with his birth mother. After Diplomatic Service Security personnel obtained custody of the boy at the U.S. Consulate in Hanoi, the abductors were charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree custodial interference. Brittany Tri, the birth mother’s attorney, said the boy is doing well; his mother is unsure how he was able to leave the U.S., since she had never applied for him to have a passport.

The sweet face of 4-year-old Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez in a “Stay Kind” shirt served as continual motivation for U.S. authorities who worked for nearly five years to find the girl, last seen in 2018 at a Vancouver, Washington, shopping mall. Earlier this year FBI agents got the long-awaited news that Aranza had been located in western Mexico, and shortly thereafter were able to escort the now 8-year-old back home. Though the girl’s mother, who had kidnapped Aranza, was taken into custody in Mexico in 2019, Aranza had remained missing. “For more than four years, the FBI and our partners [in the U.S. and Mexico] did not give up,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. What the girl had experienced while missing is unclear, but “our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”

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Lieutenant Kathy Zysek, *above,* was a key contact with the parents of the teen missing from the University at Buffalo, *shown at top*, where about 30,000 students are enrolled.

By Jody Garlock

Deputy Chief of Police Joshua Sticht has been with the New York State University Police long enough to know the ebbs and flows of student stress levels at the University at Buffalo (UB). The first six weeks of fall semester, and a few weeks toward the end of spring term, one is likely to find students either adjusting to their new environs or finalizing exams and often concerned about their grades. That’s when Sticht and his team are most likely to field missing persons calls, typically from a parent unable to reach their child.

“We get a fair number of missing persons calls, but usually find students reported missing within the first hour,” Sticht said. “It might be something like a student is at a friend’s house and no one has seen them for days.”

But a May 2023 call from a worried mother unable to reach her son before his final exams proved to be far from routine. The wide-ranging case would lead investigators south to Mexico and involve numerous law enforcement authorities, including New York State’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYMPC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) of Fox Valley Technical College.

The case’s outcome was a positive one, with the teen swiftly and safely located, thanks in large part to a word all involved in the case mentioned: “Collaboration.” There was collaboration between the parents and UB police; between UB police, the NYMPC, and FBI; and between the NYMPC and AATTAP. Collaboration was also strong between AATTAP and contacts developed through its Southern Border Initiative (SBI), which works to support the seamless operation of AMBER Alert plans in cross-border abduction cases.

“We have access to a lot of technical tools here, but once someone is out of the state, we’re really stuck,” Sticht explained. “Collaborating early and bringing in a number of different resources was key.”

The case also reflects how AMBER Alert programs are used more broadly as a cornerstone tool to locate endangered missing youth. In this case, the missing student was 19—making him too old for an AMBER Alert. But his age, combined with facts uncovered by New York law enforcement, proved he was indeed vulnerable and perhaps in grave danger.

The investigation unfolds

On May 11, a resident adviser—responding to a welfare check prompted by the boy’s mother— discovered the student had not been seen for two days. The adviser promptly reported the student missing to UB police, who in turn visited his dorm room. There they discovered two “red flags”: His cellphone had been left behind (“College students just don’t do that,” Sticht said) and his university-issued ID card— needed to access campus buildings and his meal plan—had not been used in several days.

“This ramped up our concern,” Sticht said. “Sometimes we have situations where everyone is in full-blown panic mode, and we find the person studying in the library. But this was different. No [electronic] devices were hitting the networks. And every tool we would normally use [to locate someone] was hitting a dead end.”

Within hours, UB police added the missing teen to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database in accordance with Suzanne’s Law (enacted after another endangered missing New York college student was ineligible for an AMBER Alert; see related sidebar).

The following day, New York State’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYMPC) received additional information from the boy’s mother that led them to consider issuing a Missing Vulnerable Adult Alert for him.

The mother had reported to NYMPC that her son was on the autism spectrum and had poor decision-making skills. Online luring seemed a possibility. The parents had learned their son had been communicating via the Discord app with individuals in Mexico and had used PayPal to send someone money.

They also noted that on May 8—the last day their son had used his university meal plan—he had withdrawn funds from his bank account. What’s more, he had recently asked his mother for his passport, explaining he planned to visit Niagara Falls, which straddles the Canadian border.

After a review of his cell phone records showed he had made a 3 a.m. phone call to Delta Airlines, all indications pointed to his attempt to travel to Mexico. Meanwhile, UB officers were able to confirm the student had flown out of Buffalo to Shreveport, Louisiana, giving them “a lucky break” in the case, Sticht said. But with 1,200 miles separating the New York team from the boy’s last known location, collaboration with other law enforcement agencies would need to happen quickly.

Tim Williams, Missing Persons Investigative Supervisor at the NYMPC, contacted the New York State Intelligence Center (SIC) to inquire about getting help from U.S. Border Patrol, and together they learned the youth had flown from Shreveport to Dallas, and on to Mexico City. With confirmation that the teen was no longer in New York—or even the country—a Missing Vulnerable Adult Alert was nixed. Instead, after Williams briefed NYMPC Manager Cindy Neff on what was now a cross-border case, she decided to contact Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, who coordinates AATTAP’s international and territorial training and outreach, including the Southern Border Initiative.

That proved to be a smart move, Neff said. Leon-Baron had FBI contacts at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, and within an hour Leon-Baron was talking with the U.S. Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT). In turn, the OPDAT source was briefing the U.S. State Department’s American Citizen Services group on the case.

Surprisingly swift resolution

On May 13—roughly 48 hours after the teen was reported missing—Mexican authorities located him in Querétaro, about 135 miles north of Mexico City. The youth had begun using a different name and living in an apartment with two people close to his age. Local authorities and the FBI interviewed the teen, who said he was fine. But he wanted to stay in Querétaro. The parents confirmed his identity via photos and spoke with their son.

While the parents are exploring ways to best help their son, those involved in the search for him are proud of how quickly they were able to locate him in another country—and how relieved they were to know he was found unharmed.

Neff credits Leon-Baron for accelerating the search due to her connections in Mexico: “Once Jesi reached out, they got right on it.”

The case represents “the very essence” of AATTAP’s mission to build relationships and collaborate, Leon-Baron said. “The success of this investigation is due to the partnerships built with AMBER Alert Coordinators in the U.S., and Southern Border Initiative relationships established in Mexico,” she said.

Having solid relationships ahead of time was crucial, Leon-Baron says. “It’s being the bridge, if you will, to pass it on. Without that, it would have prolonged the opportunity to recover the teen quickly.”

Back on the UB campus, Sticht is pleased with the work of his officers, who remained the point of contact for the parents even after the case left his team’s jurisdiction. “Collaboration is really what got this done,” he said.

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Photo of Chitimacha Tribal Police Chief Jada Breaux, right, with a happy young D.A.R.E. essay contest winner. — Chitimacha Tribal Police Chief Jada Breaux, *right,* beams with pride after giving a young member of her community a certificate for a winning D.A.R.E. essay.

By Rebecca Sherman

As the new Captain of the Chitimacha Tribal Police Department in south Louisiana, Jada Breaux’s days are often packed with administrative duties and supervisory obligations.

The work she’s most passionate about, however, is looking out for all those she calls “my children” on the Chitimacha Reservation. It gets her out from behind her desk to work with youth as an instructor for the D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program.

This passion also keeps her training for any missing child case she may have to handle— and sometimes requires giving law enforcement colleagues in surrounding parishes a crash course in two words that tend to stop people in their tracks— “sovereignty” and “jurisdiction.”

“Many think Tribal sovereignty means working with outside law enforcement is not welcomed or encouraged. But even though we’re on sovereign land, we function just like everyone else—and know working with our regional and state colleagues is crucial,” Breaux says.

Confusion over the Tribe’s authority to issue AMBER Alerts or subpoena critical information can create life-threatening delays. Thankfully Breaux has a good working relationship with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office, which can help her with such needs. But neither the Chitimacha, nor the state’s three other federally recognized Tribes, have Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) in place to seamlessly engage with state law enforcement when time is of the essence—particularly when searching for Tribal missing children. Breaux aims to change that. “Without collaboration, nothing can be accomplished,” she says. We spoke more with her shortly after seeing her at the 2023 AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) Symposium in Arizona.

What challenges are unique to your job?
I started my law enforcement career at the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office before making the move to the Chitimacha Tribal Police Department 17 years ago. It was an entirely new world for me. One of the most unique challenges is understanding jurisdiction. You have to learn where [oversight] falls— be it Tribal, state, or federal. Currently Louisiana’s Tribes do not have active MOUs allowing us to directly initiate AMBER Alerts or request search warrants. And while I respect the system, it can be frustrating. For instance, in investigating one juvenile case, I submitted a search warrant to a social media company, and they replied that they were not able to honor it because they don’t recognize the Chitimacha Tribal Court as a legal entity. Before having to go through all the extra steps needed to issue that warrant, we fortunately were able to locate the child; but the situation was eye-opening. It would have cost us a lot of extra time, which is not on our side when children are missing. I would like to see this change.

What are some of the initiatives you’re working on to foster understanding?
One of the biggest challenges is the lack of awareness about Indian Country. I’m a firm believer in knowledge and education, so I’m working with AATTAP/AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood and Project Coordinator Valerie Bribiescas to bring training here this fall. We plan to invite all the Tribes in Louisiana and the law enforcement agencies with whom we work. We also want to host trainings on Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) investigations. We need to strengthen and sustain our public safety partnerships.

What motivates you to go into work? One of my motivations is the community I serve. While I’m not a member of the Tribe—my father’s mother was a member of the Choctaw Nation—everyone here has embraced me as one of their own. I have attended countless weddings and graduations, and watched a whole group of children become young adults and succeed as they chase their dreams. I’d like to think that I’ve had a small hand in that from being their D.A.R.E. instructor, or just the officer who hung out with them at school. I’ve had former students thank me years later for helping them make difficult choices by using tools from the D.A.R.E. program. There’s nothing more rewarding than being able provide resources to our children and watch them not only become productive members of our Tribe, but also of our society.

Ashlynne Mike’s legacy:
A law to help Tribal children—and law enforcement

Photo of Ashlynne Mike on a poster of loving messages to the girl, who was abducted and then murdered on the Navajo Nation in 2016. — A poignant tribute to Ashlynne Mike, whose tragic story broke hearts across the nation—and prompted Indian Country to embrace AMBER Alert training.

Chitimacha Tribal Police Captain Jada Breaux remembers the deep sense of loss she felt after hearing the news that Ashlynne Mike had been abducted and murdered on the Navajo Nation in 2016.

“But it was only after I heard Ashlynne’s mother, Pamela Foster, speak at the 17th annual National Indian Nations conference that I learned more about the heartbreaking story—and the jurisdictional confusion following Ashlynne’s abduction being reported.”

Like many Tribal leaders across the nation, Breaux realized that if communication weaknesses and jurisdictional misunderstandings could happen to the nation’s largest Tribe (spanning three states and 27,000 square miles) what did that portend for the 573 other federally recognized Tribes, which have much significantly fewer resources?

Born from this tragedy was the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, created to foster greater collaboration between Tribes and their state and local law enforcement counterparts, and to strengthen resources. To accomplish this, the U.S. Department of Justice’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative helps Tribes learn what the law entails, and provides numerous no-cost resources, from training events to Technology Toolkits (“which we’ve already put to good use,” Breaux says).

“At the end of the day, everyone in law enforcement should have the same goal: to find a missing child as quickly as possible, using every available resource,” Breaux adds.

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Group photo at the AMBER in Indian Country Toolkit Presentation in Wisconsin October 12, 2023 — Shown at the October 12, 2023, AATTAP AMBER Alert in Indian Country Technology Toolkit presentation in Oneida, Wisconsin: **FIRST ROW** *from left*: **Tyesha Wood**, AATTAP-AIIC Program Manager; **Valerie Bribiescas**, AATTAP-AIIC Program Coordinator; Lieutenant **Mary Creapeau**, Stockbridge Munsee Tribal Police; **Jenniffer Price-Lehmann**, AATTAP Program Manager; **Todd M. Otradovec Sr**., Deputy Chief, Menominee Tribal Police; Chief **Jessie Hall**, Red Cliff Tribal Police; and **Janell Rasmussen**, AATTAP Administrator. **SECOND ROW** *from left*: **Chuck Fleeger**, AATTAP Region 3 Liaison; **Chad Racine**, Special Agent, Wisconsin DOJ/DCI; Chief Eric Boulanger, Oneida Nation Police; Chief **Timothy DeBrot**, Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Police; Dispatch Supervisor **Nicole Reiter**, Oneida Nation Police; **Melissa Marchant**, AMBER Alert Coordinator/Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager, Wisconsin DOJ/DCI; Detective **George Hopfensperger**, Lac Du Flambeau Tribal Police; **Jim Hoffman**, NADGI Intelligence Coordinator; and Chief **Keith Tourtillott**, Menominee Tribal Police.

By Denise Gee Peacock

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP)/AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) Initiative recently presented Technology Toolkits to six Wisconsin Tribal Nations during a quarterly Native American Drug and Gang Initiative Task Force Advisory Board meeting at the Oneida Indian Nation Police Headquarters in Oneida.

Each durable, portable Technology Toolkit—containing a rugged laptop, webcam, digital camera, scanner, a hotspot device with six free months of WiFi (in partnership with the FirstNet Authority and AT&T)—is geared to help Tribes work more quickly and efficiently in the field during missing child investigations. Funding for the Toolkits, offered to any federally recognized Tribe, is provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

From left: Oneida Nation Police Chief Eric Boulanger; Assistant Chief of Police Joel Maxam; and Dispatch Supervisor Nicole Reiter.

14) Lac Du Flambeau Tribal Police Detective George Hopfensperger

Lieutenant Mary Creapeau, Stockbridge Munsee Tribal Police.

Menominee Tribal Police Chief Keith Tourtillott.

Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Police Chief Timothy DeBrot.

Chief Jessie Hall, Red Cliff Tribal Police.

Melissa Marchant and Chad Racine with the Wisconsin DOJ/DCI.

Oneida Nation Police Chief Eric Boulanger, center, meets with the AATTAP's AMBER in Indian Country team Tyesha Wood, left, and Valerie Bribiescas.

Oneida Nation Police Lieutenant Brandon Vande Hei, left, with his colleague, Lieutenant Justine Wheelock.

Oneida Nation Police Lieutenant Justine Wheelock.

Menominee Tribal Police Chief Keith Tourtillott wears his jacket badge with honor.

AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood, left, talks with AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen at the start of the event.

AATTAP Janell Rasmussen discusses the Technology Toolkits with meeting attendees at Oneida Nation Police Headquarters.

AATTAP Region 3 Liaison Chuck Fleeger, left, with AATTAP Program Manager Jenniffer Price-Lehmann.

The Toolkit endeavor was devised during the pandemic, “when we saw a significant need for tools and resources in Indian Country that would allow law enforcement to work remotely,” said AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

“Some Tribes didn’t have a webcam to participate in virtual meetings, or they had issues with broadband or Wi-Fi access, so we decided to put together a Toolkit that could help in any way possible when a child was missing in Indian Country.”

“Often when Tribal law enforcement go to a home to get a photo of a missing child, the picture they need may be the only one they have—and they don’t want to give it away because they might not get it back. The printer’s scanner feature helps to capture a digital image of the photo and allows the family to keep the photo.”

“And with the hotspot it provides, that photo can be immediately transmitted to whoever is creating the Alert to send out,” said AATTAP Program Manager Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, a Wisconsin native with decades of high-level law enforcement experience in the state. “That’s a major time saver, and we all know how critical time is when searching for a missing child.”

Rasmussen also highlighted the training provided by the AMBER Alert in Indian Country team led by AATTAP/AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood and AATTAP/AIIC Program Coordinator Valerie Bribiescas, who have so far provided more than 100 Toolkits to Tribal nations—and countless hours of training and assistance.

Wood told the group that “Indian Country training is completely customized to your needs, and all the trainings are free, whether they’re online or in person,” she said. “As for the in-person trainings, we also have travel scholarships available to help people attend any training session that would increase their agency’s response within their Tribal community.”

Rasmussen praised Wisconsin for its successful, proactive work to “build bridges of communication”—pointing out meeting attendee Melissa Marchant, the AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager for the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ)/Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). “Not every Tribe or state has such a dynamic system or team in place to work seamlessly during a missing child crisis. That’s why we’ve been working with Tribes across the nation to ensure that those without ready access to the equipment or contacts needed to issue an AMBER Alert can be prepared before an Alert is needed.”

“As of today, 1,146 kids are back at home safe because an AMBER Alert was issued, the public saw the Alert, and someone helped law enforcement get that that child back home. So this program works. And it works because of everything you do to make it work.”
– AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen

Funding for the AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country Technology Toolkit project is provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018—passed nearly two years after Ashlynne was kidnapped and killed May 2, 2016, near Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation Reservation.

At the time, Navajo Nation law enforcement officers did not have an AMBER Alert plan to notify the people living in the 27,000 square mile reservation that stretches from Arizona to Utah. As Ashlynne’s case progressed, it brought to light gaps in public safety preparedness and coordination to best respond to cases involving missing and abducted children.

Ashlynne’s mother, Pamela Foster, lobbied legislators such as the late Senator John McCain of Arizona to pass the law, which provides funding and training for increased law enforcement coordination, new and expanded resources, and renewed hope for protection of children living on Tribal lands across the U.S.

“The Navajo Nation has worked very hard to put together an incredible alert system in Ashlynn’s memory,” Rasmussen said. After eliminating jurisdictional confusion and hurdles, the Nation now issue their own Alerts. And they have resulted in the successful recoveries of Navajo children. So this initiative is definitely working.”

“Traditionally the cooperation between federal, state, local, and Tribal law enforcement is not good. So kudos to my predecessors, who were able to lay the foundation for the solid relationships with have in this state, one we continue to build on. We wouldn’t be able to function properly without that.”
— Oneida Nation Police Chief Eric Boulanger

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Brittni Farmakes is a Project Coordinator with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), working primarily in support of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative. Brittni is responsible for such tasks as coordinating delivery of training and technical assistance materials; identifying and assigning instructors; planning, developing, and coordinating project deliverables; assisting in planning, budgeting, and allocating resources; preparing statistical project reports; and developing and implementing training calendars, agendas, and other program materials.

Prior to joining the AATTAP team, Brittni worked with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) for more than 15 years—serving most recently as a Criminal Intelligence Analyst for homicide and missing persons investigations. Earlier in her BCA career, she worked as Training and Conference Coordinator and helped support the Minnesota AMBER Alert and Missing Persons Clearinghouse.

Brittni holds a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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By Denise Gee Peacock

“It’s fitting, these images,” said Pascua Yaqui Tribal Councilman Francisco Munoz, pointing to a colorful depiction of Arizona life—one of many created by Salt River Elementary School students that wafted across a giant screen. “Children view the world totally different than we do—through magical eyes. And they need our assistance.”

Munoz was speaking to more than 150 law enforcement professionals who came from nearly every state in the nation—plus Puerto Rico and Mexico—to attend the 2023 AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country National Symposium.

The event, held April 19-20 at the Casino Del Sol Resort & Casino in Tucson, Arizona, was made possible by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To support robust participation, lodging scholarships were made available to Tribal participants with funding from the McCain Institute. And hospitality was provided to attendees by the resort’s owners, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.

Thank you for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our nation’s children,” said OJJDP Associate Administrator Jim Antal. “Your job is not easy, but it’s a worthwhile one.”

The occasion marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that law enforcement officers, AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) leaders, and other key partners were able to meet in person for collaborative learning.

Attendees had their pick of 36 learning sessions presented by more than three dozen subject matter experts. They received updates from U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Gary N. Restaino, whose Office works with 22 federally recognized Tribes (including the nation’s largest, the Navajo Nation). Participants also heard from Marlys Big Eagle, the DOJ’s first Native American Outreach Services Liaison —and a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

What follows is an overview of key topics addressed at the event, with participants’ compelling thoughts about them.

Alerting and Investigating

NCIC entry is essential. “Nothing is more important than nationwide accessibility to essential and timely records about the event, the child, and the abductor. That’s why NCIC entry is federally mandated,” said AATTAP Region One Liaison Joan Collins, a law enforcement telecommunications expert who recently retired after three decades with the Rhode Island State Police.
Follow the leads management system. After conducting a live polling session via participants’ cell phones, retired FBI Special Agent David Fallon found that 73% of attendees had not used a leads management system. “Without one, you’ll be behind the eight ball,” he said. The best systems have a lead assignment log; lead sheet with the lead number; the date information was received and assigned; its priority; the assigned investigator; the information source; related task(s), completion(s), and their follow-up status.
“Don’t be in a homicide frame of mind.” That’s the important lesson El Paso Police Department Sergeant David Camacho learned from Mike Simonds, the on-call sergeant (since retired) who investigated the Amber Hagerman case in 1996. “Race to safely recover the children in peril; then focus on justice for the perpetrator.”
Ensure a recovered child returns to a safe environment. “Look at the big picture. How many 911 calls have come from the child’s house, or domestic violence reports that mention the child?” said Cindy Neff, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager for the New York State Division of Criminal Services.
Neff shared an eight-question screening tool for use in beginning important conversations:

1. What made you want to leave home?
2. How long have you been away?
3. Who have you been staying with?
4. Did someone touch you?
5. Do you have health issues?
6. Has anyone hurt you or tried to hurt you while you were gone?
7. Are you afraid for your safety or the safety of someone else?
8. Do you have someone you can talk to at home or school?

Child Abduction Response Teams

Having a CART is smart. “By being CART-certified, you’re telling your community, the missing child’s parents, even the nation, that your team is ready,” said Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, AATTAP CART Certification Manager. “Training and certification make child recovery much more successful.”
CARTs can deploy for any type of missing child incident, not only for abductions, which represent less than 1% of children who go missing, said Derek VanLuchene, AATTAP Coordinator for CART training.
CART training for Tribal law enforcement is a goal for many in Indian Country.

Indian Country

Savanna’s Act guidelines are being developed and implemented for use in missing and murdered Indigenous persons (MMIP) case protocols training, said U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Gary N. Restaino. After conducting listening sessions with the state’s Tribes, Restaino and his team are focusing on respectfully preserving physical and cultural remains; involving a broader group of family members in investigation updates; and ensuring procedural due process.
AIIC Technology Toolkits, launched in spring 2022 have been making their way to Tribal law enforcement agencies across the country. Funded by the U.S. DOJ and administered by the AIIC, the kits provide an array of portable devices allowing Tribal officers to quickly communicate data involving missing children while working in remote locations. And now, thanks to AIIC’s work with FirstNet (in partnership with AT&T), the toolkits include a Franklin A50 WiFi hotspot device and six months of free AT&T service. And $75,000 has been allocated for select Tribes to receive additional toolkits.
PL280 challenges: Northern California’s Yurok Tribe is a Public Law (PL) 280 state, one of only six in the nation that puts criminal jurisdiction solely in the hands of state, or federal law enforcement. “This hinders a Tribe’s ability to directly respond to, or access data about, crimes that occur on their lands, such as abductions of Native American children or the sexual trafficking or exploitation of Tribal youth,” said Yurok Tribal Prosecutor Brie Bennett. But the Tribe has found workarounds. It recently joined forces with the U.S. Marshals for an MMIP-focused initiative.

Border/International Collaboration

Relationship building is key: El Paso Police Department Sergeant David Camacho credits the strong partnership that Texas law enforcement and U.S. federal agencies have established with Mexican law enforcement and Mexico’s Office of the Attorney General, which oversees its Alerta AMBER. “We’ve established a healthy working relationship with Mexico when it comes to searching for U.S. citizens. “Their officers meet with us quarterly to bread together, and ensure contacts are current.”
So is swift communication: “Since many agencies can’t make international phone calls without permission, we’ve found the WhatsApp tool very helpful,” Comacho said. “You can plug in any number in the world and be instantly connected.”

Bias in Alerting Decisions

Re-thinking the term ‘runaway’: Chitimacha Tribal Police Captain Jada Breaux of Louisiana noted that children categorized as runaways “should be seen as 1) missing and 2) at risk of exploitation,” adding, “Chronic runaways often get lost in the system—or not even put into the system.” Program Manager Byron Fassett agreed: “I would argue that we should no longer even use the term.”
“A lot of officers think sex trafficking victims volunteered to be abused,” said Region 3 Liaison Sarah Krebs-Qureshi. “They’ll say, ‘She was making good money,’ or ‘She’s an entrepreneur.’ And I’ll say, ‘No, she’s a victim. And even if she did get herself into a bind, it’s our responsibility to rescue her.”

Outreach and Understanding

Trust is earned: Black communities have a lot of mistrust about law enforcement, said Texas AAC Mike Nixon. That leads them to try to solve a missing child incident themselves—with parents calling their child’s friends, other family members, the child’s school, pastor, or barber to ask for help. “We need to take more initiative to get into these communities, build trust, and educate them about the need to act quickly so we can help recover their child safe.”
Be OK with discomfort: In working with Tribal or minority communities, “You will be uncomfortable constantly,” said North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Erin Quinn. “You’re showing up to meetings where you were not invited. You’re showing up to places where people will stare at you. So cultural liaisons should be outgoing enough to overcome that.”

Wellbeing

Mental health counseling should be “like an annual physical, which no one questions the need for,” said one participant. Though symposium attendees believe things are changing for the better, unfortunately some command staff see an officer who asks for help as unfit for duty. “Truth is, all the terrible things we’ve seen never leave our heads,” said Texas Region 2 AAC John Graham. “But if someone mentions they’re struggling, it can be a career-ender.”
This subject hits home, and hard, for one Symposium presenter. For Pete Bailey, the suicide of his Dallas Police Department partner led the DPD Sergeant to earn a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling after his retirement. “Everyone has different stress points; it’s important to be a ‘subject matter expert’ on yourself,” he said.

NCMEC Updates

Dr. John Bischoff, Vice President for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s Missing Children Division (NCMEC), shared some alerting updates:

A redesigned poster will soon launch. Expect mobile design-friendly posters with bigger pictures and pared-down descriptive language; a QR code leading to their website, with more details about the child (such as height, weight, and eye color; and ways to make the poster easier to share on social media. “We want to make it clear what we want the public to actually do,” Bischoff said.
Watch for a streaming service. NCMEC is working with Walmart and others to have large monitors prominently display digital posters of missing children updated in real-time.

Leemie Kahng-Sofer, NCMEC’s Director of Case Management, shared several reporting trends:

Children missing from care comprised more than 75% of total endangered runaway reports to NCMEC from 2018-2022, representing a 250% increase.
Black and Native American children are disproportionately over-represented among missing children reported to NCMEC compared to U.S. Census data. Of all the NCMEC Endangered Runaway intakes from 2016 to 2020, 31% of the children were Black, despite 14% of the U.S. population being Black; 1.5% of were Native American, though only .8% of the population is Native American; and 10% were Multiracial, compared to 4% of U.S. Census representation.
Regarding missing children with autism, 2,496 cases were reported to NCMEC from 2013-2022, with 74% of them involving a male juvenile. And of those total cases, 3% were recovered deceased, with 83% of those deaths due to drowning.

Symposium-goers get preview of new Family Survival Guide

An updated and multimedia fifth edition of the U.S. Department of Justice resource, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, was officially announced on Missing Children’s Day, held May 24, 2023, in Washington DC. But during the Symposium, participants were shown a video of the Guide’s parent-contributors, who spoke about the power of the resource—for them and for others.

“This Guide is critical to the work each of you do in the field,” AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen told attendees. “When you’re working with families, it’s nice to give them a resource explaining what they can expect, and what they do, to help in the search for their missing child,” she added.

Symposium participants also heard from a legend in the field of child protection: Ron Laney, a retired OJJDP veteran who was instrumental in not only creating the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, but also the national AMBER Alert initiative.

Laney helped create the first edition of the Guide in 1998 by teaming up with Helen Connelly (retired FVTC Program Administrator and current NCJTC Associate) and a small group of dedicated parents, including Patty Wetterling and Colleen Nick, who also contributed to the new fifth edition.

The original Guide was the first of its kind, offering clear, actionable information on how parents of missing children could work with law enforcement, the media, and volunteers; manage donations and rewards; and simply survive to fight another day in the search for their child. It became a go-to source for parents needing guidance and strength.

The Guide’s new iteration, which has been peer-reviewed by leading law enforcement experts and child/victim advocates, will build on that legacy by offering updated advice and information in easy to navigate online and print formats.

>> Look for an in-depth feature about the Family Survival Guide to appear in the next issue of The AMBER Advocate.

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Line of Hernando County, Florida, law enforcement SUVs in rural setting. — Hernando County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office SUVs and other law enforcement vehicles line the verdant rural road near where 2-year-old Joshua “JJ” Rowland went missing.

Rescued toddler, JJ Rowland, in the arms of volunteer searcher Roy Link, Brooksville, Florida. — Search volunteer Ray Link found the toddler and carried him to safety. Photo: Tampa Bay10

By Rebecca Sherman

ON THE MORNING of February 23, 2023, toddler Joshua “JJ” Rowland was fast asleep. His grandmother, who had been caring for him, dropped him off at his parents’ house at 9:45 a.m. With JJ’s mother still asleep, his grandmother quietly placed the drowsy boy in his bed. And all was quiet when she left. But that peace would be broken within an hour, when JJ’s mother awoke to find the front door open, the family dogs in the front yard, and her son nowhere to be found.

JJ’s mother began a frantic search of their property in Brooksville, Florida. The Rowland home sits on an expanse of land surrounded by dense areas of trees and brush that characterize this rural region of west-central Florida. The land also has a deep pond, plus barns and sheds—all potential hazards and hiding spots for their lost 2-yearold. After an hour of searching for JJ, his mother called 911.

Hernando County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies arrived and quickly combed the area for the blond curly haired toddler who was wearing a Batman T-shirt and space themed pajama pants. A witness reported seeing JJ playing in his front yard at 10:40 a.m., but he had not been seen since. By this point, JJ had been missing for nearly an hour. And time was not anyone’s side.

As a search operation got underway, law enforcement began canvassing the area. They interviewed family members and neighbors, and contacted registered sex offenders in the area, all of whom gave permission for their homes to be searched. But after five hours, there was still no sign of the toddler.

“As of now, we have no indication [whether] he was abducted, or if he just wandered off,” Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said during a roadside press conference near the Rowland home. “We’ve been scouring the woods with bloodhounds and our K-9s. Deputies have been coming back just covered in sand spurs looking for little JJ.”

Nienhuis described JJ as a “rambunctious” child and more mature than his age would indicate. “He might have gotten farther away than we might anticipate, and [may be] hiding in someone’s shed or garage,” he said, acknowledging that chances for a positive outcome were dwindling as the hours passed. “Our hope is to find him alive and well.” (Story continues below)

A massive search and rescue effort involved nearly 100 law enforcement officers from area agencies, including sheriff’s deputies from four nearby counties, members of the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Highway Patrol, Department of Corrections, and Probation and Parole.Due to the vast and complex terrain involved, specialized search and rescue operations were deployed to thoroughly examine woods and water using drones, K-9 units, horseback patrols, dive teams, and all-terrain vehicles.

“It’s a difficult area to search,” Nienhuis told a gathering of reporters. “The woods make it difficult to see even a few feet—the grass is so high—and JJ is so small.”

At 6 p.m., as daylight faded and spirits waned, a statewide Enhanced Missing Child Alert was issued. Within hours the ground search for JJ would be called off due to darkness, but Hernando County deputies continued their desperate quest to find the boy from the air, using helicopters and drones equipped with heat-sensing infrared cameras. Then fog rolled in, hindering the air search. The long night ended without locating JJ.

At dawn the next day, nearly 100 Child Abduction Response Team (CART) members from five agencies arrived on the scene to assist. An amazing 500 volunteers also joined the search, led by a Volunteer Coordinator from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO). Thanks to the voracity of the first day’s efforts, and the swift and comprehensive response with vast resources enlisted on day two, all those involved in the physically taxing search would see their efforts rewarded.

Volunteer Roy Lick was well-suited for the task at hand. The former U.S. Marine and retired Hernando County Parks Department employee knows the area well, so when volunteers were needed in the search for JJ, he answered the call. His pre-planned fishing trip would have to wait.

By now it was about 11 a.m.—some 24 hours after JJ had disappeared. Link was crossing a field about a half-mile behind the boy’s house when he heard a soft whimpering. Link followed the sound about 100 feet into the woods. He then spotted JJ’s curly blond head. Standing barefoot in briars and covered in bug bites and scratches, the boy instantly held out his arms to be picked up. Link obliged.

“He then started hollering for his mom,” Link told local reporters. “I kept telling him, ‘Your mama’s comin’, your mama’s comin’.” Everyone involved in the search was elated to hear JJ had survived the 24-hour ordeal with only minor injuries. “Not many adults would want to be in that place at night … where who knows what’s out there? We have coyotes and other wild animals,” Link said.

Sheriff Nienhuis noted that JJ had crossed a residential road behind his house and crawled through barbed wire fences, “which was extremely unusual and unanticipated.”

After JJ was given water and treated by EMS for cuts and scrapes, he was reunited with his family—while the community cheered. “I’ve got to admit, I’m a little emotional. I thought we were going to have bad news,” Nienhuis told reporters. ”It’s a very good day in Hernando County.”

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By Rebecca Sherman

WEST VIRGINIA STATE POLICE First Sergeant James Kozik is known nationwide for his expertise in using technology to fight crimes against children. But getting to this high point in his career—serving as the state’s Crimes Against Children (CAC) Unit Director and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Commander—has been a path as winding as the mountain roads in his state.

Internet child exploitation cases first began popping up in 2006, while Kozik was working narcotics and financial crimes for the WVSP’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations. “We were caught off guard here,” says Kozik, who, like most law enforcement 20 years ago, knew very little about the Internet. West Virginia’s lone pioneer in digital forensics at the time would give him the initial training he needed to investigate ICAC cases.

A year later, Kozik’s department received its first ICAC grant, and he became the unit’s alternate commander. “At the same time, the state was seeing cases involving hands-on offenses against children fall through the cracks, so we formed a separate unit of investigators,” focusing on real-world legwork and fact-finding, he recalls. In 2009, the new unit joined forces with the national ICAC Task Force. Then other programs were added, such as the state’s AMBER Alert Plan, Missing Child Clearinghouse, and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) collaboration.

As an investigator, training coordinator, and digital forensic analyst, Kozik helped build West Virginia’s first comprehensive CAC Unit, now an exemplary program modeled throughout the nation. He was named its Director in 2017. “We became an all-inclusive one stop: If it’s [a crime] against a kid, you come to us,” says Kozik, whose team includes 11 WVSP investigators. In this role, he wears many hats, including coordinating the state’s AMBER Alert and Blue Alert networks, and leading the state’s ICAC Task Force and Missing Child Clearinghouse.

Though he no longer investigates cases himself, Kozik works closely with law enforcement agencies throughout West Virginia when a child goes missing. “I’m the one who gets called in the middle of the night to find out whether an AMBER Alert can be activated or not,” he says. He also triages cases from NCMEC, a heartbreaking job sometimes requiring him to watch unspeakable videos of child abuse. “I just want to reach through the screen and help those kids,” he says.

Under Kozik’s leadership, West Virginia now has one of the country’s top ICAC Task Force Units. In 2012, he developed the first ICAC Data System, a website allowing thousands of registered law enforcement users to quickly and efficiently access and transfer cases, information, and tips. As the database’s ongoing project manager, Kozik has trained ICAC commanders and other law enforcement around the country to use it, including the Los Angeles Police Department.

In addition to two decades of on-the-job experience and a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice, Kozik has hundreds of hours of training in digital forensics and child exploitation. A highly regarded expert, he is often called upon to testify in state and federal prosecutions.

Fast-changing and complex, technology remains an important weapon in Kozik’s crime-solving arsenal, especially when it comes to finding missing and endangered children.

“Technology is incredibly useful in locating kids. I can put out an AMBER Alert and Facebook will splash it on every user’s [page] in West Virginia. I can reach a lot more people that way,” Kozik says. Conversely, “Technology is also a curse.” Social media often puts vulnerable kids at risk of serious harm by “friends” they meet on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and gaming voice and messaging platforms (Discord, Google Hangouts, and others).

These days, abductions by strangers are less common. On the rise are cases involving kids lured from home by adults they’ve met on the Internet—encounters that happen in secret, but often in plain sight of their parents. “We often really don’t know about it until the child doesn’t show up for dinner, or a parent finds something suspicious on their child’s cellphone,” he says.

While technology can be to blame for a child’s disappearance, it also can play a pivotal role in locating the child quickly—even before an AMBER Alert or Missing and Endangered Child Alert is issued. That involves local law enforcement pinging the child’s phone to find his or her location. This can be done with permission from a parent or guardian using a device-locating program or other app installed on the child’s phone. In some instances, a court order is needed. “A lot of crimes, not just AMBER Alerts, can be solved with technological tools,” he says. “I wish more law enforcement were trained on how to use them.”

To preserve the efficacy of AMBER Alerts—which for 27 years have been a powerful tool for alerting the public toan abducted child in peril—Kozik carefully evaluates each potential case to ensure it meets the state’s activation criteria. “If it doesn’t, I don’t put out an alert,” he says. “If you keep lighting up cell phones with unwarranted AMBER Alerts, people shut them off and they’re no longer effective.”

One complication Kozik routinely faces are requests from law enforcement agencies, even judges, who ask that AMBER Alerts be issued on behalf of Child Protective Services (CPS). This occurs when a legal or non-custodial parent being monitored by CPS has taken a child to an unknown location, but is not thought to pose a serious threat to the child’s safety. CPS often cites the parent’s past or current drug use, or impoverished status, as the reason for the child’s endangerment—but Kozik isn’t convinced. “A lot of people in West Virginia get caught up in drugs, and unfortunately don’t make the best decisions, but that doesn’t mean they will harm their kids,” he says. Thus, if law enforcement hasn’t issued an arrest warrant for kidnapping, and no imminent serious bodily danger is posed, Kozik will not activate an AMBER Alert.

Kozik urges law enforcement to use other investigative techniques besides AMBER Alerts or Endangered Missing Advisories to address the situation rapidly.

One way is by locating the parent’s car using license plate readers throughout the state. Another is tracking the missing parent and child via any cellphone(s) they may have. “Tracking their phones is easily done with an emergency court order, and does yield results, but police often don’t know they can do this,” Kozik says. He encourages all state law enforcement to just pick up the phone and call him if they are unclear on how to respond to a missing child incident, especially since a case remains fluid until it is solved. “A situation might not initially qualify as an AMBER Alert, but an hour later it might,” he says. “In the meantime, there are lots of other investigative techniques that can be tried.”

Technology is essential to combat crimes against children, but significant barriers often prevent it from being implemented. “A lot of older officers never think about the homing devices we all carry in our pockets or vehicles,” Kozik explains. “But as younger officers come on board who know technology, things will change.” Yet, even that hopeful thought faces a barrier. Younger recruits aren’t clamoring to become police officers, he notes. Bad publicity stemming from high profile police brutality cases in recent years could be to blame, he says. “We’re barely able to fill police cadet classes,” Kozik says. “Every agency in America is having a manpower shortage.”

There’s no easy answer to that dilemma, and even as Kozik is set to retire within two years, he wants to be as helpful as he can for as long as he can to make a difference.

“I’m passionate about my job. if I don’t do it, no one else will,” he says. “That’s what gets me going in the mornings.”

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On March 3, 2022, 15-year-old Arina Yatsiuk and her family were trying to evacuate from Ukraine when Russian troops killed her parents and yanked her from their car. Now, the Ukrainian teen is the face of an alarming fallout from Russia’s invasion: She’s among thousands of Ukrainian children who have vanished. Ukrainian officials believe Russia has forcibly deported children and is attempting to “Russify” them. (And Ukraine’s Children’s Rights Commissioner reports more than 16,000 known cases of children who have been forcibly deported.) Some of the children are reportedly held in camps to be politically re-educated; others are put in institutions or orphanages, or quickly adopted and given citizenship, even as relatives search for them. Ukraine’s government, which is seeking help from the international community, has secured the return of about 300 children so far. Arina’s relatives remain hopeful. “We all believe she is alive, and we will soon find her,” her aunt said. “We are considering all options, including that she might have been adopted.”

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) report that more than 90 percent of AMBER Alerts in Canada’s most populous province have resulted in the safe recovery of the missing child. The OPP has issued 21 Alerts since 2018, an average of about four a year. In noting the effectiveness of the program, the OPP credits the public with being the eyes and ears in the safe recovery of children. They also urge people to be vigilant in checking AMBER Alerts and reporting incidents, even if they may seem insignificant. “Without your help, we might be reporting very different statistics today,” a department official said.

Fourteen European organizations have teamed up on a new campaign to help stop online child sex abuse and exploitation. The “Right in Front of Us” (#ChildSafetyOn) initiative aims to spread awareness of and seek support for legislation that would bring accountability to large tech companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok. Under a new law the European Union is considering, the tech companies would be required to identify, remove, and report any child sexual abuse material on their platforms. “The proposed legislation is necessary and urgent to prevent and combat child sexual exploitation such as grooming,” said Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, president of Missing Children Europe. In addition to working with teachers and educators to strengthen the message, the campaign includes a website (childsafetyineurope.com) with videos and a petition supporting the proposed legislation.

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California’s largest Tribe and a longstanding leader in criminal justice issues is getting an assist in dealing with the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. The U.S. Marshals Service has tapped Northern California’s Yurok Tribe as the pilot partner for its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Initiative. The Tribe’s priorities will drive specific areas of the collaboration, which could include training on missing child investigations and sex offender registration. “We are fully committed to supporting the Yurok Tribe’s efforts to keep their communities safe,” said U.S. Marshals Service Director Ronald L. Davis.

Calling Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) “an important lifeline to Americans,” two New York lawmakers are leading a charge to remove language barriers in the bulletins—a measure that could impact Tribal communities. (Larger Tribes such as the Navajo Nation already are working to share emergency alerts in their native language.) U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Representative Grace Meng and 43 lawmakers who signed a bicameral letter urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expand requirements beyond English and Spanish to ensure more of the nation can respond to such WEAs as AMBER Alerts and severe weather notices. Lawmakers pointed to 2021’s Hurricane Ida, when many Asian immigrants did not receive language-accessible warnings that could have alerted them to, and protected them against, deadly flash flooding.

Colorado has become the second state to implement a Missing Indigenous Person Alert system. The new public alert, designed in response to the disproportionately high number of Indigenous people who are missing or have been murdered, comes on the heels of a similar one launched in Washington State. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation operates the system, which is the result of Indigenous advocates to pass legislation to raise awareness about missing members of Tribal communities. “It just feels like we’re always put on the back burner,” said Southern Ute member Daisy Bluestar, member of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Taskforce of Colorado, which advocated for the alert.

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“Take It Down,” a free online service run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), is helping remove sexually explicit images or videos depicting children under age 18. And NCMEC’s work is paying off: Since “Take It Down” launched in December 2022, more than 200 cases have been resolved. The process works by assigning a unique digital fingerprint, or hash value, to specific images or videos. Participating tech platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Pornhub, and OnlyFans, use the hash values to detect and remove the disturbing imagery from their sites. Individuals also can submit a request to remove explicit visual content.

A new state law in Utah—designed to improve the criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts—went into effect May 3. Representative Ryan Wilcox of Ogden sponsored HB266 which prohibits law enforcement from issuing AMBER Alerts for runaways or child custody disputes unless the child faces a credible threat of imminent danger. Wilcox told KSL.com that the overuse of AMBER Alerts has caused people to opt out of receiving the alerts or ignore them, which diminishes their effectiveness. Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law in March.

In May 2023, Texas lawmakers approved HB3556, which would allow law enforcement to immediately notify people within a 100-mile radius as soon as a child goes missing. The “Athena Alert” bill is named for 7-year-old Athena Strand, who was kidnapped and killed last year by a FedEx driver who made a delivery to her Wise County home. The bill aims to close the gap between when a child is reported missing and when the child’s case meets state criteria for an AMBER Alert (for a confirmed abduction). The bill awaits Governor Greg Abbott’s signature into law.

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By Denise Gee Peacock

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) joined regional partners from Virginia and New York to discuss AMBER Alert best practices with child protection/law enforcement delegations from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia on June 12, 2023, in Washington, DC.

During the meeting, held at the U.S. Department of State, the AATTAP team discussed the history and effectiveness of the nation's AMBER Alert plans. Those in attendance were Janell Rasmussen, Program Administrator; Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, Program Manager; and Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, Project Coordinator for International and Territorial Programs.

Additionally, Virginia State Police AMBER Alert Coordinators Sergeant Connie Brooks and Lieutenant Robbie Goodrich outlined how their state AMBER Alert activations are decided and disseminated. Also, New York State Police AMBER Alert Coordinator Erika Hock, New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYSMPC) Manager Cindy Neff and NYSMPC Investigative Supervisor Timothy Williams appeared virtually to discuss their state’s AMBER Alert system and training/technology requirements.

The U.S.-based AMBER Alert experts answered numerous questions from the delegations, which were especially interested in each state’s activation criteria, processes and protocols, and the technology used to alert the public in various formats/locations. Both states also shared their AMBER Alert plan’s documentation and related checklists, while the AATTAP provided numerous foundational resources.

Representing the Republic of Serbia were members of its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) Affairs; Ministry of the Interior; and the Center for Missing and Abused Children from the Republic of Serbia, a non-governmental organization.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina delegation included representatives from the Ministries of the Interior in several districts; the Ministry of Security; the IFS Emmaus Center for Safe Internet; and the country’s INL program officer.

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Gary E. Timm, left, and Michelle Vetterkind, President and CEO of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, at the May 25, 2023, Missing Children’s Day event in Madison.

By Denise Gee Peacock

Legendary WTMJ broadcast engineer Gary E. Timm—who retired earlier this year after more than 30 years as Wisconsin’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) Chair—was recently honored for his pioneering work and public service volunteerism during a Missing Children’s Day event in Madison.

Timm was recognized May 25, 2023, as the Emergency Alert System (EAS) Chair Emeritus guest of honor during the Wisconsin Department of Justice Missing Persons Remembrance Ceremony.

Asked what he is most proud of accomplishing during his career, Timm has said, “I would say getting our Amber Alert program off the ground in 2003. This year we are celebrating the program’s 20th anniversary.”

AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program Manager Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, who served Wisconsin law enforcement for 24 years in key leadership roles—many of them focused on alerting the public to missing and endangered children and adults and investigating their disappearances—is honored to have benefitted from Timm’s EAS efforts. “Gary is a humble man who had a passion for AMBER Alerts,” she said. “He definitely will be missed—not only in the Wisconsin AMBER Alert program but in the larger emergency alerting community across the country.”

With Timm’s help, Wisconsin was the first state to file its required EAS plan with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1996 — a plan submitted on a floppy disk.

Timm would then work tirelessly to enhance the state’s EAS by making it more than a daisy chain of cobbled-together radio stations. His primary focus was ensuring the EAS was able to work perfectly when needed—and helping other states do the same.

AATTAP Program Manager Jenniffer Price-Lehmann with Wisconsin Department of Justice AMBER Alert Coordinator/Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager Melissa Marchant. — AATTAP Program Manager Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, left, is shown with Wisconsin Department of Justice AMBER Alert Coordinator/Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager Melissa Marchant.

“Gary’s biggest contribution in my mind is that he connected broadcasters to the public,” said Steve Wexler, Vice President of Radio, EW Scripps Company. “Gary made those [EAS] tones really mean something. That they’re dependable. And consistent.”

Michelle Vetterkind, President and CEO of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, praised Timm for having “the ability to bring many different people and agencies together” and for being “tremendously passionate about keeping Wisconsin children safe.”

In March 2010, Timm retired from full-time broadcast engineering after 37 years at Journal Broadcast Group in Milwaukee, WTMJ and WKTI Radio. He then worked in a part-time capacity as an alerts and warnings consultant for SRA International for five years, where his work supported the Department of Homeland Security.

Following his second retirement in 2015, Timm continued to devote time to EAS volunteer efforts such as membership on the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council, emergency-alerting advocacy with other EAS experts through the Broadcast Warning Working Group and outreach to Wisconsin emergency managers.

Timm is recognized nationwide as an EAS expert who has authored numerous articles and handbook chapters on the subject—garnering respect for his ability to explain technical issues to a non-technical audience.

Timm received the inaugural Service Award from Wisconsin Emergency Management in 2022, was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2018, and in 2005, received a Certificate of Commendation from the Wisconsin Governor.

Gary Timm circa 1975—soldering connections behind a broadcast console at WTMJ.

“How can you thank someone who has given what he has given? He’s saved lives. He’s kept people safe,” Vetterkind said. “He is a very special man.”

Timm’s humble take on his career will no doubt endure. “I think engineers as a class are probably unsung heroes. At times we feel like we’re just part of the equipment. You kind of melt into the background—until something doesn’t work,” he said with smile.

Overall, however, “It’s been a privilege to volunteer my service all these years for the people of Wisconsin, and for [EAS advances] on a national basis,” he said. “I will truly miss my EAS colleagues and friends, and thank them for their support and rewarding relationships.”

The Wisconsin State Emergency Communications Committee has named Christopher Tarr, Group Director of Engineering for Magnum Media, as Timm’s successor.

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Photo shows U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland awarding seven members of the North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force for their outstanding work in preventing child exploitation. “There is no cause more worthy of honor,” the Attorney General said during the 40th annual National Missing Children’s Day commemoration. Task Force members (shown holding awards) are, from left, Anthony Newson, Chris Meehan, Tony Godwin, Jeffrey Rich, Bruce Sherman, Kellie Renfro, and Cyrus Zafrani. — U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland awarded seven members of the North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force for their outstanding work in preventing child exploitation. “There is no cause more worthy of honor,” the Attorney General said during the 40th annual National Missing Children’s Day commemoration. Task Force members (shown holding awards) are, from left, Anthony Newson, Chris Meehan, Tony Godwin, Jeffrey Rich, Bruce Sherman, Kellie Renfro, and Cyrus Zafrani.

Photo showing North Texas ICAC Task Force Member/AATTAP Instructional Associate Tony Godwin (on right) accepting his Commendation Award from U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland (on left) at the U.S. Department of Justice for a Missing Children's Day event May 24, 2023. — North Texas ICAC Task Force Member/AATTAP Instructional Associate Tony Godwin accepts his Commendation Award from U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on May 24, 2023, at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Tony Godwin, an Instructional Associate with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and veteran detective with the Garland Police Department—is one of seven North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force members who were honored with the Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award during the 40^th annual National Missing Children’s Day commemoration in Washington, DC.

The ceremony took place May 24, 2023, in the Great Hall of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Attorney General’s Special Commendation honors an ICAC task force individual or team for extraordinary efforts to hold those who commit child sexual abuse and crimes against children legally responsible for their actions.

“Whether a child has been abducted, or has just wandered away, the terror felt by a parent when their child has disappeared is overwhelming,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “I have great respect for the brave, resourceful, and dedicated professionals who work every day to protect children from harm, reunite missing children with their families, and provide support in the aftermath of a traumatic event. There is no cause more worthy of honor.”

Additional North Texas ICAC Task Force honorees included Lieutenant Cyrus Zafrani, Task Force Commander; Sergeant Kellie Renfro, Deputy Task Force Commander; Detective Tony Godwin; Detective Chris Meehan; Texas Ranger Bruce Sherman; Detective Jeffery Rich; and Community Outreach Officer Anthony Newson.

The North Texas ICAC Task Force encompasses 112 counties, spans more than 96,000 square miles, and involves more than 250 active affiliate agencies.

“What a tremendous honor to be recognized along with the best group of task force men and women working in child protection anywhere,” Godwin said after the event. “The dedication, commitment, and sacrifice is so very worth it.”

Godwin has served the Garland Police Department for nearly three decades and worked with the North Texas ICAC Task Force since 2006. He is responsible for proactively investigating child sexual assault cases, child sexual abuse material, and online child sexual exploitation. He has conducted more than 3,900 criminal investigations involving such crimes.

Godwin also is a certified computer and cell phone forensic examiner. He has handled more than 5,500 cell/computer forensic acquisitions during the past 10 years, collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Service, and numerous law enforcement agencies working to combat Internet child exploitation.

“In addition to their successful investigative work, they have also dedicated themselves to training others on investigative techniques related to Internet Crimes Against Children cases,” said Attorney General Garland. “For that, they have my unending gratitude.”

AATTAP Curriculum Development Project Coordinator Cathy Delapaz feels the same.

“Tony is a hard charger who has relentlessly pursued exploiters of children for years,” she says. “His willingness to share his extensive knowledge through AATTAP training impacts the work of so many who are dedicated to finding missing children and holding their exploiters accountable.” – Denise Gee Peacock

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Nearly two dozen law enforcement leaders from six federally recognized Tribes in Minnesota recently met with representatives from the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative as well as the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Department of Public Safety.

By Denise Gee Peacock

The AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) team recently provided Technology Toolkits to six Tribal nations in Minnesota during a quarterly meeting with leaders from state Tribal law enforcement as well as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS).

The Technology Toolkits—durable cases with high-tech equipment to help Tribes act quickly when a child goes missing—were provided for free to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe; Lower Sioux Indian Community; Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; Upper Sioux Community; and the White Earth Nation. Five other Minnesota Tribes also have received the Toolkits.

Toolkit distribution is administered by the AIIC—an initiative of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP)—and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

The May 4 regional meeting took place at the Cedar Lakes Casino and Hotel, which is owned by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

Since the meeting was held just prior to the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on May 5, special attention was paid to to the profoundly important issue during the half-day discussion.

“This is also an important week for another reason: May 2 marked the seventh anniversary of Ashlynne Mike’s murder on the Navajo Nation,” said AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

“At the time of her abduction there wasn’t really an AMBER Alert plan in place, so her mother, Pamela Foster, fought very hard to see the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act become law. Tribes now have access to the AMBER Alert system through training, technology, and collaboration with state AMBER Alert Coordinators—all of which is central to the work we do.”

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Holistic Health Spiritual Care Coordinator Gary Charwood blessed the event with an eagle feather used to waft a cleansing smoke over each person. “We are relatives,” he said. “We all do the work to take care of one another.” — Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Holistic Health Spiritual Care Coordinator Gary Charwood blessed the event with a smudging ceremony, which involves using an eagle feather to waft a cleansing smoke over each participant. “We are relatives,” he said. “We all do the work to take care of one another.”

“Our children are our most precious commodity,” Minnesota BCA Superintendent Drew Evans told the group. “Our entire existence is literally to serve the people in this room.”

The meeting underscored these best practices:

The need for families or caregivers to quickly report a child missing, instead of trying to first find the youth on their own.
The importance of immediately entering a case involving a missing child into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database and to “never, ever take them out of the system until they are located,” said Minnesota DPS Tribal Liaison Jenna Lehti. “NCIC entries also help us keep up with much-needed data on Tribal missing.”
The importance of having current photo(s) for a missing poster or alert.
The careful wording of missing posters related to any health issue a child may have. “Instead of saying a child ‘suffers from’ a medical condition, for privacy reasons we recommend saying, ‘There is great concern for his safety,’ ” Lehti said.
Ongoing efforts to strengthen community trust in Tribal, state, and national law enforcement through greater cultural outreach and understanding.

“We’re always available to help Tribes with any guidance or resources,” said AATTAP/AIIC Project Coordinator Valerie Bribiescas, a former detective and member of the Navajo Nation.

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Parent-survivors of missing children, AATTAP staff and leaders at the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention headquarters gather after the Missing Children's Day event May 24, 2023. — After the Missing Children’s Day event, parents of missing children who helped update the new edition of *When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide*, joined leaders of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP)/National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) to discuss continuing goals for the project. Shown at the meeting are, front row from left: Lou Ann Holland (OJJDP), Janell Rasmussen (AATTAP/NCJTC), and parents Nacole Svendgard, Elaine Hall, Yvonne Ambrose, and Patty Wetterling; shown back row from left: Denise Gee Peacock (AATTAP), Alex Serrano (OJJDP), Brad Russ (NCJTC), parent Ahmad Rivazfar, Liz Ryan (OJJDP), Bonnie Ferenbach (AATTAP), and parents Dr. Noelle Hunter and Jeffery Morehouse.

WASHINGTON, DC – Family members who contributed to the 5th edition of When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, gathered to celebrate the release of the important multimedia resource and witness its announcement at the 40th Annual National Missing Children’s Day ceremony held at the U.S. Department of Justice Great Hall May 24, 2023.

Cover of "When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide" resource — Learn more about the *Guide*, download a copy of it, and check out the dedicated website’s expansive video library at: **amberadvocate.org/families**.

These families began work on the Guide’s update with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) nearly two years ago, carefully reviewing the 4th edition, developing notes for expanding and enhancing information, meeting virtually to discuss their ideas, and peer-reviewing the Guide’s content during the 5th edition’s development.

In January 2023, the families met for a week of in-studio filming that focused on the Guide’s main topics. They shared their stories with great courage and honesty, providing key lessons learned from their experiences and offering advice for other parents in the midst of their worst nightmare: having a missing child.

The immense care and effort they brought to this project is encapsulated in the new version of Family Survival Guide. It features written and video content covering all aspects of missing child experiences and needed resources. It offers families clear, actionable information on how to work with law enforcement, the media, and volunteers; how to manage donations and rewards; and how to survive to fight another day in the search for their missing child.

“The Guide serves as a resource for parents needing to know ‘What to do, and how to do it’ if their child goes missing — how to take each necessary step, contact the right people, and move forward each day,” said AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen at the recent 2023 National AATTAP and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium. There, a preview of the Guide was shared with the nearly 200 participants who work to respond to incidents of endangered missing and abducted children.

Family member Patty Wetterling, whose son Jacob was abducted in 1989 — and remained missing nearly 27 years until his remains were found in 2016 — captured both the pain and power of her and the other families’ work on the Guide. “It’s hard to put yourself out there. To share all this stuff that none of us ever wanted to have happen. But what this work will do is help continually activate parents of missing children — as well as law enforcement — to do something about it. We’re here to help others navigate through muddy waters that no one knows how to get out of.”

The collaboration, trust, and friendships formed across the Family Survival Guide project will endure — for the good of the contributing parents, and AATTAP’s work to develop more resources, and expand training and technical assistance vital to supporting law enforcement and child protection professionals, as well as families.

Endangered missing children have a greater chance of being rescued and brought safely home with more tools to ensure better understanding, a swift and effective response, and resources to support long-term wellbeing. This vision is what fuels the hearts and minds of all involved on projects such as these.

Rasmussen reiterated this message with the families today. “To be with you all, to see this Guide and videos representing the project — especially for Missing Children’s Day — is amazing. This represents your hope, your anger, your courage, your knowledge. It will have special resonance with law enforcement, who can learn from it and share it with others. And as we use this Guide, we will honor your children.”

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The second AMBER Advocate issue of 2023 spotlights the recent National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program/AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, which attracted hundreds of law enforcement professionals to Tucson. We feature participants’ compelling takes on numerous topics explored at the event, including best practices for investigating endangered missing and abducted children (particularly those from Tribal lands and children of color); essential and emerging technologies; and the need for more and better wellness care. We also look at how a Florida sheriff's department enlisted their community—and a novel tracking app—in their successful search for a 2-year-old, and meet tech-savvy West Virginia State Police First Sergeant James Kozik.

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Change is inevitable. It’s how we respond to it that counts.

Consider technological advances. They’re an immeasurable help to law enforcement agencies searching for missing children—allowing them to issue AMBER Alerts faster, to geo-targeted areas, and track the digital footprints (banking transactions, app logins, license plate readers) of the people they seek.

But just when the good guys can at least follow the tech learning curve (if not get ahead of it), criminal minds are devising new ways to circumvent detection—trafficking vulnerable, endangered youth not just in recesses of the dark web, but increasingly in plain sight, with coded everyday language meant to mask its true intent.

Such are the concerns that keep our AATTAP curricula and training teams up at night. The ongoing threat makes us work harder than ever to update and develop courses taught by leading subject matter experts and provide best-in-class training materials for law enforcement and child protection professionals.

With grant support from the U.S. Department of Justice and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the AATTAP is working to share “the very best thinking and practices with law enforcement agencies and child protection partners before problems arise,” says AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

She regularly traverses the nation to attend national conferences, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) certifications, onsite training, and Tribal AMBER Alert implementation meetings.

Anticipating how best to prevent, interdict, and prosecute those who would harm children requires paying close attention to emerging crime schemes and observing how criminal justice professionals are successfully solving them.

“It also takes understanding what training and technical assistance law enforcement agencies actually need, not just what we think they need,” says AATTAP Program Manager Byron Fassett.

The theme for the curriculum development—“by you, for you”—has involved recruiting the nation’s top experts to help develop and deliver new cutting-edge courses and update existing offerings; following emerging technologies and trends; letting reliable data and verifiable trends inform project planning; and creating more flexibility for busy professionals by offering online training that includes self-paced courses, live and recorded webinars, live instructor-led courses, and live hybrid events that combine onsite and online participation.

The goal is to ensure 2023 courses are “relevant and valuable,” says Project Coordinator Cathy Delapaz.

Building ‘responsive’ curriculum

Cathy and Byron spearheaded two successful field-assessment events this fall in the Washington, D.C., area. Both needs-assessment sessions involved a total of 62 participants “in the trenches” of finding endangered missing children, through investigative work and/or with CARTs.

“We wanted to hear from people in the field who deal with life-and-death situations every day,” Byron says.“We wanted their honest feedback on our curriculum to assess its effectiveness, efficacy and relevance, so we can make it responsive to their needs.”

The new or revamped courses Cathy and Byron are overseeing “will demonstrate in tangible ways how our trainings are field informed. We’re proud of that,” he says.

Priming the ‘front-loaded response’

Central to AATTAP’s mission is helping law enforcement agencies and their regional partners respond to missing child incidents via fast, efficient, multi-disciplinary CART deployments.

Project Coordinators Derek VanLuchene and Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron work with an experienced team of trainers to assess CART programs across the country and support their development, training, and certification/re-certification efforts. Jesi also oversees international collaborations, including both the Southern and Northern Border Initiatives (SBI, NBI) that involve partners with Mexico and Canada, respectively.

Having played key roles in supporting the recent field-assessment trainings, Derek and Jesi are focusing not on hypotheticals, but “real-world challenges CARTs face—staffing turnover, the need for regular training, support from leadership, and help obtaining specialized resources,” Derek says.

“We help teams understand they must have resources in place for a front-loaded response—so when they get a call, they’re not scrambling for people or resources,” Jesi adds.

‘Organic outreach’ in Indian Country

The AMBER in Indian Country team, comprised of Program Manager Tyesha Wood and Project Coordinator Valerie Bribiescas, focuses on helping the nation’s 574 federally recognized Tribes assess their capacity to effectively respond when Native children go missing—and provides educational outreach to prevent such incidents.

A big part of the duo's work is helping Tribes understand what resources are available to them thanks to the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act.

In 2022 the team also began a long-term initiative to provide AMBER Alert in Indian Country Technology Toolkits at no cost to requesting Tribes.

This year they are continuing that work, and plan to connect with Tribes farther afield, such as Alaska and Maine. Such work requires deft cultural sensitivity. Both Tyesha and Valerie—Navajo Nation members and experienced Tribal detectives—recognize the myriad of complexities involved.

“Sovereignty is huge in Indian Country, so we need to know and respect each Tribe’s laws, customs, traditions, greetings, and stories,” Tyesha says.

“Being invited by each Tribe to discuss ways we can help them is essential,” Valerie says.

“We never want to overstep our boundaries with Tribal elders or leadership.”

Relationship-building is especially crucial to emphasize amid changing federal and state laws, such as the controversial McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling in 2020, wherein the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Oklahoma no longer had the right to try criminal cases involving Tribal lands or members.

Navigating jurisdictional battles between states and Tribes can feel like one step forward and two steps back. “We get that,” Tyesha says.

“But we want Tribes to know we’re here for them. We’re here to help them build on strengths and overcome obstacles.”

‘Inform, educate, and inspire’

Phrases such as “the digital experience,” “asynchronous,” and “accessibility optimization” are often used in the multi-faceted work overseen by Bonnie Ferenbach, Program Manager for AATTAP’s eLearning, Websites, and Publications. Bonnie’s work across all three of these areas focuses on the integrity of content, design quality, functionality, the user experience, and accessibility.

She also is a seasoned presenter and instructor with experience in developing and guiding law enforcement telecommunications operational response to missing and abducted child incidents.

It was that work which brought her to AATTAP as a consultant in 2006. She helped develop the “Telecommunications Best Practices for Missing and Abducted Children” course, which has been delivered both online and in the classroom for more than 15 years.

When not focused on eLearning initiatives, Bonnie collaborates with Project Coordinator Denise Gee Peacock to develop engaging and educational content for The AMBER Advocate and various online platformsContent is delivered across both The AMBER Advocate (amberadvocate.org) and the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (amber-ic.org) websites, along with a vast array of resources and training information.

“We want the AMBERAdvocate.org site to be as informative as it is interactive,” Bonnie explains, noting the community of practice dimension of the website’s Partner Portal.

The secure platform allows AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers, and others to find contact information for colleagues in similar positions across the nation, engage in discussion forums around an array of topics important to their work, and utilize and contribute to an extensive resource library.

Support, passion make a difference

With its complex operations, none of the AATTAP and AIIC gears would turn without the exceptional team that coordinates the logistics and monitors the feasibility and effectiveness of the team’s many projects.

At the group’s helm is Program Manager Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, who monitors budgeting and financials.

She works closely with Janell in overseeing the budget and grant management, as well as major events, to ensure the work we do is consistent with our mission as well as that of our federal grantors.

She’s also recognized as a stellar problem solver, metrics monitor, mentor, and cross-function/team collaboration strategist.

Jenniffer works closely with a dynamic duo she calls “the unsung heroes of the program”—Project Coordinator Jill Nysse and Mishelle Bowen, Administrative Assistant.

“Both are dedicated to ensuring training operates smoothly and participants and instructors have all the tools they need,” Jenniffer says.

On any given day they are securing adequate space for onsite training events, coordinating the shipment of materials, booking lodging, helping instructors build and adjust travel itineraries; finalizing program records and documentation; and helping participants access online training and resources.

Jill is motivated by the powerful stories shared by AATTAP “family members”—parents and siblings of missing children. Understanding their struggles puts any trivial matters into perspective “when I realize I’m helping children and making the world a better place.”

The same goes for Mishelle. She mentions an online encounter with a police officer trying to access a virtual, live course. After she provided the help he needed, his follow-up note was more than a simple “thank you.”

“A few weeks after taking the course he let me know his team was put to the test by a case involving a missing child,” Mishelle says. “But because of what they had learned during the training session, he and his colleagues were able to safely locate the child.” That still resonates with her. “It reminds me that what we do really makes a difference.”

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By Denise Gee Peacock

Little did the parents of a Layton, Utah, 13-year-old know how dangerous his immersion into the social gaming platform Roblox had become.

The virtual reality world of social gaming got very real for a Utah teen abducted from home by a fellow gamer – an accused sexual predator from Arizona. The boy was found safe, nearly 800 miles from home, thanks to a good Samaritan. Noticing their son was becoming more secretive, distracted, and easily agitated, the couple investigated the game’s communications log for clues to his behavioral changes. They were distraught to find that he was conversing with a gamer named “Hunter Fox” who identified as a “furry” (someone who enjoys dressing up as a furry animal).As they combed through the text-like interactions, they saw the conversation had increasingly become sexualized in tone. But because such language might be flagged, and hinder the gamers’ access to Roblox, “Hunter” discussed using other digital platforms to continue communication.

Alarmed, the parents contacted the Layton Police Department (LPD) on November 29, 2022, to report their findings. Over the next several weeks, the LPD awaited information stemming from subpoenas issued to help them identify the online predator.

Meanwhile “Hunter” began using other methods to communicate with the boy, primarily via text messages in which he shared nude photos and videos of himself. He pressured the boy to do likewise. Soon, “Hunter” convinced the boy to meet him late in the evening on December 26, 2022.

The suspected abductor, whose real name was Aaron Zeman (though he had numerous aliases), was thought to be traveling with the boy in a 1998 Toyota Avalon. The vehicle had damage to the front grill and a temporary Arizona tag. And based on the LPD’s detective work, they believed Zeman to be taking the boy to either Arizona or Texas, where Zeman had ties.

As LPD Lieutenant Travis Layton and his team were pursuing the boy’s digital footprints and trying to track the vehicle, good news arrived within 24 hours—from nearly 800 miles away in Nebraska.

Quote from Utah Police Lieutenant Travis Lyman (shown in photo): "The parents did everything they could in this instance. This was just a persistent suspect and perpetrator. We're just glad it ended the way it did."

Just after 1 a.m. December 28, the clerk working at the Git ’N Split near I-80 in Grand Island, Nebraska, noticed some suspicious activity. A white Toyota Avalon, driven by an adult male accompanied by a teenage boy, had pulled up to a gas pump and parked. After no one exited the car to purchase gas, the vehicle drove away from the pump, headed the wrong way down an access road, turned around, and then parked in a dimly lit area near the store. That prompted the clerk to alert the Grand Island Police Department (GIPD), who quickly arrived at the scene.

After running the vehicle’s plate number, officers discovered it was wanted in connection with the AMBER Alert issued in Utah the day before.

ABC-affiliate Nebraska TV reported that the person driving the vehicle initially identified himself as “Tadashi Kojima” before officers realized he was Aaron Zeman, 26, wanted in connection with the AMBER Alert. By 2 a.m., the boy was taken to a place of safety while Zeman was booked into the Hall County jail on suspicion of kidnapping.

“We are grateful that [the store attendant] was paying attention, and was able to report the unusual activity,” LPD Lieutenant Travis Lyman told Fox13 News. Lyman said it was unclear where Zeman actually planned to take the boy, but what was most alarming was learning he had requested the boy bring his passport with him, which he did.

While the teen agreed to meet the man, Lyman said, “he is 13 years old and cannot consent in any way. Therefore Aaron [Zeman] had [committed] kidnapping.” At last check, Zeman was being held in a Nebraska jail, booked on $1 million bail. He is facing one felony count of kidnapping and resisting arrest. Lyman noted that Zeman will likely face the felony charge of online enticement of a minor. And since Zeman took the teen across state lines, his crime could be prosecuted federally.

“After helping the boy rejoin his family, we’ll work with our federal partners and law enforcement in Nebraska to determine charges and who may be handling what parts of this investigation,” Lyman said.

Speaking on behalf of the boy’s family in Utah, friend Beth Cooper described the 13-year-old as a “handsome, brilliant young man.”

“He comes from a very loving household, safe environment. He’s grown up with two loving parents his entire life,” she told Fox13 Salt Lake City. “This just isn’t one of those scenarios in which he was trying to run away from a bad home. He was manipulated by someone pretending to be someone they were not. … He doesn’t understand yet why when somebody asks you to leave your house, you don’t go.”

Thankfully, the AMBER Alert system worked.

“I’ve learned a lot about that,” Cooper explained. “It’s amazing to see how putting out the [AMBER Alert] quickly puts everyone on alert—not only officers in this state, but those in surrounding ones” who can access the information.

Happily, the boy’s mom and dad “are beyond ecstatic that this was the outcome,” she said.

When the mother reunited with her son, she told reporters that the anguish of not knowing where her son was for two days is something she “wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.”

Aaron Zeman, the man arrested for abducting the Utah teen, is shown in an undated photograph wearing a hat and backpack next to a Christmas tree. The Nebraska gas station where he and the boy were found by police is also shown.

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By Jon Leiberman

Joan Collins is uniquely qualified to be the Region One Liaison for the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP). For the 11 states that call on her for guidance—spanning Maine to West Virginia—she provides AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers, and members of law enforcement with an experienced insider’s perspective that few can match.

“Joanie,” as many know her, joined the AATTAP a year and a half ago after retiring from the Rhode Island State Police (RISP) after 28 years’ service—25 spent as the RISP’s Law Enforcement Telecommunications Unit Communications Specialist Supervisor. During her RISP career she also helped audit and train all users of the Rhode Island Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (RILETS); was central to increasing the state’s various emergency alerts; managed the state’s sex offender/“Most Wanted” databases; and worked with the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

What inspired you to work with AATTAP?
All of my experience over the years strengthened my determination to work diligently on missing and exploited children cases. My passion and motivation for this work was energized from hearing and seeing the trauma, raw emotions, and tragedy experienced by families. Their heartache inspired me to work on cases involving missing and exploited children. When the opportunity arose to work in my current role, I knew it would allow me to continue being a part of this important work. I was humbled when asked to consider the position because I had met and worked with many of thebrilliant people involved in the program over the years. Each training I received from AATTAP, and others gave me the chance to review our agency’s procedures to make positive changes. Working with AATTAP would allow our collective experiences, strengths, and skills to enhance the training we provide.

What has prepared you for the position?
A law enforcement career where I had to respond quickly—sometimes with little information to go on—and one in which I had to know what resources were available. Early in my career, a clerk took a call related to a family issue that was characterized as a civil matter. It was entered into our system as a “low priority” case, and only provided “child taken” in the comments field. When I asked for more information, I learned that was all we had. Luckily we had a telephone number, so I called the person who reported the situation. I then learned her child had been taken by her estranged husband or boyfriend, and that someone had possibly been hit by the man’s vehicle during the ordeal. I quickly requested assistance for someone to render aid to the person injured, and one of our units was able to stop the abductor’s vehicle just before it crossed state lines. The child was thankfully recovered, but I’ll never forget the stressors—nor the absolute joy when the case was resolved.

What does your AATTAP work involve?
I connect the northeastern states with AATTAP training and resources. And through communication and problem-solving, I help them review their AMBER Alert issuance criteria, update and strengthen their policies and procedures, and improve response times when issuing an AMBER or Endangered Missing Alert. I suggest training opportunities for law enforcement agencies and those focused on children and families and help states review training materials. I also update AMBER Alert coordinators, missing persons clearinghouse managers, and Child Abduction Response Team (CART) program leaders in Region One on upcoming events and changes on the horizon of AATTAP-NCJTC and AMBER Alert in general. My goal is ensuring everyone involved in the process of finding missing and endangered children can perform effectively.

How would you describe the importance of training?
Providing people with training not only teaches them skills to work effectively, but it also shows them they are valued. This improves their morale and workplace capabilities, which enhance efficiency.

What are your goals for 2023?
To encourage ongoing training initiatives while strengthening Region One’s networking. While with the RISP, I recognized our expansive network was mutually beneficial; we could learn from each other. We should reach out to one another, just to listen or share experiences.

What do you most look forward to accomplishing?
Informing our partners about essential training and resources, while also obtaining valuable input from those dedicated to ensuring the well-being of children. Keeping children safe represents my perfect day.

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If the worst-case scenario ever happens, Florida officials want parents to be ready. On the heels of more than 25,000 incidents of missing children reported to authorities in 2022, the state will be giving free identification kits to parents. The goal is to make it easier for parents to collect identifying information on cards that can be kept at home if they are ever needed. About 250,000 kits will be provided to all public, private, and charter schools for the parents of kindergarten students.

“Operation Lost and Found” has located nearly a dozen endangered missing children throughout the Denver metro area. A two-week operation by the Aurora Police Department, the U.S. Marshals, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children helped find the children, who ranged in age for 12 to 17. Authorities said the children were “some of the most at-risk and challenging recovery cases in the area, based on factors such as child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sex abuse, physical abuse and medical or mental health conditions.”

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and First Lady Phefelia Nez have issued an executive order laying out new guidelines for missing persons cases that will emphasize being more empathetic to victims and their families. “Many families know the personal heartbreak and trauma of missing loved ones in the Navajo Nation and throughout Indian Country. Multiple jurisdiction systems have historically failed the victims and their families,” said President Nez. The new guidelines will mandate that any missing persons case should immediately involve the victim’s family, relatives, and community.

On August 23, 1971, 1-year-old Melissa Highsmith of Fort Worth was kidnapped by a woman posing as a babysitter. Her family searched for in vain for her over five decades, and never gave up. Encouraged by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the family used the genetic-testing company 23andMe—and Jeffrie Highsmith discovered a grandchild he didn’t know he had. Highsmith then found a Facebook account likely connected to his long-lost daughter, who went by “Melanie Walden.” And of all places, she lived in Fort Worth, where her family still resided. When Highsmith contacted Melanie/Melissa, he shared his (and her) story, but Walden, 53, thought he was trying to scam her. Additional genetic testing confirmed that she was indeed “Baby Melissa.” During the family’s reunion, they learned of Walden’s abusive childhood. “I finally have a mother and father who want me,” Walden said. She has since changed her name back to Melissa Highsmith.

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In the past two years, five volunteer activists in Mexico who have frantically searched for their missing “disappeared” (and presumed murdered) children have themselves been murdered. The news has gotten little attention. With more than 100,000 missing people in Mexico, experts say police often lack the time, expertise, or interest to look for the clandestine grave sites where narco-gangs frequently bury the victims. And so, volunteers—many of them relatives of the missing—do the searching themselves. Unfortunately, Maria Vázquez Ramírez, is the latest victim. She was killed while searching for her son, Osmar. In response, the Movement for our Disappeared in Mexico group, which supports the volunteer searchers, decried the act as “cowardly”—releasing a photo of Maria with her missing son with the words, “I didn’t live long enough to find you.” The group demands Mexico do more to search for all the missing, saying, “Violence against searchers shouldn’t be the norm.”

On November 20, 2022—World Children’s Day—Sakarya University’s Diaspora Research Center in Turkey reported that the number of cases involving missing migrant children in Europe is skyrocketing. According to their 2021 “Lost in Europe” report, more than 18,000 migrant children went missing in Europe between 2018 and 2020—an average of 17 refugee children each day. European authorities are banding together to try and stem this tide. The sad reality behind the high numbers of missing is that criminal organizations target refugee children in Europe and ensnare them in sex trafficking and forced begging.

The group Missing Children Europe was founded in 2001 to protect children from becoming missing. The group coordinates a vast network of missing children hotlines and cross-border family mediators throughout Europe. The group recently celebrated its 20^th anniversary at a celebrity-studded event. But the event’s main goal was to highlight the fact that since the launch of its hotlines in 2007, operators across Europe have answered more than two million calls and supported more than 70,000 cases involving missing children. Those numbers were tempered by this equally stark reality: “The war on Ukraine and the expansion of the internet with both its opportunities and risks of harm for children are just two of the more recent challenges that need tackling,” Missing Children Europe said. The organization plans to continue better protecting and empowering at-risk children through research, advocacy, training, and education.

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Byron Fassett accepts North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking Award — Byron Fassett, right, receives the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking Champion of Freedom Award from Chad Frymire, Dallas CASA Program Manager. Photo: CASA

From Staff Reports

AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Manager Bryon Fassett recently received the prestigious Champion of Freedom Award from the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

Fassett was honored for his “remarkable leadership in investigations of victimization, exploitation, and trafficking of women and children,” said Dallas’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) organization.

During his decades with the Dallas Police Department (DPD) and the Dallas Child Advocacy Center (DCAC)—and through his longstanding, continued work with AATTAP and the National Criminal Justice Training Center–Fassett has developed, taught, and stewarded methods, resources, and initiatives to improve law enforcement’s work to combat human trafficking and the exploitation of youth.

“This recognition is only possible because of the great team I worked with at DPD, DCAC, and the opportunity to continue this work with the AATTAP and NCJTC,” said Fassett, a Texas native.

“Byron is the real deal,” said AATTAP Project Coordinator Cathy Delapaz, who works with Fassett to develop training.

Delapaz also worked with him at the DPD to create ground-breaking and life-saving human and sex trafficking initiatives. “He is personally responsible for developing and maintaining a model [known nationally as the ‘Dallas High-Risk Victims Model’] hat has led to the recovery of thousands of child sex trafficking victims who never would have been recovered if not for him.”

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From Staff Reports

AATTAP team members visited Puerto Rico in January to conduct “Rescue, Recovery, and Reunification” field-training exercises for Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) and other members of law enforcement.

“The CART training was a success, and for the first time ever we had a member of Congress at our training,” said AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico

Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón told the large crowd in attendance, “I’d like to thank the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College and the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program for their help. They visited last November and were eager to offer training in Puerto Rico, where law enforcement officers are always ready when it comes to helping our kids.”

To see related video and photos from the event, visit bit.ly/PRaattap.

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Shown celebrating Iowa’s recent CART certification are, from left, Derek VanLuchene, AATTAP Project Coordinator; Mitch Mortvedt, Assistant Director, Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS)/Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI); Medina Rahmanovic, Coordinator, Iowa DPS/DCI Missing Person Information Clearinghouse; Stephan K. Bayens, Iowa DPS Commissioner Stephan K. Bayens; AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen; and Adam DeCamp, Iowa DPS/DCI Special Agent in Charge. — Shown celebrating Iowa’s recent CART certification are, from left, Derek VanLuchene, AATTAP Project Coordinator; Mitch Mortvedt, Assistant Director, Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS)/Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI); Medina Rahmanovic, Coordinator, Iowa DPS/DCI Missing Person Information Clearinghouse; Stephan K. Bayens, Iowa DPS Commissioner; AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen; and Adam DeCamp, Iowa DPS/DCI Special Agent in Charge.

From Staff Reports

The Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) Child Abduction Response Team (CART) recently earned national certification from the U.S. Department of Justice for its work to develop, train, and activate a multidisciplinary team equipped to respond to and recover missing children.

The certification event, held February 17, 2023, in Des Moines, was the culmination of the Iowa DPS’s work with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) in partnership with the DOJ and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

The Iowa DPS CART was recognized as the 36th certified team in the nation and just the seventh team in the state to obtain such certification.

Designed to further the Iowa DPS’s commitment to protecting children, the Iowa DPS CART provides dedicated assets in response to a reported missing or abducted person and offers incident management, expertise, and resources for search and recovery.

Since its inception, the state's CART program has grown through the training and experience of its nearly 900 employees, and the relationships forged with law enforcement, first responders, emergency management agencies, search professionals, and the public. The certification aligns with the Iowa DPS’s continued efforts to the protect all Iowans, whether through the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, AMBER Alert, Missing Person Information Clearinghouse, Office to Combat Human Trafficking, or the Governor’s School Safety Bureau.

Throughout the certification process, Iowa DPS CART members demonstrated the knowledge and capacity required to locate and recover a missing or abducted child and exceeded the requirements set forth by AATTAP.

In May 2022, a mock abduction exercise was held at the Dallas County Fairgrounds. The exercise, monitored onsite by AATTAP members, allowed the CART to showcase its operational readiness, implementation of protocols, and coordination with local agencies and non-governmental services. The exercise also served to prepare the team for an actual CART deployment.

“Having the Department’s Child Abduction Response Team become nationally certified recognizes our ongoing commitment to provide professional service to our law enforcement partners and our communities,” said Iowa DPS Commissioner Stephan Bayens. “Having witnessed a CART deployment firsthand, I am honored to have the Department of Justice join me in recognizing the professionalism and determination that CART puts towards the recovery of missing or abducted children.”

AATTAP’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Certification Program works to assist local, Tribal and state jurisdictions in the creation and implementation of CART Programs. Leading subject matter experts, practitioners, policymakers, and other child protection specialists have developed operational standards of excellence and evidence-based best practices related to the recovery of missing children. These professionals have worked with the U.S. DOJ and AATTAP to develop the certification process and criteria for jurisdictions to voluntarily seek an opportunity to demonstrate CART policy, procedures, and continuous improvement strategies that meet 47 standards of compliance for operational readiness.

The CART certification process culminates in a rigorous practical field exercise that is observed, and evaluated by a team of trained professionals who can attest to a CART program’s ability to rapidly and effectively deploy, work as a team and with specialized resources, and maintain critical documentation and equipment during an endangered or missing child incident.

For more details about AATTAP’s CART certification, or for CART-specific resources, visit amberadvocate.org/cartresources.

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Live Webinar: How to Prepare for a Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Certification

June 6, 2024 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM CST

Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Training

May 13-15, 2024 | Golden, CO | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily
May 29-31, 2024 | Orlando, FL | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily
June 17-19, 2024 | Grand Junction, CO | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily

Child Abduction Tabletop Exercises

June 25, 2024 | Eau Claire, WI | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Child Sex Trafficking Training for First Responders

May 17, 2024 | Tyler, TX | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
June 12, 2024 | Catawissa, PA | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Initial Response Strategies and Tactics When Responding to Missing Children Incidents

May 22, 2024 | Golden, CO | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
June 11, 2024 | Catawissa, PA | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
July 23, 2024 | Mansfield, PA | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Search and Canvass Operations in Child Abductions

May 15-16, 2024 |Huron, OH | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily

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Hawaii Senator Macie K. Horono, left, and Kalei Grant, right

By Denise Gee Peacock

Kalei Grant of the Missing Child Center Hawaii (MCCH) – a survivor of sex trafficking and advocate for missing, endangered, and exploited children – will be the guest of U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) at President Biden’s State of the Union Address this evening, February 7, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

The nationwide address will air live at 9 p.m. ET. Click here to watch it online.

“As a native Hawaiian survivor of gender-based violence, Kalei is working to help combat the crisis of violence against native women and girls,” said Senator Hirono. “I admire and appreciate her commitment to raising awareness and supporting other survivors, and I’m honored to have her as my guest for the State of the Union Address. I’ll continue working with the Biden Administration, my colleagues in Congress, leaders in Hawaii, and advocates like Kalei, to advance justice for native Hawaiian women and girls.”

Grant has worked since 2018 with the MCCH, under the leadership of state Attorney General Anne Lopez. She works to protect missing, endangered, and exploited children across Hawaii while promoting public awareness of the problem of human trafficking, especially for native women and girls.

The MCCH is a specialized criminal justice program in the Department of the Attorney General’s Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division and operates as the state’s missing-children clearinghouse and resource for law enforcement, social services, and families.

“Kalei has made it her life’s work to protect and advocate for other survivors of sex trafficking and gender-based violence in our state,” said Attorney General Lopez.

“I am proud and inspired by Kalei’s exemplary service to the people of Hawaii and as a proud native Hawaiian survivor leader on the national stage," Lopez said. "We fully support Senator Hirono’s granting this great honor for Kalei’s contributions, and for the Senator’s tireless efforts to ensure native Hawaiian survivors of gender-based violence have access to programs and resources through the Violence Against Women Act.”

“Native Hawaiian women and girls experience a disproportionate rate of gender-based violence, and alongside the Attorney General’s team, we are committed to providing the resources needed to end this deeply horrifying issue,” said Hawaii Governor Josh Green.

Grant has received the National Child Protection Award from the U.S. Department of Justice in recognition of her efforts in Operation Shine the Light – a cooperative effort between the MCCH; federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies; and four nonprofit organizations.

Kalei Grant with Amanda Leonard-Missing Child Center Hawaii MCCH Coordinator Amanda Leonard says Grant is "a prominent survivor leader and advocate who works every day to combat human trafficking in Hawaii and beyond. Kalei is a symbol of hope and limitless potential.”

“She is a reminder to all of us in this field that we are making a real difference in the lives of victims and their loved ones."

Last month, Hirono participated in a roundtable discussion with Grant that followed passage of federal legislation, sponsored by Hirono, that allows native Hawaiian survivors of gender-based violence to access critical programs and resources provided by the Violence Against Women Act.

Sex trafficking in Hawaii info graph

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The first AMBER Advocate issue of 2023 features an array of new AATTAP training opportunities now in gear-ones we've dubbed "By You, For You," since they're driven by valuable input from law enforcement and child protection professionals from around the U.S. and in Indian Country. We also spotlight a case involving a Utah teen abducted from his home from a fellow social gamer-an accused sexual predator, twice his age, who drove him 800 miles before a good Samaritan alerted authorities in Nebraska. Next we talk with AATTAP Region One Liaison Joan Collins, a law enforcement veteran who shares the secret to good communication and morale. And we round out the issue with missing childrelated news certain to educate and inspire.

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From Staff Reports

PITTSBURGH – The Allegheny County Child Abduction Response Team (CART) was certified by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) at a formal presentation in December.

“Since 1932, the Allegheny County Police Department has provided investigative services and other assistance to local, state and federal agencies,” said Fitzgerald. “The department’s leadership in convening a child abduction response team, and pursuing its certification, is another tool to assist those in our community who are in need. I’m extremely proud of the work that they’ve done to get to this point and congratulate everyone involved with this effort.”

Allegheny County CART is a multi-disciplinary, rapid response team that is trained and prepared to respond to a missing, endangered or abducted child through investigation. Organized and managed by the Allegheny County Police Department, CART pulls together resources to aid in the search and rescue effort and to assist the agency of jurisdiction in its investigation using an Incident Command Model (ICM). CART creates a mutual aid resource inventory and allows for the rapid and organized response required in these investigations.

The team is comprised of, but not limited to, law enforcement, victim advocates, child protection team members, mental health specialists, public information officers, search and rescue groups, and district attorneys in addition to resources from other government and non-government organizations. The current composition includes representation from the Allegheny County Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office and the Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner Mobile Crime Unit as well as these agencies:

Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group
Bethel Park Police Department
Federal Bureau of Investigation Pittsburgh
Mt. Lebanon Police Department
Ohio Township Police Department
Penn Hills Police Department
Ross Township Police Department

Allegheny County CART also includes supplemental support from Allegheny County Emergency Services, A Child’s Place at Mercy Advocacy Center, State Probation and Parole, and US Marshal Service.

The purpose of CART is to quickly and effectively recover a child that has been abducted or is missing under suspicious circumstances by utilizing resources and a team of individuals with prior training and experience related to child abductions. The swift deployment of pre-identified resources and personnel is the primary CART objective as well as a key factor in the safe recovery of a missing and endangered or abducted child.

“In our investigative efforts, we never work alone. We rely on our partner agencies,” said Police Superintendent Christopher Kearns. “The CART is another collaborative venture to provide the organized and professional response the community expects when a child is missing. We appreciate the DOJ’s guidance and the recognition of the team through accreditation.”

In 2005, OJJDP launched the CART Program as part of its AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Initiative. As a result of its effectiveness and acceptance by law enforcement professionals, OJJDP create the Child Abduction Response Team Certification Program. Leading subject matter experts, practitioners, policymakers, and other child protective specialists developed operational standards of excellence and evidence-based best practices related to the recovery of missing children. When a CART team is certified, it means the team has met those standards and can effectively respond to any missing and endangered or abducted child incident. Specifically, a CART must comply with 47 standards that cover 12 topic operational areas.

Requests for the CART will be handled like all other investigative and emergency service requests, through the local municipal police department.

For more details about AATTAP’s CART certification, or for CART-specific resources, visit amberadvocate.org/cartresources.

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By Jon Leiberman

“Holy cow, we need more hands on deck immediately.”

Tony Rodarte realized this while working child abduction cases early in his 20-year tenure with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) in Arizona.

“A child abduction response is a low-frequency event, but when they happen, there is a lot of stress,” Rodarte says. And compounding that stress? “We weren’t training regularly for such cases; we weren’t keeping up with best-practices; we weren’t coordinated,” he recalls. “Ultimately we created a team in conjunction with the state.”

Rodarte has been an active and instrumental member of Arizona’s statewide Child Abduction Response Team (CART) since its inception in 2011. The MCSD served as a host agency with the AZCART, and Rodarte served as the team’s co-coordinator in 2016.

Two years later, Rodarte retired from the MCSD, having spent the last 11 years there working in the homicide division. But post-retirement, his eagerness to continue refining the CART process – by sharing his experiences and lessons learned during his career – led him to become a subject matter expert for the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) and AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP).

Participants of the Klamath Falls, Oregon, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training session — Klamath Falls, Oregon, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training participants stand with their CART course instructor, NCJTC Associate Tony Rodarte (front row, far right).

Klamath Falls, Oregon is a city of about 20,000 people and the gateway to Crater Lake National Park. It also was the site of a recent AATTAP CART training, during which Rodarte provided instruction alongside other NCJTC Associates committed to improving responses to cases involving endangered missing and abducted children.

“It was a great group in Oregon, and what made it great was the diversity,“ Rodarte says. “There was a mix of sworn officers, search and rescue personnel, civilians and others – all of them engaged and vigorously taking notes.”

The course Rodarte taught focuses on the most vital elements of a CART response, including activation and deployment; establishing incident command and field considerations for mobile command operations; search and canvass operations; volunteer management; and other physical and personnel resources that can improve the overall response to endangered missing and abducted child incidents.

“At night, during an active child abduction, is not the time to learn. Now is the time
to learn.”

Rodarte emphasized this best-practice principle and others while working with class attendees.

Julie Harper with the Klamath County Community Corrections Department had great things to say about the legal issues module. Rodarte “is an excellent speaker and kept my attention throughout his presentation,” she said after the class. “I liked that he brought some humor into the discussion, since it’s such a serious topic.”

A key objective of AATTAP’s CART training is to encourage collaboration among agencies and resource providers within jurisdictions, so that when missing children cases happen, there is a team approach.

“Everything that was taught will help me improve our response to missing children,” said Ryan Kaber of the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office.

Another key component of the training involves tabletop exercises that give participants from different agencies – and who have different roles within their law enforcement and public safety work – to think through elements of response and decision-making together.

“I enjoyed being able to work with others from different agencies to come up with answers and see what we did right and wrong,” said Craig Delarm of the Lake County Search and Rescue Department.

Course participants walked away with actionable ways to begin making a difference in their communities – and partnering with neighboring law enforcement agencies. “We hope to partner with the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office to create a team,” said Kami Wilton of the Klamath County Community Corrections Division.

Hearing such positive feedback left Rodarte energized and encouraged.

“I hope they never have to use the information – but if they do, they will be ready.”

“In a perfect world, we all hope to never need a CART response,” Rodarte says. “But the world we live in means such investigations will take place. So we have to be ready. And readiness involves participants not only retaining the fundamentals, but also building on that readiness when returning to their agencies.”

Klamath County Sheriff Chris Kaber spoke directly to just the sort of readiness Rodarte hopes to impart. “The information we obtained in this valuable training has better prepared us for responding in the initial hours of a missing child investigation,” he said. “We’ve already used some of the techniques we learned at this training in other high-profile investigations. The benefit was almost immediate.”

Learn more about the AATTAP’s CART training, and find an array of CART resources, at amberadvocate.org/cartresources.

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Maryland leaders will now be notified of hate crimes with an “Emmett Till Alert.” The alert is named after the 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a White woman. Pictures of Till’s open casket helped transform the nation’s civil rights movement. Currently, the new alert will notify 167 key civil rights and community leaders of any racial incident or hate crime. The alerts have three levels: low, medium, and high. The highest level means there is a high possibility of violence or death.

Since launching its AMBER Alert system in July 2002, California has helped return 376 missing or abducted children to their families. The state issued its first alert a month after its inception and rescued two teen girls from a suspect who later died in a gun battle. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) recognized the 20th anniversary of the child abduction alerts at a press event. “We are so successful because we are all caretakers in our community,” said CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray.

Starting in January 2023, California will begin issuing Yellow Alerts to notify the public and help law enforcement find hit-and-run drivers. If police have a complete or partial license plate number and description of the vehicle, the information can be flashed on highway message signs in the area and sent to the media. Colorado and Maryland already use similar alerts for hit-and-run crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports a 26 percent increase in hit-and-run fatalities – from 2,037 in 2019 to 2,564 in 2020.

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Families in the United Kingdom have a new resource to help them deal with all the issues they need to face when a family member goes missing. The Missing Persons Information Hub provides information and organizations that can help families with a missing loved one. Missing persons expert Charlie Hedges created the website and has received support from AMBER Alert Europe, the Alzheimer’s Society, several universities, and other missing person organizations. Hedges said he wanted to offer something simple for families in crisis. Though he has been dedicated to missing persons work for more than 25 years, “due to its complexities, I still find it hard to find what I am looking for,” he explained.

Nigeria is now using the social media reach of Facebook to curb online child trafficking and the buying and selling of children. The African country is working with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to utilize Facebook for protecting children, including posting AMBER Alerts. “Over 40 percent of victims are now recruited online, and this has raised concerns considering the impact of the social media on our children,” said Amarachi Kene-Okafor with the Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour.

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A California lawmaker is proposing a “Feather Alert” that would notify the public when indigenous people go missing under certain circumstances. Assembly member James C. Ramos said the alert would be activated through California’s AMBER Alert system and would be similar to the state’s Endangered Missing Advisory.

“This bill brings further attention and effort to end violence on tribal lands and across the state,” Ramos said.

The bill is co-sponsored by the Yurok, California’s largest tribe, in Northern California. On July 1, 2022, a bill in Washington State created the first statewide emergency alert system for missing indigenous people. Similarly, Colorado passed a bill in June that created the Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, tasked with creating an indigenous alert system.

“It is a top priority for us to make change and not just talk about it; this creates action through legislation,” Yurok Tribal Chairman Joe James told The Press Democrat.

According to the Sovereign Bodies Institute and Yurok Tribal Court, Northern California has 107 missing and murdered indigenous women. In 2016, the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) tracked more than 5,700 missing indigenous women and girls – but according to the Urban Indian Health Institute, only 116 were reported in U.S. Department of Justice statistics.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) issued a missing person alert after an indigenous woman and her 7-year-old son went missing July 24, 2022, in Saskatchewan, Canada. Both were found in Oregon August 5. Dawn Walker is now facing charges of parental abduction and public mischief.

Several First Nation women, however, say Walker was fleeing from domestic violence. “Until you walk the mile in the shoes of women who have to protect their children or themselves, you have no room to talk,” said Mary Culbertson, Treaty Commissioner of Saskatchewan. The FSIN declined to comment.

Canadian Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino said more dialogue is needed to find out if enough is being done when a First Nation member goes missing.

Tribal leaders have been critical after AMBER Alerts were not issued in two cases involving indigenous children. “At a minimum, there should be dialogue about whether the criteria [for AMBER Alerts] are providing as much support as is needed in those very early and fragile moments, when every minute can make a difference,” he said.

Mendicino has been meeting with indigenous political and law enforcement leaders about efforts to protect First Nation members.

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Seated man next to standing woman. From left: Steve Benefield and Denise O’Leary. Photo: Texas Center for the Missing — Steve Benefield, left, and Denise O’Leary. Photo: Texas Center for the Missing

By Denise Gee Peacock

For 24 years Denise O’Leary’s main goal has been helping families in the Houston-Galveston area find their missing loved ones. Now, she says, another family duty calls: Helping her aging parents. “It’s time I gave them more of my focus.”

Before leaving her current post, however, O’Leary was intent on training “the new me” – Steve Benefield, the new Emergency Alert Coordinator (EAC) for the Houston nonprofit Texas Center for the Missing (TCM). The TCM provides crisis support to the families of missing persons, training for law enforcement, and preventative safety programs to children and their parents. The TCM EAC also doubles as the Region 9 AMBER Alert coordination point for the Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS).

Benefield joins the TCM after recently retiring from the Houston Police Department (HPD) after a 39-year career there. His HPD tenure was primarily youth centered. He taught Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) to school kids, investigated missing persons reports, handled child abuse/internet crimes against children cases, and child custody interference situations – “all of which makes him well suited for this job,” O’Leary says.

“It’s a big job with big responsibilities,” Benefield adds, noting the TCM’s 93 percent success rate is one of the highest in the nation. And the region he serves is the second largest in the country – covering 14 counties with more than 5 million people and 300 law enforcement agencies.

Benefield is no stranger to the challenges posed by the vast region or its youngest, most vulnerable inhabitants. “This job will allow me to continue helping kids,” he says. “I’ve always been inclined to help people who can’t help themselves.”

So far, Benefield is off to a good start. Several days into his first week, everything O’Leary had been teaching him was put to the test when the HPD requested an AMBER Alert. The call came in during the weekend, when O’Leary and Benefield were out of the office. “I reached Steve by phone, and since we both had our work laptops with us, I talked him through the process. He did great.”

“Thankfully, I had a good co-pilot,” Benefield quips.

“And thankfully we had a good outcome on the case,” O’Leary notes, providing some background:

On August 21, 2022, the HPD was contacted by the parents of a 3-year-old girl who, after waking up at 5 a.m., found their daughter missing – and the front door ajar.

Police officer shown during mounted patrol duty. — Denise O’Leary on mounted patrol duty for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Photo: Facebook

The HPD responded to the scene and began canvassing the family’s apartment complex in North Houston. Fortunately, a neighbor reported seeing the girl being placed in a vehicle that he could provide a good description of, along with its driver.

An AMBER Alert was issued, and within hours, the HPD had tracked the suspected abductor to a motel less than two miles from the girl’s home. After confirming with a manager that the man in question had checked in earlier that day, officers were able to access the room, safely recover the child, and arrest a 50-year-old man for kidnapping her.

“Neither the girl nor her parents had ever met the man,” O’Leary says.

The positive outcome “is a textbook case of why the public’s involvement is vital, and why public education is so important,” she adds.

Community education is central to the TCM’s work. Currently they are partnering with Houston Public Media, which is helping them produce short public service announcements. “We’ve created an awesome pamphlet to help the public understand how AMBER Alerts work,” O’Leary said. “We don’t want people to get annoyed and turn off their phone’s alert notification function. We need them to be our eyes and ears.”

O’Leary and Benefield also discussed what has fueled them along their career paths.

“While working HPD cases involving juvenile abuse, I began to see just how many kids grow up in difficult conditions,” Benefield says. “To see a child intentionally burned by his or her caregiver, before going with the child to the hospital and staying by his side – and then going home to my own two children – was tough. I realized that if somebody from law enforcement wasn’t there to help them, who would?” O’Leary can relate. “As the mother of two teens, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help families find their missing children.”

The TCM is one of two nonprofit organizations in Texas that help families and law enforcement search for missing children. The other is the AMBER Alert Network-Brazos Valley led by Chuck Fleeger, who also serves as TxDPS Region 3 Coordinator.

“Denise has a unique skill set,” Fleeger says. “She joined the TCM after years of experience working missing persons investigations for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), particularly long- term missing cases.” O’Leary worked for the HCSO for 12 years before ultimately working as a reserve captain. “She has always made herself available to anyone who needs her. Her dedication is remarkable.”

O’Leary says she won’t be riding off into the sunset entirely. She will continue her HCSO missing persons work as time allows. “You can’t completely leave this line of work,” she surmises. “It becomes a part of you.”

‘One-Stop Support Shop’ for Families of the Missing

The Texas Center for the Missing (TCM) is nationally recognized for its Missing in Harris County Day, a free public event held each spring. (The next will be April 29, 2023.)

“Basically, it’s a one-stop support shop for families of the missing,” O’Leary said. “We have representatives from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), the medical examiner’s office,
all regional law enforcement agencies and representatives from other resources who are available to talk with anyone who has a missing family member or friend.

Families can file a report if they haven’t already, and NamUs can take samples of their DNA to include in its national database.“The medical examiner also has booklets of photos showing unidentified remains that people can review. They’re not easy to look at, but if you’re a parent searching for a loved one, they can be a big help.”

Concerned families are encouraged to bring their missing child’s skeletal X-rays, dental records, or other identifying records, and have two biological relatives attend to provide DNA samples.

“We’ve had a number of cases solved because of the event,” O’Leary said. “It makes a difference.”

For more details visit centerforthemissing.org/missing-in-harris-county-day/.

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By Paul Murphy

The social media post simply read, “Help.” But it would transform a report of two runaway teens into a trafficking case requiring an AMBER Alert and intense search for the 14-year-olds.

The case unfolded on June 29, 2022, when the teens left their homes in McGregor, Texas – 20 minutes southwest of Waco, in McLennan County.

According to the girls’ families, the duo are best friends, so their parents initially thought they were staying at either of the girl’s homes. The teens later called their parents to say one of their uncles would be picking them up – but that did not happen. Then, later that night, one of the girl’s mothers was startled to find a note from her daughter stating she would “make this right.”

“I want her to know that everything is OK,” the mother told a reporter while her daughter was missing. “It doesn’t matter what she has done. I want her to just come home. We love you no matter what. Our door is open. Come home.”

McGregor Police Department Lieutenant Ron McCurry said the situation originally did not meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert. But he became more concerned after the girls were gone nearly a week.

“We were following all leads and doing everything we could to find them,” he said.

The course of the investigation would change drastically after one of the girl’s mothers shared a screengrab of a Snapchat message from her daughter. It had only one word – “Help” – but it spoke volumes. Lieutenant McCurry concluded the teens’ disappearance posed a credible threat to their safety since they were likely with an unknown, dangerous individual.

McCurry requested an AMBER Alert in the early morning hours of July 4. The Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) issued the alert at 4:13 a.m.

Ben Patterson is the Alert Program Manager for the TxDPS. He oversees AMBER Alerts and other endangered missing alerts for
the country’s second largest state, with 29.1 million residents, 254 counties, and 1,200 incorporated cities within its 268,596 square miles. Due to its size, the Lone Star State has 18 regional AMBER Alert programs coordinated by law enforcement and public safety personnel who work closely with Patterson.

“I always think, what if it was my child or children that were missing,” Patterson said. “Children are much more accepting of adults and may not think about ulterior motives.”

The AMBER Alert notified key partners: the Texas Department of Transportation, five Texas Border Intelligence Centers, the Texas Lottery Commission, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and secondary distribution groups that included the media.

The McLennan County Sheriff’s Office Human Trafficking Unit, the FBI, and volunteer analysts for the National Child Protection Task Force joined in the search. Detectives and task force analysts were able to get information from Apple to help track the general location for one of the victim’s phones. They could also identify individuals trying to call her, including one unknown person from Waco.

McLennan County Sheriff’s Office Human Trafficking Detective Joseph Scaramucci was able to pinpoint a restaurant near where they girls were being held. And though it was dark, he spotted a license plate belonging to that unknown caller from Waco.

At 2:25 a.m. on July 5, the girls were rescued from an apartment in Georgetown, Texas, about 75 miles south of Waco. The 30-year-old man holding the teens, James Robert Vanhouten, was arrested after a brief standoff with McLennan County detectives and Georgetown Police Department officers, and the girls were returned to their families.

McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara told reporters that after the girls ran away from home, they “fell in with some bad people and went from one place to the next. They were kept in some pretty bad places.”

The teens told detectives they were forced to take drugs. One victim had left her phone at home, and though the other’s phone was malfunctioning, she was fortunately able to use it when it connected to the internet. That helped her send the Snapchat SOS.

“They were very happy to be rescued,” McNamara said.

: Authorities arrested this 30-year-old man for harboring and trafficking the girls. Photo: KWTX

Vanhouten has been charged with trafficking. Two other men involved in the crime have been charged with harboring runaway children.

“We are going to make these scum bags accountable for what they did to these young girls,” McNamara said, noting the girls were taken to five different homes before they were found. “There will be more charges and more arrests to come. We are not going to let up.”

McCurry is thankful for the “absolutely incredible” response received from the public once the AMBER Alert was sent. “It’s a very valuable resource.”

Patterson, too, was relieved to learn the girls were found safe. Since “there are many children who are not recovered, these girls were very fortunate,” he said.

According to reports, more than 50,000 people are trafficked each year in the U.S., and a quarter of those victims pass through Texas. The National Human Trafficking Hotline has registered more than 5,800 trafficking cases since 2007 and more than 800 cases in 2019. Investigators say the suspects in this case were not part of a larger trafficking ring but just took advantage of the situation.

Texas is the birthplace of the AMBER Alert, the tool now used worldwide to alert the public about child abductions. The alert was created shortly after Amber Hagerman was kidnapped and murdered on January 15, 1996, in Arlington, Texas.

Patterson said Texas offers missing person alert training in 30 locations twice a year. He said this case offers a valuable lesson on how missing and abducted children’s cases can evolve. “Be prepared,” he said. “What could be seen as a routine situation can easily change.”

It’s also evident “that we need to take missing kids seriously,” Scaramucci added. “The AMBER Alert put everyone on edge,” helping people take the situation “more seriously than [believing the girls to be] just a couple of runaways.”

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Sergeant Patrick Beumler, a CART expert with the Glendale, Arizona, Police Department

By Denise Gee Peacock

At the 2022 National AATTAP-AIIC Symposium, Glendale (Arizona) Police Department Sergeant Patrick Beumler provided an array of CART-smart advice – from enlisting the right members, structuring teams within a single agency or statewide, countywide, or regional units, obtaining valuable resources, and maintaining and sustaining strong programs.

The CART coordination expert also posed some key questions for agencies that currently have a CART or are considering forming one.

Recruitment

Image of the interior of the Glendale Arizona Police Department "Blue Ox" mobile command center — **IN RELATED NEWS:**
Read more about Sergeant Beumler and his CART's prowess by clicking here.

Does your team recruit, assign, or receive/onboard new CART talent? Can you recruit from various agency squads based on unique CART needs/individual talents?
Do you solicit CART membership within your participating agencies? Sworn and non-sworn?
What happens when a certified member promotes, retires, or changes assignment?
Do you have a succession plan for replacing team members who have completed certification?
Is your team comprised of only investigators?
Do you have dedicated dispatchers familiar with CART? “Get your dispatchers certified in CART and include a rotation for them in your deployment plans,” Beumler emphasized.

Training

How often does your CART train? Annually/quarterly/monthly? Is it for initial certification only?
Do you review case studies, tabletop exercises, and leads management techniques?
Do CART members get cross-trained to work in different roles?
Do you train for contingencies? Diverse environments? Multi-day deployments?

Preparation

Do you know what specialized deployment resources you have available? Professionals could include dive teams, K9 units, drone pilots, cell phone tower analysts, and interpreters.
Can municipal, county, state, federal, and non-profit agencies fill resource gaps? “District and county attorney’s offices could be legal partners for search warrants and legal questions, and local victim advocacy centers could offer victim assistance.”
Do you have, or can you create, a mobile command center to hold your logistics and communications equipment?
Regarding equipment and supplies, does everything work (portable lighting, extension cords, printers, laptops, tools, spare bulbs, cords, repair kits, etc.)?
Will you have access to a plotter-sized printer? Where can you get large neighborhood canvassing maps?
How many folding tables, chairs, and canopies do you have? Who is responsible for maintaining those? “Keep a spreadsheet with all logistics equipment designated for deployments and get a list from an established CART to see what else you might need,” Beumler added.
Do you have enough canvass forms to cover vast, urban apartment complexes?
Will the agencies with whom you’ll be working use the same terminology, radio codes, and/or checklists? This needs to be proactively agreed upon via procedural documentation/resources.

Innovation

Do you have post-deployment debriefs with patrol officers, on-scene supervisors, and CART personnel to discuss what went well and what could be improved?
How in tune are you with new technology? Beumler recommends:
- Group messaging apps such as Microsoft Teams and GroupMe to remotely share information with CART members in real-time. “You also can use the apps for private chats.”
- Leads management programs to help organize, categorize, assign, and track incoming leads, canvassing information, and investigative research.
Develop the ability to apply/utilize geofencing with social media and other messaging. Know what technology affords you in terms of tracking cell phones, searching and capturing data via drones, and using license plate readers.

Promoting Awareness and Building Support for CART

Explain the benefits of CART. Provide overviews and information at supervisor meetings, patrol briefings, and community meetings (and involve agency PIOs) to highlight the benefits of having a CART that other agencies can utilize or emulate.
Celebrate your CART successes. Commend personnel for great work. “CART responsibilities are often secondary or volunteer roles for many CART personnel, so take the time to recognize those who stay engaged and put in the hard work and long hours,” Beumler said. “Many successes go unheralded because of humility. But the effectiveness of the CART concept should be praised to raise awareness and boost confidence in its utilization.”
Travel and provide outreach. Travel to neighboring agencies and provide executive-level presentations on the benefits of joining a CART.
Offer command post walk-throughs. Set up a mock command post and allow other agencies to visit and ask questions at different stations. This includes displaying/demonstrating equipment utilized for the program.

Sustainability

Who will be your lead agency or coordinator in an expanded CART, and for how long? Yearly?
How does an agency request CART assistance?
Who authorizes deployments for an out of agency responses regarding overtime, vehicles, primary assignment coverage, etc.?
Clearly articulate decision-making responsibilities and lines of communication.

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By Denise Gee Peacock

The most effective Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs) have “the right personnel, preparation, and leadership support,” says Sergeant Patrick Beumler, who supervises the Glendale, Arizona, Police Department’s Patrol and Emergency Response Units.

Beumler has served in law enforcement 24 years, half of that time in the GPD’s Criminal Investigation Division as Special Victims Unit Supervisor, specializing in family violence and missing persons. He was a founding member of the Arizona Child Abduction Response Team in 2011, and has since responded to dozens of CART deployments throughout the state. As the state’s CART Coordinator, Beumler has collaborated on CART certification training with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

We spoke with Sergeant Beumler about some of the questions law enforcement asks during training sessions.

What type of person does it take be a successful CART member?

It takes someone willing to put a lot of time and energy into training. They need to be flexible in their schedule for callouts, preparation, and research – and able to get their primary duties done amidst many CART tasks. It takes someone who can keep their cool during the chaos at the onset of a missing at-risk child investigation, including effectively communicating with frantic family members. It takes diligence; someone who doesn’t give up when they hit roadblocks and investigative “dead ends,” as often happens in missing child investigations. And most importantly, it takes someone who isn’t afraid to ask for help during a CART response – and to accept that help, especially from people outside their agency.

How can law enforcement agencies recruit personnel who are a good fit for a CART?

Agencies could face challenges with participation if folks deemed well-suited to the work aren’t able to be recruited as they are identified. Restrictive policies may require that only members of certain squads can be CART members, but sometimes that doesn’t allow for the best talent to be recruited. Also, leadership needs to buy in to the CART concept or the CART will face challenges in pulling people away from other duties.

What are the biggest challenges in CART training?

Coordination, cost, and time. Training should ideally be conducted at the agency and regional levels, and occasionally at the state level. A good place to start is to have quarterly training at the agency and/or regional level, and perhaps annually at the state level, depending on the CART’s needs. Training should reinforce the basics, such as neighborhood and roadside canvassing, using leads management software, and setting up and dismantling command posts. Advanced classes in investigative technology are also a plus. And at least annually, the CART should analyze case studies or conduct tabletop exercises. Using local resources and personnel obviously saves money, but so does utilizing quality training provided at no cost by the AATTAP and National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College, as well as NCMEC.

How important is preparation?

Knowing what may be needed for a call-out is a challenge until you’ve been through a couple of them. Items needed for a command post can be as simple as a pop-up canopy and folding table, but to operate for any length of time outdoors a canopy, lighting, staging area, and other logistics come into play. That’s why CARTs mobilize trucks and trailers full of equipment. One of the most basic staples is the canvassing form. Until everything goes digital, using printed forms to canvass neighborhoods, or at roadside stops or roadblocks, is a must. But these tend to run short, especially when urban multi-housing/ apartment complexes are involved. Each member should have a personal supply of all needed forms, and command should also have an ample supply (think banker’s box full) to distribute as needed, and to replenish at the end of each deployment. The last thing you want is someone running to the station to make copies of the form at 2 a.m.

How do you sustain effective CARTs?

Sustainability comes down to how well your CART team is recruited, the level of leadership adoption and support, the team’s activity level, membership policy mandates, the quality of available resources, and the extent of training and preparation. The turnover for units within a CART can be high, since members often change assignments, retire, or get promoted; so it takes the dedication of those involved to promote the team, champion its successes, and keep it active. It should be seen as a desirable position to have – rather than an ancillary role of their primary job. Also, agencies
can lose interest in participating in a CART if apathy or a lack of succession planning sets in.

For agencies not sure if they need a CART, what would you tell them?

A CART is a force multiplier – a treasure trove of experience to lean on during an often-tense at-risk missing child investigation. When there is little to no information to go on, and your folks are tired and depleted – but calls for service are still coming in – having CART resources and investigative knowledge is invaluable. There’s a misconception that CARTs take over an investigation; they don’t. While some law enforcement teams may have to swallow a bit of pride to ask for help, with agency leadership commitment and support, that is less of an ask when specialized assistance is needed, especially in the wee hours of the morning.

What’s inside ‘the Blue Ox’?

The Glendale (Arizona) Police Department’s 600 square-foot climate-controlled CART logistics support truck and mobile command center is dubbed “the Blue Ox” because “after the large tractor trailer was painted blue, it reminded people of Paul Bunyan’s giant blue ox,” says Sergeant/CART Leader Patrick Beumler. The $1.3 million crime- fighter-on-wheels was funded with $900,000 from the Urban Areas Security Initiative and $400,000 from the City of Glendale. “It’s been a tremendous help to us,” Beumler adds. Here’s what it features:

2 operations tables
20 “ops” stations, each equipped with a laptop, telephone, and full radio capability
1 Cisco IPICS Radio Interop System
6 (700-800 MHz) radios
5 VHF radios and 4 UHF radios
2 Motorola XTS XTVA radio slots
2 (47-inch) interior video monitors
1 (70-inch) interior video monitor
2 (55-inch) exterior video monitors
1 TracStar RV satellite system with 2 VoIP Lines
4 DirectTV Receivers
2 Sony Mast Cameras
A 70 KVA MQ generator and Shore 208V 3 Phase power connection

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The final 2022 issue of The AMBER Advocate features the work of an Arizona Child Abduction Response Team that exemplifies the value of a well-structured, well-sustained CART. Our "Front Lines" story details the power of an "SOS" social media post in alerting law enforcement about two abducted Texas teens. Then meet Steve Benefield, the new Emergency Alert Coordinator for the Texas Center for the Missing, who was able to hit the ground running with help from his dynamic predecessor, Denise O'Leary. Finally, get updated on AMBER Alert and other endangered missing persons-related work underway across the U.S., in Indian Country, and internationally.

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Gloucester County New Jersey's Child Abduction Response Team shown at ceremony for earning U.S. Department of Justice Certification. — Those at the Gloucester County, New Jersey, CART certification ceremony Oct. 21, 2022, included, from left, Erik Wolfe, New Jersey Search & Rescue; Richard Hershey, New Jersey State Police; Vito Roselli, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Deputy Chief Matthew Decesari, Franklin Township Police Department; Gloucester County Commissioners Jim Jefferson and Nicholas DaSilva; Paulsboro Police Chief Gary Kille, President of the Gloucester County Chiefs Association; Janell Rasmussen, AATTAP Program Administrator/National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College; Gloucester County CART Coordinators Lieutenant Stacie Lick and Sergeant Greg Malesich; AATTAP CART Project Coordinator Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron; Joseph Ward, Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management; John Nemec, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children/Team Adam; and Byron Fassett, AATTAP Program Manager.

By Denise Gee Peacock

New Jersey’s Gloucester County Child Abduction Response Team (CART) recently became the state’s first CART to earn certification from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – an accomplishment recognized at a Oct. 21, 2022, ceremony in Woodbury.

The rigorous certification process, overseen by subject matter experts with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC), determines if a CART meets 47 standards for effectively investigating and recovering missing children.

Gloucester County CART Coordinator Lieutenant Stacie Lick's daughter Maddie (right) helped her mother (left) during the CART certification field exercise this spring. “She went missing as part of the drill, and was proud to help law enforcement learn how to investigate missing kids,” Lick said. “I could tell she enjoyed the process.”

“Certification confirms a CART’s ability to rapidly deploy well-trained personnel able to follow well-structured guidelines, maintain all critical documentation/records, and access specialized resources when time is of the essence to find a missing child,” said Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, who works with AATTAP Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene to support CART program development and training/certification efforts across the nation.

Upon completion of all application requirements that involve reviewing a CART’s policy and procedural guidelines, an onsite assessment is scheduled. The certification drill, which typically spans two full days, is a full-scale exercise evaluated by a team of trained subject matter experts/assessors.

“Successful completion of the field exercise and subsequent field report documentation establish that the CART program has demonstrated the highest standards of excellence both in policy as well as practice,” said Lieutenant Stacie Lick with the Gloucester County Prosecutors Office. Lick has served as her county’s CART Coordinator since 2008.

Fittingly, Gloucester County’s CART was the first of its kind to formed in New Jersey in 2008, paving the way for the state’s 20 other counties to follow suit at the direction of former state Attorney General Anne Milgram. Milgram made it a requirement for every county in the state to have a CART overseen by each prosecutor’s office.

Gloucester County’s CART certification process began in April 2021 with the submission of its 100-page manual, which outlines the CART’s response to missing children in their region – but also has proven helpful to CARTs across the nation. The manual, which features protocols, forms, and sample questions for parents, caregivers, and/or family members, is touted by the AATTAP, NCJTC, and DOJ as a model for CART best practices.

The Gloucester County CART’s field exercise was held April 26, 2022, with the assistance of the Franklin Township Police Department at Malaga Lake Park. During the field exercise a volunteer child went missing and the Gloucester County CART had to respond to locate the child safely. After conducting neighborhood and roadblock canvasses, door-to-door interviews, reviewing evidence and following up on leads, the child was recovered safely by the Gloucester County CART.

Another Gloucester County law enforcement strength is that investigations of missing children under age 13 are handled by the Special Victims Unit of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, housed at Child Advocacy Center of Gloucester County in Woodbury.

“Our Child Advocacy Center serves the children of Gloucester County by reviewing and responding to approximately 400 allegations of abuse and/or neglect a year, with about 50 of those being missing children under the age of 13,” Lick said. “All children to date have been located successfully.”

Leon-Baron noted that the AATTAP continues to expand the number of U.S. DOJ-certified CART programs; increase the number of trained CART programs in Indian Country; and assist previously trained teams in maintaining operational capacity and readiness by working with a talented team of CART trainers to assess the status of CART programs across the country and beyond.

“As the chief law enforcement agency in Gloucester County, it is the goal of the Prosecutor’s Office to ensure that every child who is reported missing is recovered safely through a professional collaboration of our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners,” said Acting Prosecutor Christine A. Hoffman. “By receiving this certification, we ensure that evidence-based practices are being implemented and the highest quality of service is being provided.”

“Children are safer in Gloucester County,” said AATTAP Program Administrator Janell Rasmussen, who commended the Gloucester County CART for being the first team in the state to receive certification during the ceremony.

“Our Gloucester County Commissioners were also in attendance at the ceremony and commented on the hard work and dedication of the Gloucester County CART members who assisted in achieving the certification,” Lick said. “The Gloucester County CART is fortunate to have ongoing cooperation and support from our county commissioners who support the CART mission of recovering children safely and offering services that support them through the Child Advocacy Center of Gloucester County.”

For more details about AATTAP’s CART certification, or for CART-specific resources, visit amberadvocate.org/cartresources.

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By Denise Gee Peacock

When a child goes missing, law enforcement response time is critical. So is having the right tools.

An endeavor to donate nearly every technological resource necessary for responding to missing and abducted children cases – a rugged laptop, digital camera, scanner, and more – is now underway thanks to the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative, a component of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

These Technology Toolkits are being provided to Tribal communities that currently administer their own AMBER Alert program, or that participate in (or are in the process of adopting or joining) a regional or state AMBER Alert plan.

So far, dozens of the Technology Toolkits have been distributed to Tribal law enforcement agencies (LEAs) spanning from Alabama to Washington. The goal is to ultimately provide a total of 150 Toolkits to agencies that request them, said AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood.

“The Toolkit doesn’t give tribes the capacity to initiate an AMBER Alert on their own. It’s a source of supplemental equipment to help agencies expedite their work in finding missing and endangered children,” said Wood, a member of the Navajo Nation and former law enforcement detective.

Getting the 41-pound packages to their destinations – often in remote areas – is not always easy. Many Tribes use post office boxes for mailing addresses, so the Toolkits sometimes need to be re-routed to locations that can pose a challenge for delivery drivers.

“It’s a special privilege to deliver the toolkits in person,” said Wood, who is assisted by AIIC Liaison Valerie Briebecas. “As we meet the community’s leadership, there’s a bond that forms, which is nice, and we plan future collaborative work, including training initiatives.”

“It’s also been rewarding to see each Tribe’s environment and experience any challenges they may have,” such as a lack of cellphone coverage or knowledge about state or regional AMBER Alert plans. “Understanding each Tribe’s needs gives us insight into their way of life, their community. And that’s important, because every Tribe is unique,” Wood said.

Moapa Tribal Police Chief Jeff Harper displays the toolkit outside of MTP headquarters — Moapa Tribal Police Chief Jeff Harper displays the Toolkit outside of MTP headquarters.

The AIIC team kicked off the Technology Toolkit initiative on March 22, 2022, with a visit to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation in Cary, North Carolina.

Cherokee Nation Police Chief Josh Taylor was happy to receive both the Toolkit and the AIIC visitors. “This Toolkit provides us with the equipment to be successful in Indian Country,” he said at an event to honor the occasion. “And with the opportunity for additional training, we will benefit from staying connected with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program.”

AMBER Alert Coordinator Nona Best, Director of the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, agreed. “This Toolkit will ensure that if a child goes missing, the most effective, efficient, and quickest response time will be in the hands of the Cherokee Nation Police Department.”

Speaking before a large crowd, AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen noted, “It’s unusual to see such a phenomenal partnership between a state agency and a tribe, and the great work being done here. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Tribe and the North Carolina AMBER Alert Coordinator should be commended for their collaborative efforts to bring missing children home.”

Another Technology Toolkit presentation took place May 2, 2022, at the Navajo Nation Police Department in Window Rock, Arizona.

“Preparation and coordination are key to bringing a child home safely, and the Toolkits will assist our law enforcement officers if a child should be reported missing. Responding officers can access the kit and have everything they need to send out an alert as quickly as possible while still in the field, including in rural areas,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez. His administration is now working to expand the AMBER Alert system and provide a comprehensive 911 system that can effectively cover the largest tribal nation in the U.S., spanning 27,000 square miles in three states (Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah).

In 2016, 11-year-old Navajo Nation member Ashlynne Mike was abducted and later found murdered. A lack of coordinated response and jurisdictional understanding led to a delay in the issuance of an AMBER Alert, prompting her mother, Pamela Foster, to lobby legislators to enact a law to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.

“Through the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, many partnerships were established between tribal communities and external agencies to protect our children,” said Navajo Nation First Lady Phefelia Nez. “Many families know the personal heartbreak and trauma of missing loved ones on the Navajo Nation and throughout Indian Country. Multiple jurisdictional systems have historically failed the victims, their families, and survivors. Today we have to set a new tone of hope on this issue that impacts our homes and tribal communities.”

Navajo Nation Police Chief Daryl Noon added, “One of the things we recognize is we can’t do this alone. We will continue to welcome the support from our community partners, especially for AMBER Alert initiatives, and remain focused and committed to the protection of our children here in the Navajo Nation.”

In addition to receiving the Toolkit, Tribal AMBER Alert program personnel and law enforcement officers involved in AMBER Alerts and child protection in their communities are being invited to access the Partner Portal on the AMBER Advocate website. With portal membership, they can connect with other AMBER Alert partners and find additional resources to assist in AMBER Alert program work, as well as first response and investigative efforts for endangered missing and abducted child cases.

These resources are provided to tribes at no charge thanks to efforts by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to facilitate implementation of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act. Programs and action items within the Act are designed to provide Tribes with access to state, regional, and Tribal AMBER Alert plans and improve response to endangered missing and abducted children in Indian Country.

“The Toolkit provides many technologies needed when responding to and investigating missing and abducted children. By creating a response plan when a child goes missing, and working with state and federal law enforcement agencies, Tribes will be one step closer to bringing their missing children home,” Wood said, adding, “I just wish we could visit every tribe in the nation.”

For more information on AMBER Alert in Indian Country training, technical assistance, and/or resources – including the Technology Toolkit – contact askamber@fvtc.edu, call 877/712-6237, or visit https://amber-ic.org.

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Denise Gee Peacock is AATTAP’s Project Coordinator for Publications, Websites & eLearning. She oversees content and design for The AMBER Advocate and AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) websites, manages social media engagement, and writes for, edits, and designs the quarterly print/digital magazine, The AMBER Advocate. Denise also helps with special multimedia projects, marketing initiatives, AATTAP-AIIC national symposiums, and eLearning needs.

Prior to her current role, Denise was a communications-focused NCJTC Associate from 2018 to 2022, providing compelling content to The AMBER Advocate, writing high-level AATTAP and AIIC reports, and helping update the new multimedia edition of When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide.

From 2010 to 2018, Denise served as Media Relations Manager for Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She helped SMU’s Dedman School of Law, Human Rights Program, Maguire School of Ethics, and Texas-Mexico Program garner unprecedented publicity that involved SMU subject matter experts being featured in major media outlets in this country and abroad.

In 2018 Denise won the International Circle of Excellence Gold Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for her work on the sensitively written and beautifully designed book, No Resting Place: Holocaust Poland, produced for SMU’s Human Rights Program. The book commemorated the 20th anniversary of SMU's “Holocaust Poland” trip—one of the longest running, most comprehensive Holocaust study-abroad trips offered by a U.S. university. Prior to that Denise also helped SMU win several national CASE awards for “Best Practices in Marketing and Communications.”

Earlier in her career, Denise served as Editorial Director for Media News Group’s 200+ specialty publications/websites and worked as a senior editor for Better Homes and Gardens, Coastal Living, and Southern Living. She also has written seven books for national publishers. Denise holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Louisiana State University.

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The back story: “I thought, Holy cow – We need more hands on deck immediately.”

Tony Rodarte is no stranger to high profile cases. He retired from the Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff’s Department in 2018 after 20 years – his last 11 in Homicide. But what always stuck out to him during his career were his early days in the department when he was faced with working child abduction cases.

“Early on we felt like we were on an island. A child abduction response is a high anxiety, low frequency event – but when they happen there is a lot of stress,” Rodarte said. “We weren‘t training on these cases regularly. We didn’t have the newest information, and we weren’t coordinated. I thought holy cow – we need more hands on deck immediately. So, ultimately we created a team in conjunction with the state.”

The key word – a team. Rodarte became an active and instrumental member of Arizona’s statewide Child Abduction Response Team (CART) from its inception in 2011. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department served as a host agency with the AZCART, and Tony as co-coordinator of the statewide team in 2016. And, after his retirement, he knew what he wanted he to do: share his knowledge, experiences, and lessons learned with others.

“I firmly believe we are better together,” he said. A single child abduction response can cripple a small agency quickly. And, if we can equip and prepare them with the necessary training and resources, then we are a step ahead.”

From CART in Action to CART in the classroom: Spotlight on Klamath Falls, Oregon. “During the investigation is not the time to learn.”

Participants of the Klamath Falls, Oregon, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Training, August 2022

Klamath Falls, Oregon, is a city of about 20,000 people well known as the gateway to Crater Lake National Park.

It was also the site of a recent CART training by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program, during which Tony Rodarte provided instruction along with fellow NCJTC Associates who are subject matter experts in law enforcement response to engendered missing and abducted children.

“It was a great group in Oregon, and what made it great was the diversity,“ Rodarte said. “There were sworn officers and civilians, and a mix of people who were all engaged and vigorously taking notes.”

The 50 people who attended ran the gamut from local and state law enforcement, to search and rescue personnel and corrections officials. The course focuses in on critically important investigative elements of response, including activation and deployment of CART in a case, establishing incident command and field considerations for mobile command operations, search and canvassing, volunteer management, and various other physical and personnel resources to improve the overall response to endangered missing and abducted child incidents.

“At night, in the midst of an active child abduction, is not the time to learn. Now is the time to learn,” Rodarte emphasized as he worked with participants of the Klamath Fall CART class. And learn they did. Julie Harper with the Klamath County Community Corrections Department had great things to say about the legal issues module. “He is an excellent speaker and kept my attention throughout his presentation. I like that he brought some humor into the discussion since it is such a serious topic.”

The impact of CART training, and what’s next. “I hope they never have to use the information – but if they do, they will be ready.”

A key objective of AATTAP’s CART training is to encourage collaboration amongst agencies and resource providers within jurisdictions, so that when missing children cases happen, there is a team approach.

“Everything that was taught will help me improve our response to missing children,” said Ryan Kaber of the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office.

“I enjoyed being able to work with others from different agencies to come up with answers and see what we did right and wrong, offered Craig Delarm of the Lake County Search and Rescue Department.

The participants walked away with real, actionable items to begin making a difference in their communities. This was reflected in the comments of Kami Wilton, Klamath County Community Corrections Division, who said, “We hope to partner with the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office to create a team.”

As for Tony Rodarte, he was energized and encouraged with the training. And this is a feeling he takes with him from nearly every CART training of which he’s a part.

“I hope they walk away with first steps; and in a perfect world, we all hope to never need a CART response. However, the world we live in means these investigations are going to take place. And so, we must be ready. We work to provide information and resources to help participants retain the fundamentals, and build on that readiness as they return to their agencies.”

Sheriff Chris Kaber of the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office spoke directly to just the sort of readiness Rodarte hopes to impart. “The information we obtained in this valuable training has better prepared us for responding in the initial hours of a missing child investigation. We have already used some of the techniques we learned at this training in other high profile investigations; the benefit was almost immediate.”

Learn more about the CART program, and find an array of CART resources, at amberadvocate.org/cartresources.

Written by Jon Leiberman, NCJTC-AATTAP Associate Journalist

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The third issue of 2022 of the AMBER Advocate features the work of our AMBER Alert in Indian Country program to distribute Technology Toolkits to Tribal law enforcement agencies across the country. Our "Front Lines" story spotlights the incredible attention and diligent work of an Idaho state trooper in safely recovering an 11-year-old Georgia boy abducted by his father. Meet Lieutenant Stacie Lick of New Jersey, whose leadership and commitment has been central to bringing Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs) to her state. Read about AMBER Alert and other endangered missing persons work underway through news briefs from across the U.S. and internationally.

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Tribal leaders and other U.S and Canadian public officials recognized National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness (MMIW) Day on May 5.

Hundreds of Yakama Nation members gathered in Toppenish, Washington, to share stories and pray. They marched with signs reading “No more lost sisters.”
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe held a march in Kitsap, Washington, to bring awareness to the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women.
In Madison, Wisconsin, members of state tribes gathered for MMIW Day at the state capitol and read the names of all missing indigenous women who have been found dead in the state. “This epidemic of missing and murdered Native women and girls must stop,” said Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge Munsee Community, one of the state’s 11 federally recognized tribal nations.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem issued a proclamation for MMIW Day. Noem highlighted the actions she has taken to address the ongoing crisis, including establishing investigation procedures for missing Native women, creating a missing person clearinghouse, and developing and fully funding the Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.
In Saskatchewan, Canada, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) also declared May 5 as National Red Dress Day to encourage protections for tribal members from all forms of violence. “Our First Nations women and girls must be protected from the unacceptable levels of violence experienced in Canadian society and our communities,” said Chief Bobby Cameron.

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Instagram is now posting AMBER Alerts to notify the public about abducted children. The alerts are being placed on the social media platform in the U.S. and 24 other countries. Meta, the parent group of Instagram and Facebook, said Instagram will share the alerts in a designated area based on the user’s IP address and location. AMBER Alerts have been posted on Facebook since 2015. Google began issuing the alerts to users of its Search and Maps tools in 2012. “With this update, if an AMBER Alert is activated by law enforcement and you are in the designated search area, the alert will now appear in your Instagram feed,” said Meta Director of Trust & Safety Emily Vacher. The Instagram posts are part of a partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

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After the AMBER Alert became widespread, pictures of missing children no longer appeared on milk cartons. Now a London-based charity, Missing People, is taking the effort a step forward by using digital billboards with 3D portraits of missing children. The pictures look “live” with blinking eyes and tilting heads. The billboards have a QR code to help spread the image and information on social media. The signs also use the words “help find” instead of “missing” because behavioral scientists say this will give the public a call to action.

AMBER Alert Europe has launched a worldwide campaign to urge people to stop sharing naked images. The campaign addresses the dangers minors face when sharing self-generated naked images, otherwise known as “nudes.” The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found a dramatic 77% rise in self-generated naked teen pictures shared online since 2019, and that one in three teenagers have admitted to seeing non-consensually shared nudes. “These kinds of self-generated images can have far-reaching consequences on (a teen’s) health and wellbeing; and once shared, could also lead to sexual extortion and coercion – even criminal charges,” said AMBER Alert Europe Chairman Frank Hoe. The campaign’s video and posters are being shared in 27 countries.

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Stacie Lick, the Gloucester County Prosecutor/Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Supervisor — Lieutenant Stacie Lick | CART Coordinator, Gloucester County, New Jersey, Prosecutor's Office

By Denise Gee Peacock

Lieutenant Stacie Lick, with the Gloucester County Prosecutors Office in New Jersey, has served as her county’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Coordinator since 2008. That year she helped create her state’s first CART – assembling its specialized resources and personnel while devising its policies and procedures that, 14 years later, have become a model for CARTs across the country.

In the spring of 2022, the Gloucester County CART met another milestone: It became the first CART in New Jersey to be certified by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Gloucester County CART has 120 resources that can be activated in response to a child abduction. The team also relies on a 100-page manual of protocols that Lick helped develop for missing child investigations (which the AATTAP has incorporated into its CART training materials).

Currently, Lick oversees the Gloucester County Special Victims and High-Tech Crimes Units, specializing in cases involving crimes against children and human trafficking. From 2017–2020, she helped acquire funding to build and equip the Child Advocacy Center (CAC) of Gloucester County. The CAC serves as a safe place for children to share their stories of abuse to professionals trained in forensic interviewing, and houses a Special Victims Unit that Lick also helped create. After earning a B.A. in criminal justice from Temple University, Lick entered law enforcement in her home state in 2000, and now raises her family close to where she grew up.

The AATTAP recently connected with Lick for an interview about her time in law enforcement and child protection work, what she has learned along the way, and her vision and goals for the future.

What drew you to your field of work?

When I first started work at the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office in 2003, there wasn’t a big focus on missing and endangered children. No one specialized in it. So as a newer, younger detective, I thought I would do that, and work to help kids in our community. I wanted them to get them the attention they deserved.

What motivates you when it comes to missing and endangered children?

The work is extremely rewarding. Especially helping high-risk, endangered kids who have left home because they’re not happy with what’s happening there. I’m grateful to be able to listen to their stories. To be their voice when no one believes them. To get them the services they need to move forward.

What provided you the opportunity to create the Gloucester County CART?

In the fall of 2008, Sean Dalton, then the Gloucester County Prosecutor – the county’s chief law enforcement officer – called me in and said, “I’m tasking you with creating and managing a Child Abduction Response Team (CART). You can choose someone to work with you, and I want you to go to training.” So my partner, Bryn Wilden, and I attended a NCJTC pre-CART training, and were astounded to hear our State Attorney General, Anne Milgram, thank our very own prosecutor [Dalton] for his innovative CART work. She then announced that our state would be required to have a CART in all 21 of its counties. Knowing our county’s prosecutor had spearheaded the plan for the entire state really motivated us. We knew we had to represent the plan well. And thankfully we have the continued support of Acting Prosecutor Christine Hoffman.

What were the greatest challenges during the process?

Finding the right personnel for the team. We approached it by going to all the team chiefs in the municipality and asking, “If your child were missing, who would you want working the case?”

What traits do you look for in a CART member?

I look for people with a passion for the work and a dedication to their agency; people who make safely recovering a missing child the priority during an investigation. Such passion and dedication are an indication of how that person will respond during training and deployment.

What are your thoughts on CART training?

We train twice a year to stay updated on resources, policies, and procedures. We also review case studies to learn what went right and what didn’t. And we have mock activations to help build muscle memory. We don’t even have to think about what we’re doing; we just do it.

How do you sustain your CART?

I have a list I’m pretty proud of: It has about 120 resources from all 19 municipalities in our county — from K9 handlers to trash stops. I update it once a year. I also invite CART liaisons to suggest people they think should be involved and open our training to first responders interested in helping.

What goals do you have for your CART?

I’d like to improve our volunteer program. I created an application and waiver form for them, which is helpful, but I’d like to recruit more of them. We recently had about a dozen volunteers show up to help for our recent certification process. Even my daughter volunteered! I could tell she enjoyed the process.

Click here for a web exclusive on Stacie's work in

the Autumn Pasquale case.

Having specialized resources and trained personnel is a tremendous asset to the victims and their families. Personally, I don’t understand how agencies can operate without them. A CART is everything but the AMBER Alert. You have a search and canvass team, legal expertise, victim and family advocates, a volunteer coordinator, someone handling the media, and more. This lets the community see you’re doing everything you can – and not wasting time trying to find resources. Also, administration liability is huge in missing child investigations. It’s not what you do, it’s what you don’t do. Having a CART protects you when you have established policies and procedures that you follow to a ‘T.’

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(Left) Canyon Creek trailhead, (Right) Idaho State Police Corporal Dave Wesche

By Denise Gee Peacock

The white Nissan Sentra with Georgia plates didn’t strike Idaho State Police (ISP) Corporal David Wesche as suspicious. At least at first.

“We get a lot of tourists up here,” he said of the vast Canyon Creek wilderness area in Idaho’s panhandle. “I thought it might be a group of bear hunters.”

Little did he know the supposed big game hunters would soon become big news.

In a Bad Spot

Trooper Wesche first noticed the vehicle as he was heading home the night of May 4, 2022. It was parked along U.S. Highway 12 by mile marker 10, east of Lowell, Idaho. The car was close to a trailhead leading to a formidably dense forest, where steep bluffs tower over a winding canyon creek. With “civilization” being 40 miles away, Wesche said only die-hard hunters camped in the area.

After being away from work for a week, Wesche traversed the same stretch of road the evening of May 10. The car was still there. Using his flashlight to peer inside its windows, he saw buckets often used by hunters. But one thing bothered him. “Only the most experienced hunters, primarily locals, visit that part of Canyon Creek,” Wesche said, “and only during daylight hours,” since bears, wolves, and mountain lions often roam there at night.

Wesche radioed ISP Regional Communications Officer Keila Wyndham to request a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) trace. The car was linked to an Enterprise Rent-A-Car company in LaGrange, Georgia. Wesche then asked Wyndham to find out when the car was due to be returned. She soon contacted him with the answer: May 11 – the next day.

With the vehicle 2,400 miles from Georgia, the renter would obviously not be returning it on time. That itself was not unusual; tourists often return rental cars late. But, if the car were to still be in Idaho after its due-date, Wesche had two options. He could follow the standard protocol of tagging the abandoned vehicle and requesting the rental agency tow it away. Or he could take another route – one driven by a hunch that something wasn’t right.

Amusement Park By-Pass

The ordeal of 11-year-old Gabriel Daugherty – known for a bright smile, spirited T shirts, and smart black glasses – had begun 12 days earlier in LaGrange. On Thursday, April 28, Gabriel’s non-custodial father, Addam Daugherty, picked up his son for a pre-approved trip to Six Flags near Atlanta, about an hour’s drive north. The plan was for Gabriel to return home Sunday, May 1.

The next day (April 29), Addam, a long-haul trucker, called Gabriel’s mother to say Six Flags was unexpectedly closed. (Unbeknownst to her, it wasn’t). His backup plan was to take Gabriel to a Missouri theme park. She gave him permission to do so, and he agreed to have their son home by Friday, May 6.

On May 3, Addam once again called Gabriel’s mother – this time saying his truck had broken down and he would need an extra day to have it repaired. Gabriel, he assured her, would now be home by Saturday, May 7.

But May 7 came and went, with Gabriel’s mother unable to reach Addam via the new cell phone number he had provided. She contacted the LaGrange Police Department (LPD) to report her son missing.

Seeking advice from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the LPD discussed whether the case met the criteria for an AMBER Alert (also known as a “Levi’s Call” in the state). The mother, LPD detectives said, was emphatic that Addam would never do anything to hurt their son, but he nonetheless did not have her permission to be with Gabriel.

“On the face of it, the situation appeared to be a custody issue, so a Levi’s Call was not issued,” said Emily Butler, GBI AMBER Alert/Levi’s Call Coordinator.

The LPD did, however, begin trying to locate Mr. Daugherty. Within hours, his truck was found abandoned in LaGrange – not in Missouri, as his wife was led to believe. Detectives also discovered that Mr. Daugherty had resigned from his trucking job a few days before picking up Gabriel, and told his employer where to find his truck.

On May 9, the LPD issued a felony warrant for Mr. Daugherty’s arrest, alerting Georgia law enforcement agencies, the media, and the public to be on the lookout for Addam and his son. The last thing LPD detectives expected was for the duo to be in the wilds of Idaho.

Research Pays Off

ISP Trooper Wesche was off duty May 10, but prepared for his work the next day by again contacting ISP Dispatcher Wyndham. He asked her to provide him with the name of the car’s renter, and a photo of the driver license used when renting it. Wyndham responded within minutes: “His name is Addam Daugherty – Addam with two ‘d’s.” A photo of him would be forthcoming.

Wesche next contacted his sister, an Idaho Fish and Game (IFG) officer. He asked her if an Addam Daugherty from Georgia had applied for a hunting or fishing license. After checking IFG records, she said he had not. “Maybe he’s been hunting without a license,” Wesche recalls thinking. “Again, that’s not legal, but it’s also not unusual.” Wesche also knew from experience that vehicles abandoned near forests often led to the discovery of suicide victims. “So that was in my mind too.” His sister then called back. She found a news article about Mr. Daugherty and his son.

“That’s when we realized we had a bigger issue than an overdue rental car or a hunter without a license,” he said.

On May 11, Wesche relayed his findings to ISP leadership, which worked with ISP Regional Communications Supervisor Ray Shute to coordinate an “information relay” between the ISP and LPD. Otherwise, timely, back-and-forth communications would pose a challenge: Wesche lived and worked in a remote area without cell phone access. He could only communicate using his ISP radio, home landline, and the hard-wired internet on his computer.

Tapping into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, the ISP team saw that Georgia had issued an in-state warrant for Mr. Daugherty’s arrest. They immediately contacted detectives in LaGrange, sharing information about the abandoned rental car in Idaho. In turn, they learned about Mr. Daugherty’s abandoned truck in Georgia, and the misinformation he had provided to Gabriel’s mother. The LPD changed the case involving Mr. Daugherty to a felony warrant with full extradition, and a missing person case was opened for Gabriel.

Collaborating with LPD Detective/Crime Analyst Jason Duncan, Shute wrote a warrant to obtain Google records of Mr. Daugherty’s cell phone activity. The Idaho-Georgia team learned the last time he had used the phone was in Riggins, Idaho, May 3 – the day he told Gabriel’s mother his truck had broken down in Missouri. They also realized pinging Mr. Daugherty’s cell phone would be impossible, given his location in Canyon Creek, and the fact that he had a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, which only works when connected to Wi-Fi.

ISP Police Sergeant Aaron Bingham briefed the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office (ICSO) on the situation. With daylight fading, they scheduled a search and rescue operation for the next day at dawn.

Successful Recovery

On the day of the search (May 12), an ISP-ICSO briefing was held in Kooskia, Idaho. Wesche worked to obtain a warrant to access the rental car, which would be towed for inspection at the ISP District Office in Lewiston. Meanwhile, ICSO deputies trained in search and rescue tactics were deployed to the trailhead near where Mr. Daugherty had parked. A short time later, using a drone, they located Mr. Daugherty and his son at a partially camouflaged camp site several miles up the trail.

“Going a few miles into the Canyon isn’t a typical hiker’s experience,” Wesche explained. “It’s a treacherous physical undertaking.”

Sheriff’s deputies reported that Mr. Daugherty appeared shocked when confronted. “He thought he was in the middle of the wilderness and would never be found,” Idaho County Chief Deputy Brian Hewson told local media. “They were really unprepared with [inadequate] food, clothing, and sleeping arrangements.” Due to a lot of rain and cold temperatures the region had recently experienced, “the area was too damp to start a fire, and their clothes and tent were wet when officers found them,” Hewson said. “They were starting to eat local plant life, snails, and insects.”

Gabriel “was very weak and sick,” he noted. “He was glad we found him when we did,” especially since his father told him they would not be returning home to Georgia.

Gabriel was transported to a local hospital for treatment and observation before being reunited with his mother in Georgia. His father was taken to the Idaho County Jail and extradited back to LaGrange to face the charge of interstate interference with custody.

Sheriff’s investigators believe that Mr. Daugherty’s trucking job had once given him the opportunity to traverse the long east-west Highway 12 route through Idaho, and that he had selected the area for its remoteness. “It was clear he had this planned,” Hewson said.

“At every turn the father made poor decisions,” Wesche explained. “He thought he and his son could live like survivalists, but the father had no outdoor skills whatsoever.”

After the case was resolved, LPD Detective Duncan commended Idaho law enforcement for their excellent work. “It’s still hard to believe [the Daughertys] were found alive that far from their vehicle in those conditions,” he said. “I’ve been on search parties in good weather and know how hard it is to keep the faith and push forward. Those involved are truly heroes – and 100 percent responsible for saving Gabriel’s life.”

ISP Communications Center Supervisor Shute returned the compliment. “Jason, your teamwork, coordination, sharing of information, and communication assisted our team greatly in the apprehension of Addam Daugherty and the safe recovery of Gabriel.”

Shute then praised Wesche. “He followed his intuition, did research on his own time, and was able to piece together this entire case,” he said. “Medical opinion was that if Gabriel had not been located within one to two days, he most likely would not have survived.”

Documentation is vital. Quickly entering a case into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database helps law enforcement connect the dots during an investigation. So does having a well-documented case file. “Since we don’t have jurisdiction over a regional investigation, sometimes there isn’t a lot of information for us to review when revisiting a case,” said GBI AMBER Alert/Levi’s Call Coordinator Emily Butler. “The fact that the LaGrange PD documented the case so well – even after the Levi’s Call [AMBER Alert] had been denied early on – is testament to regional law enforcement working well with state law enforcement as a team.”
“Pay attention to anything unusual,” advised ISP Corporal Dave Wesche, a 10-year veteran of law enforcement. “I take things seriously until I can say it’s nothing.”
“Cases are fluid,” Butler emphasized. “While the information we had at the time didn’t qualify the case for an AMBER Alert, the situation changed dramatically, and the officers responded accordingly.”
Teamwork is essential. “If we get a call from another state, I’m always open to helping them in any way possible,” Butler said. “That’s the case with most states, but it helps to get to know your counterparts during national conferences such as the one the AATTAP recently held.”
Thank everyone on the team. “That goes a long way in this line of work,” said ISP Communications Center Supervisor Ray Shute.

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By Jon Lieberman, Associate Journalist with AATTAP

“Human trafficking is a violation of human rights that threatens against human dignity.” Mary Salas, Mayor of Chula Vista, California, did not mince words as she opened the August 4, 2022, Southern Border training event on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Against the backdrop of San Diego’s second largest city, the mayor was joined by law enforcement, community safety, and victim advocates from both sides of the US-Mexican border. The event demonstrated the critically-important unity and collaboration necessary to strengthen focus and action around identification of, effective response to, and ultimately better prevention of human trafficking. “It is important we identify at risk children and women so we can stand for these individuals through education, prevention and training,” Salas said.

The problem

“All of us are joined together, because we are committed to ending human trafficking. We simply cannot have children sold like a slice of pizza over the Internet for the selfish needs and greed of traffickers and criminal buyers.” San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan laid out the problem in stark terms. Despite the best efforts of the San Diego Regional Trafficking Task Force, human trafficking – the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit – persists.

Stephan explained the task force is recovering more children than in years past; many as young as twelve and thirteen, who are found in seedy motels and hotels in strip malls and along the highway. And he noted this increase tracks with statistics shared by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with reports of missing and exploited children quadrupling during COVID.

“This stems from the fact traffickers and predators have taken advantage of the fact kids are on their computers more, “District Attorney Stephan said. “COVID forced kids to be home without the protective eyes of teachers and counselors.”

The solution

And while the problem is clear, so too is the resolve of these groups to band together against the common enemy, by enhancing cooperation and increasing training.

“One of the most important parts of success comes through true collaboration and partnership, because no one can do this alone,” said Alma Tucker who works with survivors of human trafficking. She says collaboration is a key to combatting this plague. “What can we all do better? What can we do to be part of the change needed to fight human trafficking?

One thing everyone on the podium – from the Mexican Consulate to local, state and federal law enforcement agreed on was that training is a large part of the solution.

Training

Enter Janell Rasmussen, Program Administrator for the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP).

“Vice President Harris recently met with the Mexican President to initiate a partnership to resolve the disappearance cases in Mexico. And we plan to continue our training, with an emphasis on bringing Mexican officials, law enforcement and other professionals together to collaborate through our Southern Border Initiative work.”

Rasmussen kicked off the day’s training session by detailing how AATTAP is vital because it enables investigators to respond effectively to the full spectrum of missing child cases. She stressed that these cases range from abductions to children who are runaways and/or victims of exploitation and sex trafficking. She emphasized that all cases involving children must be treated equally.

“It is so important for all of us in most law enforcement and community roles to understand and advocate for the full acceptance that all runaway children are missing children -- and that all missing children are in danger. Regardless of age, what country a child resides in or goes missing from, or why a child may have come to be missing, we must acknowledge they are children and unable to survive on the streets, without having to pay a price. We will collectively learn how missing child exploitation intersects with the work of child protection professionals, as well as law enforcement. We will consider similarities between both countries and how to implement a collaborative, victim-centered identification recovery and interviewing model.”

Everyone in attendance was on board, including Laura Marisol González Colón, the Consulate General of Mexico. “This training is so valuable to us…. we are here to serve our community.” she said.

Recognizing the work of AATTAP’s Southern Border Initiative

At the press conference concluded, each agency and organization was recognized for its efforts and contributions to the larger mission of more effective prevention of and response to the problem of human trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border. Program Administrator Rasmussen accepted the AMBER Alert Award presented to the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program.

What’s next?

Officials stressed training, media campaigns, prevention work, and prosecution of traffickers and those who buy minors for sex; these represent the multi-faceted approach needed going forward.

Press events such as this, which bring together key partners, stakeholders and are powerful in generating awareness; yet training calibrated to build lasting partnerships and produce real, front-lines action is where the change happens. Today, it was clear everyone agreed that action begins with training, and knowing what to do in order to save these victims and help them rebuild their lives.

“It is a reset in order to put eyes and ears on our kids that may have been exploited so we can bring counseling services and extract them from their abusers and from the web they have been caught in…. this we can only do together,” emphasized San Diego District Attorney Stephan.

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Six minutes after a 5-year-old autistic girl was reported missing, an officer just two weeks into his first assignment rapidly responded to a law enforcement alert, identifying and safely recovering the child. Amazingly, he had noticed the child just moments before standing on the porch of a neighbor’s home when heading out for his patrol shift. The officer’s attentiveness to call activity and his situational awareness were central to his swift and targeted response to the incident. Read the full story here.

Image and story information courtesy of the Hawaii Police Department Website, hawaiipolice.com. Originally published 7/27/22.

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Valerie Bribiescas is a retired detective with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Arizona where she specialized in crimes of violence, child abuse, and family violence investigations. She has over 25 years’ experience as a peace officer, with the majority of her policing career with Tribal law enforcement. Her assignments included field operations, professional standards, administration, records, and criminal investigations.

Valerie is a nationally recognized expert on the cultural complexities of law enforcement operations on tribal lands and advanced forensic interviewing. She teaches law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and child protection officials culturally based approaches to conducting forensic interviews involving Native American children and adults. She has taught extensively for the Arizona Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the Advanced Forensic Interview Training sponsored through Prevent Child Abuse AZ, as well as various Tribal, state, local, and federal agencies.

Valerie holds a Masters Degree in Education from Northern Arizona University, and is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, residing in Chandler, Arizona.

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Cathy Delapaz has extensive experience in Adult Education & Training. She specializes in managing the curriculum development process from initial program instructional design through Subject Matter Expert (SME) content development, then monitoring and maintaining a robust curriculum delivery process. She ensures all curriculum addresses cultural competence and victim-centered instructional approaches. Cathy has developed training programs for and delivered training through instruction to over 20,000 Criminal Justice system members as well as many community groups, NGOs, and NPOs. She has developed training for the FBI, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, The Department of Justice, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Child Advocacy Centers nationwide, Child Protective Services, Law Enforcement agencies, and many others.

She holds a Master's degree (M.Ed.) in Adult Education & Training, and a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice. A Subject Matter Expert in all aspects of child sexual abuse and exploitation, child sex trafficking, and missing and abducted children, she is a 34-year veteran from the Dallas Police Department (Ret. 2019). There her assignments included 5 years as a uniformed patrol officer, 9 years as an undercover Narcotics Detective, 2 years in Internal Affairs and her last 18 yrs. in the Crimes Against Children (CAC) Unit.

While in the CAC Unit Cathy co-founded the Dallas Police Department's (DPD) High-Risk Victim (HRV) Model in 2003, the first victim-centered, trauma-informed response to child sex trafficking victims in the US. The HRV model is responsible for development of a law enforcement led response protocol which dramatically increases recoveries and interviews of child sex trafficking victims, as well as access to victim advocacy and services. This model has been replicated across the country through her training and has broadly benefitted the field of law enforcement. She developed DPD's "Cross City" victim recovery operation model, later replicated by the FBI as "Cross Country". This model has recovered thousands of child sexual exploitation victims across the country. Cathy developed DPD's "Operation Brick & Mortar", a recovery operation resulting in many victim recoveries, buyer and trafficker arrests and a component of connection of victims to immediate advocacy services.

Cathy built a “victim recovery store” for recovered runaways and sex trafficking victims within the DPD CAC Office. She secured recovery packages from community businesses that included: snacks, drinks, sweat suits, socks, toiletries, a backpack, a blanket, and an art set. She also built an adult recovery package for recovered adult sex trafficking victims that included essentials, as well as victim service providers emergency contact information. Thousands of victims in Dallas received these packages over the span of 2003-2019. She secured donations from the community to furnish a soft victim recovery interview room within the CAC Unit office space and a separate soft advocate interview room so children could move from the disclosure space when connecting with advocacy.

Cathy has conducted many undercover chat/sting operations focused on child sex buyers and traffickers. Cathy also developed long-term missing operations aimed at the recovery of children missing from Child Protective Services (CPS) care and other endangered missing.

She managed the daily operation of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit, enacting daily processes to ensure optimal CyberTip management and investigative uniformity.

She also was responsible for investigation of active and cold case child abductions. Cathy has trained around the world on these subjects.

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During the 2022 National AATTAP-AIIC Virtual Symposium, Lieutenant Stacie Lick of the Gloucester County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office, discussed a case representing both the pinnacle of her work as the county’s CART Coordinator – and a painful test of her leadership abilities.

The case unfolded on October 20, 2012 – set to be one of most festive days in the small town of Clayton, New Jersey, 10 miles south of Philadelphia. While many in the town were cheering on Clayton High School’s afternoon homecoming game and evening dance, 12‐year‐old Autumn Pasquale was focused on outfitting the Odyssey BMX bike she had received for her 13th birthday, only nine days away.

While her family went to the game, Autumn said she would be working on her bike. But after her family returned home, Autumn was not there. Her 8 p.m. curfew passed, with no word from her. Autumn’s father, Anthony Pasquale, began calling friends to locate her, but some were at the dance, and others didn’t know her whereabouts. At 9:32 p.m. he called the Clayton Police Department to report her missing.

The responding officer visited the homecoming dance, confirming she was not there. The officer then interviewed some of Autumn’s friends. One told him that Autumn had planned to meet a guy named Justin, someone she had met online who offered to help her accessorize her bike. Friends also told police she was unhappy at home, perhaps even suicidal. Autumn and her father recently had moved into a house belonging to her father’s girlfriend and her family, with whom Autumn didn’t get along. Meanwhile, detectives pinged Autumn’s phone, which appeared to be in the vicinity of a local park. By 11:50 p.m., Autumn’s case was entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database as a missing person, with a ‘runaway’ code applied.

“There were no obvious indications that Autumn had been abducted or was in danger. Neither her bike nor other personal items were located or found abandoned, and there were no emergency calls or texts from her phone,” Lick said. “If there had been, that would have immediately changed the focus of the investigation.”

The next day, the Clayton Police Department realized they had not followed the state mandate to request a CART activation – required for any missing child under age 13.

Nevertheless, Lick and her partner Bryn Wilden began to put their CART planning work into action. “Bryn and I were tasked with creating its policies and procedures three years earlier, and were proud of what we accomplished,” Lick said. “But the CART had never been fully activated. We just kept telling ourselves we had a well thought-through plan in place, so it should work.”

The plan did work, but not without some detours and hurdles that at times struck Lick as “surreal.” Before those moments, however, 56 members of the 75-member team immediately showed up to assist. “And before long 150 officers were there. Once word went out in our county that there was a missing girl, people came from everywhere, and all wanted something to do,” she said. “That was great.”

A command post was set up, with a detective placed in charge of leads and sign-ins. The Clayton Police Department worked with the non-profit agency “A Child is Missing” to send reverse 911 calls. Lick’s team enlisted the help of parole officers who were able to search the homes of 63 sex offenders in the area (since under New Jersey’s “Megan’s Law,” offenders are on parole supervision for life, so no warrant is needed). Officers were investigating the mysterious “Justin” that Autumn was supposed to meet, and a volunteer K9 handler arrived with his bloodhound from Cape May, an hour and a half away.

Since Autumn was active on Facebook, detectives were able to access messages between her and a Justin Robinson and observed that the messages had become sexually explicit in the days leading up to Autumn’s disappearance. Had he abducted her? Or had she run away with him because she was unhappy at home?

“Autumn’s Facebook postings focused very much on her bike, while Justin’s took a more sexual tone, so she may have ignored any sixth-sense warning about meeting him. She was so proud of her bike and just wanted to modify it,” Lick said.

At the command post, a Clayton Police Detective who had been off the weekend before noticed Justin Robinson’s name on a big white Post-it note on the leads wall.

The detective mentioned that Justin’s brother, Dante, had once been arrested for sexual assault. That led the brothers to being brought to the station by their mother, and after separate interviews with them revealed suspicious answers, a search warrant was executed for the Robinson residence. There, detectives noticed a rolling recycling container had made heavy tracks as it was pulled from the boys’ home to an abandoned building next door.

Upon inspecting the bin, Autumn’s body was found; the county coroner would determine she died from blunt force trauma and strangulation. Inside the house, police discovered Autumn’s bike hidden beneath the basement stairs and her phone taped behind a toilet. In a concealed duffle bag, they found Autumn’s pants, soaked in urine, along with her shoes and a large knife.

“From the time she was reported missing to the time she was recovered, it was just over 48 hours,” Lick said. “We wish we could have found Autumn alive, but we were glad to have brought closure to the case.” Justin confessed to killing Autumn for her bike, and his brother Dante admitted assisting in the cover-up. On September 12, 2013, Justin accepted a plea deal for aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Dante pleaded guilty to fourth degree obstruction of justice and sentenced to 11 months in jail.

One might expect the case to have moved through closure at this point. However, Autumn’s father sued the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office, the New Jersey State Police, and local law enforcement agencies, claiming investigators bungled the search and missed an opportunity to save his daughter. The case was later dismissed. “We couldn’t prevent the death of Autumn Pasquale because she was killed approximately six hours before she was ever reported missing,” Prosecutor Sean Dalton later stated.

“So much happened during that case that we learned from,” Lick said. “The one thing that saved us was our CART protocol. I tell everyone this: Have a CART policy and procedure in place and follow it. Because we did that, we were cleared of any wrongdoing.”

Case Lessons

Control your volunteers. “Have a plan regarding what they will do. Because we didn’t, we lost control of them,” Lick recalled, noting that their volunteer K9 handler enlisted his own group of volunteers and went rogue. “The handler started his own command post and was giving out assignments,” she said. They showed up at a house the handler believed Autumn was in, busted the door down to gain access, but didn’t find the girl. The local police had to respond and de-escalate the situation. That was a very unwelcome and unnecessary distraction,” Lick said, adding with a smile, “We now have our own search dog.”
Document everything. “One thing helpful is to have a sign-in sheet, where every officer must sign in with their name and contact information. We also had an assignment log that tracked every assignment – the date, time, and assignment given, whether it was completed, and a summary of what happened.” During the litigation following the case, “That log proved to be the best thing that we ever did.”
Have a leads management system. “We had a psychic call and say Autumn could be found a field of wheat. We received a tip from a woman who said she saw a girl matching Autumn’s description get into a car with her son. Another person found a cell phone 20 miles away,” Lick said. “We needed that leads management system to keep track of it all.”
Avoid one-size-fits-all emergency planning: “During the case, a member of our county Emergency Management team got up and took control of the Incident Command Center, treating the case as if he were managing a natural disaster,” Lick said. “I’ll never forget our State Police commander walking over to the white board and erasing the complicated strategy the man had just written out. The commander said, ‘Let me give you this advice: Only search if you’re truly looking for something – if you have a reason why people should be in an area.’ So that’s what we did.”
Learn from your mistakes. “I’m not ashamed of the things that went wrong,” Lick said, “but I am proud we took those mistakes and used them as a model for what we now have in place.”
Be aware that the media is everywhere. After finding Autumn’s body in the recycling bin, “out of respect for her and her family, we came up with a plan to have a trash removal truck take the body in the container to where we needed it go,” Lick said. “It was a way to avoid disrespectful coverage.”
Have a victim advocate on your team. “We had a friendly, caring officer assist the family, but realized later how beneficial it would have to have a victim advocate. We now have one respond with us during a CART activation. That makes a big difference.”

Autumn Pasquale portraits & Gloucester County New Jersey Police Department search flyer
(Credit: Facebook)

Twelve-year-old Autumn Pasquale (right) of Clayton, New Jersey, was murdered for her new BMX bicycle by Justin Robinson (left). Autumn’s body was found a trash bin close to his home. (Credit: Facebook)

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Natalee Holloway has been missing more than 17 years after disappearing during a high school graduation trip in Aruba. Natalie’s mother, Beth Holloway, spoke at the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Conference March 25, 2022, about the desperation and panic she felt when her daughter went missing. “I think about in Natalee’s case the difference it would’ve made if we had a 911 number to call, if we would have had an AMBER Alert,” Holloway said.

The case continues to spark international attention. A suspect has been named, but Natalee’s whereabouts are still a mystery.

Gina DeJesus also spoke at the conference about how she was kidnapped as a teen in 2002. She was held for more than a decade with two other young women before they escaped from the “house of horrors.” “I have had to learn a lot since I came home. I take it day by day,” she said. DeJesus has since started the “Cleveland Missing” organization to help find and support missing people.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he is interested in creating a “Lily Alert” that could be used for a missing or abducted child – but with fewer criteria than an AMBER Alert. An online petition was started after 10-year-old Lily Peters was murdered by a 14-year-old boy. She was supposed to ride her bike home, and when she did not arrive, she was reported missing. An AMBER Alert was not issued because authorities didn’t have descriptive information about the suspect or the suspect’s vehicle. “I think we should look at that,” Evans said. “Clearly it’s not something that would cost a significant amount of money, and it seems a reasonable approach.”

Since 2006 the AMBER Advocate newsletter has covered the growth and expansion of the AMBER Alert program across the nation and internationally. Now on its 50th edition, we are more dedicated than ever to bringing you news about the people working hard to continuously strengthen AMBER Alert programs in every state through solid processes and protocols, comprehensive law enforcement training, public awareness and education, and expansion of partnerships to distribute lifesaving information when a child is abducted.

Over the last 15 years, The AMBER Advocate has covered a broad array of information. It has illustrated the evolution of the AMBER Alert network through the grass-roots work of state partnerships involving law enforcement, the media, the transportation sector, and other key stakeholders in public alerting. From the first AMBER Alert National Conference, the rise and use of social media, the beginning of Alerta AMBER Mexico and AMBER Alert in Europe, and so much more, we’ve witnessed together how AMBER Alerts are bringing endangered missing and abducted children home safely.

With more than 1,100 children recovered due to AMBER Alerts as of May 1, 2022, we know the programs around the globe work, and we stand in confidence that they will grow even stronger. Through AATTAP’s work, we’ve been honored to help create a strong network of interstate and interagency cooperation between states, agencies, and the citizens they serve; breaking down barriers to communication and information sharing, and expanding and improving upon resources that expedite the safe recovery of abducted children.

We encourage you to go to amberadvocate.org and take advantage of the resources available to all disciplines comprising the critical connectedness inherent in child protection: law enforcement and other criminal justice professions, child advocacy and social service providers, families and community members. While there, be sure to check out the archive of past issues of The AMBER Advocate and let us know which ones are your favorites.

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Oklahoma AMBER Alert Coordinator & Oklahoma Highway Patrol Captain Ronnie Hampton

By Paul Murphy

Captain Ronnie Hampton began serving as Oklahoma’s AMBER Alert Coordinator in March 2020. Hampton also serves as the Commander of the Property and Evidence Division at the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP). He comes from a family of law enforcement; his grandfather and father were both police officers and elected sheriffs. Hampton’s own career in law enforcement began in 1988, working as a confinement officer, as well as an officer for both tribal and municipal police departments. He has worked the past 25 years with the OHP.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM AND WHAT HELPS MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL?

An all-hands-on-deck approach is the key to our success. Our media relations team is heavily involved from the moment we issue an AMBER Alert. We also implement a Signal One Plan, which involves having all state troopers in the 77 counties of Oklahoma stop their routine patrols and position themselves at strategic locations statewide to watch for the suspect’s vehicle. We also ask our troop commanders to work with their sheriffs and police chiefs to cover other locations where the suspect might be stopped and captured.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

I’m motivated by the thought of the trauma a parent goes through when their child is missing. It is critical for parents to know every possible avenue is being covered to return their child to them safe and alive.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING A STRONG AND EFFECTIVE AMBER ALERT PROGRAM?

One of the most pressing challenges is the mass exodus of professionals in law enforcement who are retiring or leaving the profession. Adding to that challenge is the importance of constantly ensuring the newly promoted officers who take their positions are trained to respond effectively to missing and abducted child cases.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE?

I would like to increase criminal intelligence positions; we can always have more than one crime analyst working intel and vetting leads from the outset of the case. For example, one component of intelligence analysis is critical in these cases: Today’s technology requires experts to begin cellphone tracking within minutes.

WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORIES IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE? HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT SUPPORT THE OUTCOME? WHAT WERE IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED?

About a year ago, a suicidal and homicidal non-custodial mother was released from jail. She immediately traveled to her father’s house and shot him in the head as he answered his front door. Her two children were next to her father and she took them to an unknown destination.

Our intel said she would murder her children and then commit suicide, so time was critical. We used the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system to issue a statewide AMBER Alert. The mother made a stop and a person who received the WEA saw her and called police.

The suspect then fled in the vehicle with her children. We issued another, more targeted WEA alert with the most recent information. Within 10 minutes, a local officer in the next county spotted the vehicle and started a 10-mile chase, eventually recovering both children safely.

In those situations I find the WEA sometimes reaches the on-duty officers more quickly than the dispatch center can disseminate a general broadcast over the radio.

We were told the children would likely not be recovered alive. The emotions I felt when I called the sheriff to let him know the children were safe was one of the best feelings in the world.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

Being in law enforcement the past 34 years, I thought I knew nearly everything there was to know. But the classes I’ve taken through NCJTC and NCMEC have opened my eyes. I also am learning from other states about programs they are doing for endangered and missing children. This knowledge has strengthened my commitment to ensure Oklahoma learns from all these robust, outstanding programs, and implements them for our citizens.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS?

Educate, educate, and educate. Start training the 911 operators, line-level officers, search and rescue teams, law enforcement administrators, and detectives on how quickly information needs to flow from the first moment a child is reported missing.

We should take every opportunity as AMBER Alert Coordinators to talk to law enforcement groups and conferences. It is important for everyone to know how the state’s AMBER Alert program works.

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On March 31, 2022, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the nation’s first Indigenous Alert for missing Native Americans. The alert will send messages to law enforcement, news agencies, social media, and electronic highway signs. The alert is designed to address a much needed and improved response to the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Women in some Tribal communities face a murder rate 10 times higher than the national average, according to the Department of Justice. Additional efforts are underway to help Indigenous communities from the DOJ’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force, which is led by the Washington Attorney General’s Office.

The Cherokee Indian Police Department in Cary, North Carolina, received an AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AAIIC) Technology Toolkit that includes a computer, camera, and other digital technology resources to help law enforcement officers and investigators in missing and abducted child cases. The Toolkit initiative is funded through AAIIC work that is part of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act. AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen said the award recognizes the evolving cooperation between state and tribal agencies. “It’s unusual to see such a phenomenal partnership between a state agency and a tribe, and there is great work being done here,” Rasmussen said.

The White Earth Nation in Minnesota received a $1.2 million donation for its Boys & Girls Clubs. The gift from author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is part of a $281 million donation to 62 clubs across the nation. “Today young people face an unprecedented number of obstacles to their success and well-being,” said White Earth Nation Boys & Girls Club Interim Chief Executive Officer James Hvezda. “Studies show a lack of access to technology, positive mentors and guidance, food insecurity, and other critical factors can cause long-term setbacks and trauma for millions of young people.”

Two Indigenous women from New Mexico spoke before a U.S. Congress subcommittee in March 2022 about the high number of murdered Native American women and relatives. Angel Charley, of the Laguna Pueblo, spoke about the failures of the federal government to stop “a crisis” of missing and murdered Indigenous individuals. Pamela Foster, a Navajo and mother of murder victim Ashlynne Mike, said Tribes have been hampered during the pandemic from implementing AMBER Alert systems. “Thousands of stories have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system,” Foster said.

About 150 Navajo Nation members took part in a two-mile walk in March 2022 to raise awareness of the growing problem of missing and murdered Diné (Navajo) people. The march in Kayenta, Arizona, was sponsored by the Navajo Nation Council. “We are marching to bring a voice to the families searching for missing relatives and to tell the stories of the victims that never returned home,” said Council Delegate Nathaniel Brown. “In the Navajo language, there is no word for human trafficking, the missing, and the inhumane violence experienced.” Brown said Navajo men must reclaim traditional teachings to protect women from violence.

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More than 60 British university students joined Australia’s Murdoch University and police agencies from 14 countries to work on six cold cases involving missing children and child homicides. The four-month effort was part of the third International Cold Case Analysis Project (ICCAP). The students’ findings led detectives to further investigate one of the cases; and last year, the project prompted investigators to exhume the body of “Gentleman John Doe” – helping identify an unknown man buried 30 years ago.

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Left: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation badge Right: Arizona Department of Public Safety State Trooper vehicle

Citizen makes fateful call after multiple state AMBER Alert partners work together to recover missing Tennessee children

Authorities honor Good Samaritan who had a “gut feeling” about the children she saw on a California beach

By Paul Murphy

It began as an ordinary situation that progressively got worse. The case of missing 3-year-old Noah Clare started on November 7, 2021, after his non-custodial father didn’t bring him back to his home in Gallatin, Tennessee.

The next day, Noah’s mother, Amanda Ennis, contacted the Gallatin police to get an emergency motion to suspend parenting time and a temporary restraining order against Noah’s father, Jacob Clare. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) issued an Endangered Child Alert for Noah Clare and a 16-year-old cousin accompanying him.

Following a law enforcement investigation in Kentucky, authorities learned Clare might be carrying a handgun and military-style rifle. They also found he may have planned his actions months ahead of the incident. Investigators also were concerned about Clare’s relationship with his teenage niece. Authorities decided to charge Clare with kidnapping and the TBI issued an AMBER Alert November 16.

“Tennessee had law enforcement officers and agents working non-stop during the investigation in order to locate Noah safely,” said Shelly Smitherman, TBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge and Tennessee’s AMBER Alert Coordinator.

Arizona also issued an AMBER Alert that same day after the suspect’s vehicle was seen near the Arizona-California border.

“Tennessee did a fantastic job with this AMBER Alert. They called and coordinated with us as soon as they had credible information that the subject was heading to Arizona,” said Chrystal Moore, Arizona AMBER Alert Coordinator and Arizona Department of Public Safety Trooper. “We were able to utilize the provided information from Tennessee to show the vehicle had traveled into our state.”

California Checks In

More information came forward about the suspect’s vehicle being abandoned in San Clemente, California, on November 11 and towed two days later. With the new details, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) issued an Endangered Missing Advisory, also known as an Ashanti Alert, on November 16.

The Ashanti Alert is similar to an AMBER Alert in that it can target the media and public in a specific geographic area but can also be used for missing people between the ages of 18 and 64. The alert also provides flyers on social media with details about the alleged suspect and victim.

CHP Sergeant and California AMBER Alert Supervisor Ed Bertola and his team spent the entire day gathering details and monitoring the situation. “We are committed to doing whatever we can to recover children,” said Bertola. “The name of the alert isn’t what makes it important. It’s the child. That’s our mantra.”

At the same time, Bertola was trying to balance the effort to rescue the child with the impact the notifications could have on the public. He feared oversaturating people with alerts.

Because of the timing and the lack of certain details, CHP did not send the message to cellphones via a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) or broadcast. Even without these two specific tools, the CHP led California’s effort to find the children, employing other investigative actions and resources, including significant dedication of personnel hours.

Chance Sighting

On November 18, Julia Bonin saw a boy matching Noah’s description on a flyer at an Orange County, California, beach. She was on her way to drop off her son at school but trusted her instincts to help local deputies make contact.

“This feeling just didn’t go away. It was very much instinctual and very much a gut feeling that just stayed with me,” Bonin told a reporter.

Acting on her tip, law enforcement safely recovered the children and took Clare into custody.

“There is no greater reward in this job when a child is found safe,” said Smitherman.

Julia Bonin with Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes

Five months later, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department honored Bonin at a ceremony that included a surprise appearance from Amanda Ennis and her son Noah.

“It’s been torture. It’s been a nightmare,” Ennis said after reuniting with Noah. “It’s something that I would never wish my worst enemy to go through.”

Clare was charged with kidnapping and multiple sexual abuse charges. A woman who told authorities she was Clare’s “spiritual advisor” has also been charged with a felony for allegedly helping plan the crime.

Lessons Learned

Information about missing child cases can evolve. What began as a custodial dispute case, would soon become an abduction plan, guns, and an improper relationship with a teenage girl. Although the decision to issue an AMBER Alert occurred several days after the initial report to law enforcement, investigators in Tennessee and Arizona went to work within hours, with California ultimately joining the effort. The three-state team would employ an array of investigative strategies and tools to find Noah.
- Noah’s Law: In March of 2022, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed HB2354 into law. “Noah’s Law,” enhances the process to issue AMBER Alerts involving custodial issues. Under the new law, after a child has been missing for 48 hours, a judge can issue an order declaring the child to be in imminent danger, clearing the way for an AMBER Alert.
An AMBER Alert isn’t the only tool to find missing children. “Ultimately, the person who identified the involved parties recognized them from a flyer, which is one of the most rudimentary things we do,” Bertola said. ”Think of all of the electronic messaging and next generation digital tools we have; and yet it came down to a flyer somebody saw while walking along a beach. There is no question that the EAS and WEA are important tools in our arsenal, but even when they aren’t used, we still have ways to provide actionable information to help communities engage in the mission.”
Relationships matter. Both the Tennessee and California AMBER Alert coordinators credit the importance of knowing AMBER Alert partners before an alert is needed. “We are very connected with our AMBER Alert partners and have developed those relationships by working and training together,” Smitherman said. “Both California and Arizona were so gracious and willing to assist us.”
Social media can help and hurt an investigation. The children were ultimately found because of a flyer created using a social media post. However, the case had a large social media following outside of law enforcement that included false information and posts that did not support investigation efforts. Monitoring social media to ensure information is posted accurately is critical to keeping the public updated with viable and actionable information to help law enforcement.

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By Denise Gee Peacock

At the close of the 2022 AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Virtual Symposium March 29-30, family survivor Amy Bloxom shared two unsettling details – ones that no doubt strengthened participants’ resolves to keep people from ever enduring what Amy’s family has.
The day of her talk, March 30, marked 12 years since her 12-year-old son, Justin – “a very happy, trusting, innocent young man” – was lured by an adult male sex offender pretending to be a 15-year-old girl. Perversely, the killer called the fictitious teen “Amber.”

Bloxom, a native of Stonewall, Louisiana, detailed her family’s loss, search for justice, and ongoing advocacy work with gripping detail. “Every day I want Justin home with me. I miss that smile. I miss his goofiness. I miss the life we all had together,” she said.

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen later assured Amy that Justin would not be forgotten.

“Everyone with us today is committed to protecting children from crimes like the one your son experienced,” she said. “We want you to know we will work hard on behalf of Justin and the other children who are not here today to fight. His memory will live on in the work we all do to protect children.”

The powerful moment was one of many experienced by hundreds of symposium participants, AMBER Alert coordinators, missing persons clearinghouse managers, law enforcement officers, telecommunications personnel, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) members, emergency management and other child protection professionals from across the nation, including tribal nations and communities. The event focused on 30 topics, touched on more than a dozen cases, and offered hundreds of lessons and tips.
The virtual symposium was delivered using the Whova platform with Zoom integration, allowing for a dynamic experience in which participants could log into the event in advance of the start date, share a welcome/ice-breaker message and reply to others’ welcomes, view the full agenda, and create a custom agenda of sessions they wanted to attend (both plenary and concurrent tracks). They also could view presenters’ biographical information, contribute to polls and discussion board topics, and visit any session to view its recording on-demand for a two-week period following the event’s conclusion. The Zoom integration allowed a livestream of each session, complete with all of Zoom’s advanced interaction tools, such as chat, live polling, feedback indicators, and breakout rooms. Each session could be viewed within the Whova platform, affording participants the convenience of a single login for the event, where they could easily move from one presentation to another, be it live or live streamed.

“The pandemic continues to change the way in which we work. It has created both opportunities and obstacles, but it has not changed the fact that children go missing,” Rasmussen said. “They need us to remain committed in our work to provide law enforcement training and technical assistance to ensure they are safely recovered.”

“You don’t have to look far to find examples of how your work and the AMBER Alert network is making a difference. At the start of 2022, more than 1,100 children had been safely recovered because of AMBER Alerts,” said Amy Solomon, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.

Attendees explored current obstacles encountered by their state, tribal, and regional emergency alerting programs, shared best practices, discussed innovative programs, resources, and tools to help support their work and make AMBER Alerts more effective.

Discussions focused on such topics as creating and sustaining Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs); genetic genealogy; Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) strategies and advancements; must-know technology for combatting child sex trafficking; initiatives to reduce the alarming number of missing and murdered indigenous women and children; a program to equip Indian Country law enforcement agencies with new DOJ-sponsored technology toolkits; how to effectively work with the media and interview high-risk endangered children; understanding disparities in media coverage related to missing and murdered children of color and white children; reviewing the latest findings from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC); and opportunities for AMBER Alert and child protection partner collaboration via regional breakout sessions.

Rasmussen closed the symposium by thanking participants for their attendance and recognizing the AMBER Alert Symposium team, noting, “A symposium like this, especially a virtual one, does not happen without the planning, preparation, and work of a lot of people.” She also thanked “our partners at OJJDP, who have assisted us with the planning and approvals for this event. This would not be possible without their commitment to protecting children.”

Rasmussen then commended the symposium’s participants. “Your attendance was critical as we move forward with this program,” she said. “We value your input and suggestions as we continually look for ways to implement initiatives to help you address issues you face every day in the field.”

Memorable Takeaways from the 2022 Symposium Presenters

“Thankfully our CART procedures protected us when it came down to liability and accountability.”
Lieutenant Stacie Lick, Gloucester County (New Jersey) Prosecutor’s Office

The Golden State Killer case involved more than $10 million over its 43 year-span; 15 law enforcement agencies, 650 detectives, and 200,000 personnel hours; more than 300 people having their DNA swabbed, and 8,000 subjects reviewed in CODIS – with zero hits. Yet thanks to genetic genealogy, it took $217 and five people to find the killer: Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. “That’s the real value of genetic genealogy – efficiency and a lack of privacy invasion.”
Sergeant Eric Kovanda, Carlsbad (California) Police Department

“There are more kids on TikTok right now than there are on the playground. That’s also where sex offenders and traffickers are going to recruit their victims. The good news is that the same technology used by predators can lead to their downfalls based on the evidence preserved, even if they think they’ve deleted it.”
Blaine Phillips, Agent in Charge, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics

Children who experience “adultification” are looked upon “as having made a choice — even if they were abducted, lured away, and/or exploited. Their cases are treated differently. They’re more likely to be disciplined and more vulnerable to discretionary authority. We’re not giving them support nor helping them utilize the resources they need. It gets even worse if they identify as LGBTQ+.”
Tina Bigdeli, NCMEC Program Manager, Outreach

“To serve and protect — that should include yourself. It used to be that we were expected to hold everything in, to keep it inside, shrug it off. Well, that doesn’t work.”
Carol Brusca, SHIFT Wellness therapist

“The unidentified need us to give them their names back.”
Carri Gordon, Washington State AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager / AATTAP Region 5 Liaison

“Native women on tribal lands are murdered at an extremely high rate – in some communities, more than 10 times the national average – according to research funded by the DOJ. And due to jurisdictional challenges, the disappearances can be hard to track and prosecute.”
Ingrid Cumberlidge, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Coordinator, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska

After learning her son had been aggressively lured online by a stranger, “There’s a part of me that asks, ‘Justin, why didn’t you just think?’ But a detective told me, ‘Amy, he was 12 years old. You and I may see through manipulation, but he was too young to fully understand it.’”
Amy Bloxom, mother of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom, abducted and murdered in 2012

“We as a Native society make efforts to work through historical trauma by confronting it. We try to understand it and attempt to ease the pain of it. And we want to surpass the cycles of trauma to give our children better futures.”
Valerie Bribiescas, AMBER Alert in Indian Country Liaison

“Always thank the community for its support. They are the ultimate conduit to solving crimes.”
Mark MacKizer, Special Agent (Retired), Federal Bureau of Investigation

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The AMBER Advocate celebrates the 50th issue of the newsletter! For more than 15 years, the AMBER Advocate Training and Technical Assistance Program has been honored to share stories from AMBER Alert programs across the nation and internationally! Issue 50 features an in-depth interview with Program Administrator Janell Rasmussen, as she reflects on her first full year in the position, and her vision going forward based on her time with AATTAP and her decades of work with AMBER Alert and child protection. We also bring you a recap of the 2022 National AMBER Alert Virtual Symposium, and an amazing multi-state success story based on the unified efforts and swift responses of Tennessee, Arizona and California. Through our ‘briefs’ section, read about AMBER Alert and other endangered missing persons work underway across the U.S. and internationally.

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(Right to left): Janell Rasmussen, then Minnesota State AMBER Alert Coordinator, at the first National AMBER Alert Conference (2003), with Patty Wetterling (mother of Jacob Wetterling), Donna Norris (mother of Amber Hagerman), USDOJ Assistant AG Deborah Daniels, and Tamara Brooks (abduction survivor)

By Paul Murphy

Janell Rasmussen spent more than 20 years working in public safety, developing, implementing, and operating multiple statewide law enforcement programs. In March 2021, she became the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Administrator, following Jim Walters’ retirement.

Early Life and Career

Rasmussen grew up in Mapleton, a small town in southern Minnesota. She was 13-years-old, close to the same age as Jacob Wetterling when he was abducted in 1989. That crime left an indelible impression on Rasmussen and everyone in Minnesota.

Rasmussen followed the case through Jacob’s mother, Patty Wetterling, and the rest of their family. “She taught me the meaning of real hope,” she said. “She amazed me in her fight to bring Jacob home. I could never have believed how this tragedy could impact my life.”

Rasmussen attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then went to work for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). There, she managed the Minnesota Crime Alert Network, a program that started after the abduction and murder of a boy in Eden Prairie. This position gave her the opportunity to work with Wetterling and a small committee to put together a statewide AMBER Alert Plan. Minnesota’s AMBER Alert Plan was implemented in 2002 and was the seventh statewide plan in the U.S.

During her time at the BCA, Rasmussen oversaw the Minnesota AMBER Alert Plan, Missing Children’s Clearinghouse, Communication & Duty Officer Program, the Crimes Against Children in Indian Country Conference, and the President’s Initiative on Missing & Unidentified Persons.

Rasmussen continued working with Wetterling, and they attended the first National AMBER Alert Symposium together. Rasmussen said she was heartbroken when Jacob’s body was found in 2016, 27 years after his abduction.

“Patty believed every day that Jacob was alive and coming home,” Rasmussen said. “She has changed the entire way that law enforcement responds to missing children. She inspired Minnesota and the rest of the world to work together. She is the reason that my and your children are safer today. She is a big reason I fight to bring missing children home.”

In 2016, Rasmussen left the BCA to continue her work in child protection as Deputy Director at the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis. She helped set up protocols and policies to establish a culture and environment where children are safe and those who hurt children are held accountable.

Back to the AMBER Alert

Rasmussen was humbled when Jim Walters approached her to consider the AATTAP Administrator position, because she has worked with so many talented people who have been involved in the effort over the years. Walters not only recognized her passion for protecting children but also her experience in management, training, and technical assistance.

“The thought of any child suffering and any parent having to endure that pain forces me to work as hard as possible to look for strategies to do better for our children,” she said. “Every child deserves the right to grow up in a safe environment where they can learn, play, and live without being hurt. We need to work hard every day to make that happen.”

Rasmussen has been in her new position for a year. The AMBER Advocate asked her to reflect on that time and learn what she hopes to accomplish in the future.

Northwest Florida CART Certification exercise held in February 2018.

You have been involved in the AMBER Alert program since the beginning–how do you think AMBER Alerts have changed the way we think about missing and abducted children?

AMBER Alert has brought attention and awareness to the public about the issue of missing and endangered children. Lawmakers recognize the significance of these events and have supported legislation that provides funding and resources for training and technical assistance for law enforcement. This training helps prepare officers to respond to a child abduction. We have supported law enforcement and their partners across the U.S. to establish Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs). AATTAP’s training and resources have ensured CARTs are carefully and comprehensively informed, trained, and positioned to do the important work to sustain their programs. And for teams who choose to pursue US-DOJ-AATTAP Certification, we guide that process, helping them prepare for certification, and performing rigorous assessment onsite in coordination with CART program leadership and participating agencies. This solid framework sets CART programs on the path to maintain certification via an annual recertification process AATTAP designed and administers.

It is never a good thing for a law enforcement agency to realize the critical importance of readiness to respond to missing and abducted child incidents for the first time during an actual event. This in and of itself has changed the way we think today. We also know that AMBER Alerts have thwarted many abductions. When an abductor sees the alert being broadcast and gets scared and drops the child off – that is a success. Most important, the AMBER Alert program has changed the way we work together, and strengthened the way we collaborate with others for one common good.

The AMBER Alert Program originally brought law enforcement and the media together to work in partnership. That collaboration quickly expanded to include departments of transportation. Today, the partnerships at work in AMBER Alert programs across the nation span pages in AMBER Alert plans and related information. So many organizations and companies want to support the AMBER Alert Program, including state lotteries, electronic billboard companies, truckers’ associations, and other stakeholders that post, share, and distribute information when an AMBER Alert occurs.

Reflecting upon your first year as the AATTAP Administrator, and what you’ve brought to the position from the successes and guidance of your predecessors, what do you think you uniquely bring to the AATTAP as its leader and ‘CEO’?

I am very fortunate to follow two previous AATTAP Administrators whose passion and diligent work in protecting children I greatly respect. I feel my work as an AMBER Alert Coordinator brings a unique perspective to the program. I have done the same work as our state AMBER Alert Coordinators and Clearinghouse Managers and I know many of the unique issues they face. I also bring insight into working with victims and survivors, given my past work.

I have been blessed while growing up, and, in my career, to have mentors who have taught me to lead with compassion and dedication, with strength and persistence. I feel I bring leadership qualities that highlight that no one person can do this alone, but rather, it takes a team of individuals coming together to be successful. You must allow others to contribute, to lead, to add value, and share their strengths and expertise. Without this incredible support and strong partnerships, you will get nowhere; yet together you can accomplish great things. I know the best leaders aren’t the ones who know everything; they are the ones who continue to learn each day.

What do you think were the biggest successes for AATTAP in 2021? Is there a specific program event or accomplishment that stands out for you?

I have witnessed so many accomplishments. Overcoming the challenges and restrictions of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our ability to continue providing our core services. With shutdowns and travel restrictions, our entire AATTAP team had to pivot rapidly – working incredibly hard to transition effectively from providing onsite training and technical assistance (T/TA) in the field, to 100% virtual delivery of T/TA events. That work constituted a complete shift of business processes, resource management, and how we work together.

Moreover, the readiness of our AMBER Alert partners across the nation to work with us in this ‘virtual journey,’ rapidly shifting from being on the road, in the field, to being fully ‘online,’ made all the difference. We have seen a great willingness to approach training and meetings in new ways, and have welcomed amazing participation with our events during the pandemic. All of us in AATTAP – and across our partner disciplines – learned that even as the world ‘shut down’, and with restrictions everywhere, children are still being abducted. Law enforcement still needs to respond. And we still need to provide our T/TA so they are prepared to respond.

We also held our first “virtual” AMBER Alert Symposium in 2021. The symposium had great attendance and important topics, and while we would have rather done this in person, it was a complete success. We had the technical support to accomplish what was needed and exceptional speakers, topics, and discussion rooms where participants could discuss and collaborate on those topics ‘face-to-face’ via our Zoom and Whova platform integration. We gleaned important takeaways from the event, and actively incorporated them into our 2nd virtual symposium held in March 2022. And with future events, we will ensure we continue to build an even greater array of content and engagement activities that fully represent our partner audiences.

Even with the symposium’s success, one of our biggest accomplishments was the first ever “virtual” Family Roundtable event. In the past, we brought together the families of missing and murdered children to learn from their experiences in-person to enhance our training. But with COVID-19 travel and gathering restrictions, that simply was not an option.
We were able to partner with Arizona State University to facilitate these discussions, through carefully designed and respectfully administered one-on-one virtual interviews.

We learned so much from this process, particularly that family members respond differently when they’re in the comfort of their own home. This is a safe place for them, which makes it easier for them to share more easily and openly. We have heard from some family members that the anxiety of traveling somewhere to talk about the most horrific event of their lives can be too much, and this format provided a better environment. So going forward, when restrictions are lifted, we will consider a combined approach to these events.

Will training go back to what it was before the pandemic? Or will it be a mixture of live-virtual training, self-paced eLearning, and classroom/onsite training?

We are continually evaluating each area of training we provide. We know our symposium is most effective in person because AMBER Alert Coordinators and Clearinghouse managers have an opportunity to more fully network and share information on cases, best practices, or issues they face in their states. I know first-hand from my past work the impact that relationship building has on the effectiveness of the program. From my relationship with the Utah AMBER Alert Coordinator that resulted in the successful recovery of a child abducted from Minnesota and taken to Utah, to cases involving Iowa, Wisconsin, Canada, and others – I know that relationships developed from working together prior to an abduction can have an incredible impact on the recovery of a missing child.

(From left): Janell Rasmussen with Tyesha Wood, Pamela Foster, and Chelsa Seciwa at an AMBER Alert in Indian Country event.

What are the major accomplishments of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative since you joined the team? And what remains to be done?

We know our efforts in Indian Country have been successful, as we are witnessing children being safely recovered because of the issuance of AMBER Alerts. However, COVID-19 restrictions have made our work in carrying out T/TA established through the 2018 Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act very difficult. There are unique challenges, and in many cases outright barriers, to meeting virtually with tribal community members. Internet coverage, bandwidth and devices needed to connect virtually can be limited or altogether unavailable. This has impacted not only our training, but also our efforts to help tribes develop and implement their AMBER Alert Plans.

While this has been difficult, we continue to push forward where we can. We are working to combat these issues by providing specially designed Technology Toolkits for the tribes. These toolkits provide technology and resources to support the tribes’ ability to attend virtual events, and provide critically important resources for operational response when a child goes missing or is abducted in Indian Country. We look forward to providing the critical training needed in Indian Country in person.

We need to continue our work in Indian Country to ensure all tribes have access to the AMBER Alert program. If you have heard Pamela Foster, the warrior mother who led the grassroots efforts to establish AMBER Alert in Indian Country after her daughter Ashlynne’s abduction and murder, you know the importance of these efforts. Our endeavors moving forward are focused on the work that Pamela started – engaging tribal leaders and government officials across the country to implement AMBER Alert.

What are your top goals for strengthening AMBER Alert planning and strategy with our border countries Canada and Mexico?

We have been working virtually this past year with both Canada and Mexico. We have been successful in working with Canada on virtual training and meetings. We also held the first virtual training for Mexico and worked with a translation service. Over the next year, we plan to partner with the McCain Institute on our work related to sex trafficking in Mexico. We have reached out to the Vice President’s Office for assistance with the ‘Collaboration on Interagency Agreement with Mexico’ to help resolve more than 82,000 missing persons cases there. We also will use our past work, experience, and relationships with Mexican officials, and our established law enforcement training curricula, to continue training law enforcement in the country.

Additionally, we will continue to collaborate on the best plans of action and training for when children are taken across the border, in either direction, to respond with established protocols.

What will be important in the coming years for working with international AMBER Alert partners?

Our work with our international partners is incredibly important. We continue to collaborate with the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) to provide training and technical assistance. We have learned our training is beneficial to our international partners, and in turn, we learn about different trends, best practices, and issues they are experiencing so we can collaboratively find solutions.

AATTAP’s work with human trafficking (HT) and child sex trafficking (CST) in training related to endangered missing and at-risk youth has grown over the years. How do you see this continuing to evolve as AATTAP works to ensure law enforcement understand the risk factors, investigative processes, and critically-important victim needs in the future?

We have former Dallas Police Department Child Sex Trafficking experts Byron Fassett and Cathy De La Paz on our AATTAP team. They provide us with a unique opportunity to incorporate these topics into our training and technical assistance areas where appropriate. This is an area that continues to grow and we will provide all T/TA requested, and partner on plans to combat CST.

What do you hope can be accomplished in 2022 for both AATTAP and AIIC?

Our focus throughout 2022 is to develop action plans that will result in the greatest success for safely recovering missing and abducted children. We recently began the “50 state” initiative in which we are working with each state AMBER Alert team to review existing plans and discuss ways we can provide resources to help improve plans, processes, and programs. These meetings have been critical during a time when we have not been able to work together in person. The need to continually evaluate our programs at a state and national level is crucial to the AMBER Program’s growth, success, and effectiveness.

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The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program is so happy to congratulate Jolene Hardesty, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Analyst for the Michigan State Police on her recent appointment by Michigan Governor Whitmer to the Not Invisible Act Commission! The new U.S. Department of Interior commission will combat the epidemic of missing persons, murder, and trafficking of indigenous people and make recommendations to improve intergovernmental coordination and establish best practices for law enforcement to offer resources to survivors and families of victims.

Jolene is an invaluable member of our cadre of ‘AMBER Alert Partners’ across the nation who diligently serve the needs of state AMBER Alert and Missing Persons programs. Amazing professionals like Jolene form the very fabric of the mission, vision and values of the U.S. Department of Justice AMBER Alert Initiative.

Well-deserved, Jolene! We can’t wait to see the important work and outcomes you and your colleagues achieve in the months ahead!

Read the full announcement here.

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The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day events of May 5 will come in many forms — documentary premieres, educational symposiums, marches, and more — but all will share a singular goal: To spotlight the disproportionately high number of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls while promoting resolution, collaboration, accountability, and prevention.

“The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis is centuries in the making,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and 35th generation New Mexican. “It will take a focused effort and time to unravel the many threads that contribute to the alarming rates of these cases, but I believe we are at an inflection point. We have a President and a government that is prioritizing this. And we can’t turn back.”

In early 2021, Haaland became the first Native woman appointed to a cabinet position. Soon afterward, the U.S. Department of Justice created its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Task Force as part of Operation Lady Justice, formed in 2019 to fight the abduction, homicide, violence, and trafficking of Indigenous women.

"Lady Justice" used by the U.S. Dept. of Justice, with permission from DG Smalling, Choctaw Nation — “Lady Justice” used by the U.S. Dept. of Justice, with permission from DG Smalling, Choctaw Nation

The MMIW Task Force now has U.S. and Tribal law enforcement and government officials working to strengthen social service organization responses, improve data collection/reporting, and address factors exacerbating the crisis, including sexual and domestic violence, human trafficking, economic disparities, and substance abuse.

Ingrid Cumberlidge, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Coordinator at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska, spoke at the 2022 AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country National Symposium March 29-30, 2022. The annual event was delivered by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative, and the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College. Cumberlidge, a former educator and Tribal court judge of Aleut and Tlingit heritage, shared several unsettling trends during her presentation:

Native women living on Tribal lands are murdered at up to 10 times the national average, according to DOJ-funded research. “Because of jurisdictional challenges, the disappearances can be hard to track and prosecute, so it’s difficult to know exactly how bad the problem is,” she said.
Homicide is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women, and those under age 35 have a higher murder risk than any other demographic in the nation.
A study by the Urban Indian Health Institute recorded 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls in 2016, while the DOJ’s Missing Persons database logged only 116 cases.
“There is an urgent need to diagnose the symptoms of the problem and develop sustainable protocols,” Cumberlidge said. “We have to find long-term resolutions that Tribal communities need and deserve.”

Contributed by Denise Gee Peacock, AATTAP-NCJTC Associate

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On January 13, 1996, 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was kidnapped and murdered in Arlington, Texas. But her legacy lives on through the nationwide AMBER Alert system that has helped more than 1,000 children return home safely. “It’s another legacy for my daughter, that she didn’t die in vain, that she is still taking care of our little children as she did when she was here,” said Amber’s mother, Donna Williams. “So, I’m very proud of my daughter for all she has done for our children here.” January 13 is now National AMBER Alert Day, a day to remember Amber Hagerman and all the other children who have been kidnapped and murdered. It is also a date to celebrate those who have been saved and efforts still being made to help missing and abducted children.

A Utah senator wants to stop AMBER Alerts from being used in custody disputes between parents. Senator Todd Weiler is seeking to ban the alerts in custody cases after an AMBER Alert was issued for four children taken by their non-custodial mother. The girls were later found safe in California. The Utah Department of Public Safety responded that AMBER Alerts are only used when a child has been abducted and their life or safety is in danger. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) data estimates more than 200,000 children are abducted each year by a parent or family member.

More than 26,000 service stations are now posting AMBER Alerts and information about missing children on television monitors installed on gas pumps. The national media network GSTV started the program ADAM (Automated Delivery of Alerts on Missing Children) in 2019. GSTV is working with NCMEC and said the gas pump screens reach 96 million people in 48 states each month. “It’s not just about advertisements and entertaining, but taking the opportunity to engage our viewers at a time where they’re extremely attentive,” said GSTV executive Violeta Ivezaj. “There isn’t a whole lot to do when
you’re pumping gas.”

Hawaiian lawmakers launched a task force to gather data and study the impact of sex trafficking on Native women and children. Researchers found that 64% of sex trafficking victims are Native Hawaiians. Local activists blame tourism and the lack of law enforcement resources to stop the widespread abuse across the islands. “If there’s no data, there’s no problem,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Commission on the State of Women. She added concrete numbers are needed to understand the scope of the problem. In 2020, the Hawaii Attorney General established a human trafficking coordinator to develop training and increase the number of prosecutions.

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*Melissa Marchant, Wisconsin AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager*

Melissa Marchant has been Wisconsin’s AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager since May 2021. Last year Wisconsin had 11 AMBER Alerts, a record for the state. She started working for the State of Wisconsin as a janitor in 1990, right after graduating from high school. Marchant went on to work as a program assistant at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). She then became a criminal analyst, a position she has held for 18 years.

Marchant has been an advocate for criminal analysts as the president of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Analyst Network (WILEAN). Although she began actively participating in AMBER Alerts in late 2019, she was already a member of the Child Abduction response Team (CART) and worked as an analyst during callouts for cases involving missing persons.

She is a mother of two children, grandmother of four, and has always loved spending time with young ones. Marchant respects and appreciates law enforcement efforts in missing person cases. She also has profound admiration for families who hold on to hope while everyone is trying to find their missing loved one. “Our kids deserve the best resources and collaboration when they go missing,” said Marchant. “It is our job and duty to bring them home safe, and Wisconsin encompasses all of that.”

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL? We have amazing partners who help us disseminate information through many means as quickly as possible when we are trying to locate a child. The support and determination of these agency partners is truly amazing.

During an AMBER Alert in Wisconsin, you could be driving down the road and see it on the highway DOT signs, hear it on your radio, observe another message on outdoor advertising billboards and see it on the lottery terminals when pulling over for gas at a convenience store. In addition, TV, radio and social media help us get the message out. I’m truly amazed each time we issue an AMBER Alert by the vast and quick response from everyone.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN? When a child goes missing, I treat the situation as if it involved my own child or grandchild. I worry and pray for them like they were my own family. I do everything I can to bring them home safe and hopefully keep them out of danger. This job motivates me to keep hope alive and use all available resources to find missing children and bring them home safely.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM? I think the challenge we are constantly looking at is the timeliness of our alerts. We usually review each AMBER Alert about a week after the alert is issued to identify ways to expedite the process and learn from our experiences. There is no ‘big red easy button’ — it takes a tremendous amount of quick and effective coordination to make the alerts happen.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE? WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE PROGRAM? I am looking forward to expanding our online and social media presence. I believe that sharing online stories and posters of our missing will help us reach many more people than what is happening now.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE. HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT SUPPORT THE OUTCOME? WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED? I was a criminal analyst when Jayme Closs went missing in October 2018. I was attending our department’s in-service training with just an overnight bag. When our agency got the call to assist, I immediately requested to go to Barron County. I responded to the command post and set up tips and leads for the initial response. I then worked with the FBI to continue organizing and maintaining a strong system.

I remember not wanting to go back home, I just wanted to stay and help in any way I could. I stayed for 15 days, and it was difficult to leave. I felt so connected to this response and the search for Jayme, and the AMBER Alert brought in so many tips. The citizens did an amazing job of reporting anything they could to try and help locate her.

Ultimately, it was Jayme’s bravery and determination that allowed her to escape and return to her family in January 2019. I am inspired everyday by Jayme, a truly brave young woman who made the decision that she was going to escape and gain back her freedom.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN? My dedication to endangered and missing abducted children has been strengthened by my experiences in the Clearinghouse, working with families, law enforcement, NCMEC, and the AMBER Alert Program at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC). I also feel my role as a criminal analyst in DCI, prior to being the AMBER Alert Coordinator, gave me an advantage in assisting on missing person cases by providing me with invaluable resources and training. I worked side-by-side for years with special agents, detectives, officers, and prosecutors around the state to help bring missing persons home or violent criminals to justice.

I was excited to take on a role in which I could work with victims’ families more, but also continue to work with all the talented law enforcement individuals in Wisconsin to assist on missing person cases. Every time I see a face of a missing person it reminds me that they deserve to have someone looking
for them, and my goal is to do everything I can to return them home safely.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS? Establish and maintain strong and frequent communication with your partnered agencies; they are invaluable. Do what makes sense for your state. Each state has different needs based on their missing population and available resources. Also, take advantage of the FVTC training and regional meetings. Connect with community partners, as well as other AMBER Alert Coordinators, because these will truly be invaluable connections.

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The Alton, Illinois, Police Department honored a woman for responding to an AMBER Alert and finding a baby who had been taken during the theft of a van. At the July 14, 2021, event, Alton Police Chief Marcus Pulido remarked that Brittney Ford saved the 3-month-old baby’s life.

“We put that AMBER Alert out to try to solicit some help and sure enough we got help, and it was beyond impressive,” said Pulido.

The ordeal began March 26, 2021, when Gena Wilson’s van was stolen from her driveway. Her daughter Ghvadi Jaber was still inside the vehicle. “I thought she was gone,” said Wilson.

Wilson called the police department for help at 7:30 p.m. — five minutes after the child and van were taken. An AMBER Alert was requested at 9:00 p.m. Illinois AMBER Alert Coordinator Craig Burge issued the alert at 9:33 p.m. after determining the situation met the state’s criteria for the child abduction alert.

“Because time is of the essence with any alert, once a call comes in with a case that would qualify for an AMBER Alert, we immediately try to gather information that will galvanize the public’s interest in helping us find the missing child,” said Burge. “The most important thing we can do as an alerting authority is to collect the most accurate information possible to disseminate. And that process starts immediately.”

The Illinois State Police disseminated the alert to broadcasters through the National Weather Service (NOAA) Weather Radio and a secondary blast fax/email that is posted on all Illinois state websites. The information is also displayed on Illinois Department of Transportation and Tollway roadway message boards.

Illinois is divided into three areas for AMBER Alert distribution, allowing notifications to be sent to just one area or a combination of the three.

“Any time you have a situation with someone stealing a car, you never know the motive of the person,” Burge said. “You hope the AMBER Alert deters them from continuing with the crime, but you also want to make sure the child is found in a timely manner. It can get cold at night in Illinois, and you want to ensure the child is not subject to those elements for a long period of time.”

After hearing the AMBER Alert, Brittney Ford drove 12 miles from her home in Brighton and picked up her aunt Jenny Mawhee in Alton to start looking for the missing child. They were driving in the cold with the windows down so they could hear if the baby was crying.

At 11:40 p.m. they were on a road that is not heavily travelled and heard the baby’s cries. They found the infant face down in a ditch on the side of the road. “I still cry sometimes because it’s an emotional thing,” said Ford. “If it was my baby, I would want everyone out there.”

The child was found cold to the touch and taken to the hospital, but she did not have any serious injuries. The AMBER Alert was canceled at 12:04 a.m.

“This private citizen is a true hero,” said Burge. “There is no better feeling than being notified a child has been located safely. I think all my counterparts in every state would agree with me that this feeling is why we are so passionate about the AMBER Alert program.”

Gena Wilson shed tears of joy after finding out her baby had been found. “It was complete selflessness,” Wilson said about the Good Samaritan. “She took the time to look for my baby even though she has her own family.”

A 15-year-old boy was arrested and has been charged as an adult with attempted murder, kidnapping, and offenses related to motor vehicles in connection to the incident.

Illinois is seeing a rise in vehicle thefts and car jackings. Burge said these crimes are becoming more difficult and dangerous to investigate because the offender is often unknown and descriptive information is rarely available and can be limited.

Burge has been with the Missing Persons Unit at the Illinois State Police for 12 years. As the unit administrator, he is the AMBER Alert Coordinator, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager, and coordinator for the Silver Search and Blue Alert. “People want to help, and most of the time they don’t get the chance,” Burge said.

He continuously trains telecommunicator/call-takers so they can process and disseminate alerts as fast and efficiently as possible. “The key is knowing the right questions and asking for the right information, so you are not hunting for the details later.”

Burge said it is important to be persistent in your approach to AMBER Alerts. “Consistency in your process leads to increased speed and efficiency of your alert,” he concluded. “If you have the same processes, the same people making the calls and the same coordination with law enforcement, your plan will be more widely respected and ultimately more effective.”

“The ultimate gratification is to see an abducted child returned home safely. This is why the AMBER Alert program means so much to me, and the reason I take great pride in its success.”

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*Christopher Ramirez with his mother, Araceli Nuñez, immediately after his rescue. Credit: Grimes County Sheriff’s Office*

The chances of finding 3-year-old Christopher Ramirez alive dimmed as the days passed.

On Wednesday, October 6, 2021, Christopher’s mother, Araceli Nuñez, had been unloading items from their van at their Plantersville, Texas, home when a neighbor saw Christopher follow the family dog into the nearby woods. When Christopher’s mother returned for her son less than two minutes later, she learned what happened. A panicked search by the boy’s family and friends got underway, but within minutes the dog returned home — without Christopher. That’s when Grimes County law enforcement was contacted for help.

As the Grimes County Sheriff’s Office swung into action, Lieutenant James Ellis reached out for help from AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Associate Chuck Fleeger, a 35-year veteran law enforcement officer in Texas who currently serves as Executive Director of the AMBER Alert Network Brazos Valley (AAN-BV).

The AAN-BV, formed in 2003, is a collaborative effort between more than two dozen local law enforcement agencies throughout the Brazos Valley in Central Texas. Operating in conjunction with Texas’s AMBER Alert Network, the AAN-BV provides local, state, and federal emergency management resources, local media outreach, and more for cases involving abducted and missing at-risk children.

With Grimes County being an hour south of Fleeger’s home in the Bryan- College Station area, he began making daily 100- mile roundtrip visits to the area to do what he does best: strategizing how to supplement law enforcement resources while bolstering media outreach and anticipating future needs.

While Grimes County conducted search and canvass operations, Fleeger helped solve the first problem. “Based on our state’s criteria the case didn’t qualify for AMBER Alert, so we went with a Regional Endangered Missing Child Advisory, which would allow a Wireless Electronic Alert (WEA) to be issued,” Fleeger said. After securing a photo of Ramirez, he typed up a brief description of the child and was able to get a poster to the media and public within 30 minutes.

In coordination with Lieutenant Ellis, Fleeger began rallying resources from his network of law enforcement specialists.

“We don’t move in and take over, we try to fill in the missing gaps,” he explained. Fleeger enlisted help from an adjacent county’s fire department, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and TEAM Adam. He called in a canine team and requested drone assistance. He suggested a mobile command post be set up away from where the investigation was taking place.

By the third day of the search, hundreds of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers, firefighters, law enforcement agents, and partners from federal, state, and local jurisdictions, as well as private search groups, led the charge while the news media and the public did its part. Investigators went door to door, checked surveillance cameras, pools, sheds, and even drained one pond while searching two others.

By the third day of the search, some suggested calling off the intensive effort, believing it impossible that a 3-foot-tall, 40-pound toddler could survive without sustenance or shelter for so long. But Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell was adamant. “We’re not leaving until we find him.” He called on the community to pray for the boy’s safe recovery as Christopher’s mother sobbed.

“My heart has a hole in it,” she said in Spanish.

That evening, Tim Halfin did just that with his Bible study class. Afterward he felt like God wanted him to go look for the boy.

The next morning, Saturday, October 9, Halfin set out on that mission at 9:45 a.m. Within an hour he heard what sounded like a child’s voice in distress near a pipeline in the distance. He called law enforcement to tell them his location — about 10 yards into a thicket off a road nearly five miles from Christopher’s home.

“It was overwhelming,” Halfin recalled. “First you think this is a dream, but then I realized that it was him. I cradled him on my hip and said, ‘Little man, God has a purpose for you.’ ”

Soon Christopher and his mother were reunited, both in tears. Her son was hungry, scratched up, dehydrated, and bug-bitten, but otherwise in good condition. “God put everybody here in his path,” Nuñez said.

Ramirez spent several days at Children’s Hospital at The Woodlands, north of Houston, before being released and escorted home. He returned in a hero’s fashion, accompanied by a procession of first-responder vehicles with lights flashing.

Finding Christopher “was definitely a miracle — one combined with a lot of dedication and teamwork,” Fleeger said.

TOP TAKEAWAYS FROM THE CASE

Fleeger is working on an all-inclusive case study about Ramirez’s search and recovery for AATTAP Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training. He is also preparing a brief overview of the case to discuss at the March 2022 AATTAP National Symposium. Meanwhile, he offers these words of wisdom:

“Never give up. And stay positive. Sheriff Sowell exemplified that by saying, ‘We’re not in recovery mode. We’re going to keep trying to find Christopher.’ And they did.”
“Cultivate strong working relationships and teamwork. Lieutenant Ellis had my cell number and called me directly. And I have others’ cell numbers and they have mine. We understand what we’re here to do and respond to the call.”
Pay attention to your team’s wellbeing. “I noticed that Grimes County Sergeant Martha Smith had been assigned to stay with Christopher’s mother the entire time,” Fleeger said. “I offered to find some Spanish-speaking support for her. She told me that although she was tired, she thought she could make it. The main thing that lifted her spirits was me simply asking, ‘Are you OK?’ ”
AATTAP training pays off. After seeing in an AATTAP training class how using a shortened URL (via bit.ly) in a WEA linked to a verified Twitter account allows more information to a greater audience, Fleeger tried it during the Ramirez case. “It was one of the coolest things,” he said. “I was standing there during a search briefing and saw everybody’s phones go off at the same time. Even in that little corner of Grimes County, the tweet reached more than 33,000 people.”
For states wavering on having a CART program, “Don’t,” Fleeger said. “They are incredibly valuable. You have to build up muscle memory through repetition to be ready for cases like these when they happen. And while child abductions are incredibly rare, the good thing is, many of the skill sets learned in CART training can be applied to any investigative response, from capital murder to an armed robbery,” he said. “A 99% success rate in canvassing is just not good enough.”

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: Navajo Nation member Christopher Becenti at Window Rock Park’s “Ear of the
Wind” sandstone formation in Arizona. As Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Telecommunications
Regulatory
Commission
(NNTRC), Becenti is making meaningful strides in bolstering
the Navajo’s technological
infrastructure, which is vital for public safety. Less than half of all homes on the
reservation had fixed Internet service as of 2020, according to the American Indian Policy Institute, “but that’s rapidly changing,” Becenti said.
Credit: Navajo Nation

Yes WEA Can

With the Navajo Nation’s COVID-19 emergency response in high gear, tech leader Christopher Becenti is closing ‘the digital divide’ to make life safer in his community

May 2, 2016, was supposed to be a happy occasion for Christopher Becenti; it would mark his 30th birthday. “But it was one of the worst days I can remember,” he said. “All I could do was sit on the sidelines and watch” as confusion and grief shook the Navajo Nation to its core.

On that fateful day, 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike was abducted by a stranger near her home in Shiprock, New Mexico. Her family’s frantic outreach efforts to find her were fraught with jurisdictional misunderstandings and slow communication responses that delayed the issuance of an AMBER Alert by 12 hours. By then it was too late. Ashlynne had been brutally murdered.

The Navajo Nation vowed never to allow a similar situation to happen again. And Becenti, a tech-savvy member of the Navajo Nation who then worked in the private sector, knew “something had to be done,” he said. “I knew one day I wanted to help my people get better connected.”

In April 2018, the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act was enacted, providing the country’s 574 federally recognized tribes with funding and opportunities for more technology, training, and pathways to stronger partnerships with state, regional, and federal authorities.

Within a year of the law’s passage, Becenti was tapped by Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez to be the Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NNTRC). His task: untangle a web of problems posed by local and national wireless carriers and mobile device manufacturers to ensure Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) could be sent to everyone eligible to receive them.

He also needed to “creatively strategize how to expand broadband access to our most remote territories,” since he had few resources at the time.

A year into his position, however, the Navajo Nation would face down a devastating public health crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-pandemic, the Navajo Nation had been at the forefront of strengthening public safety infrastructure to bolster its emergency/crisis response capabilities, including AMBER Alerts. “The pandemic, however, accelerated everything we were working on,” Becenti said.

Though his mission is clear-cut, the work is not. But major advancements are occurring thanks to his tireless efforts, Navajo Nation leadership support, and COVID-19 financial relief from the U.S. government.

The Navajo Nation is the country’s largest Indian reservation, encompassing three states (Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah) and 27,000 square miles (about the size of West Virginia). But only a small percentage of its 173,000 citizens have access to broadband for reasons ranging from their homes being in remote locations to prohibitive costs. And 911 emergency services are problematic. When a Navajo Nation citizen uses a mobile phone or even a land line to call 911, the call is rerouted up to two times in order to reach the nearest law enforcement agency (LEA) communications center. Many Navajos who live in rural areas do not have standard addresses, and must rely upon P.O. boxes. In addition to the delay and potential dropped calls that rerouting causes, the lack of a street address can impede or altogether prevent the ability of the LEA to pinpoint the caller’s location.

These problems became painfully clear during the pandemic, when Navajo citizens could not immediately connect with emergency services. Reportedly, some citizens died trying to reach a payphone, or a neighboring home with telephone access (which might be 20 miles away) or while attempting to get to a place with a stronger cellular signal.

Additionally, people in remote areas could not receive COVID-19 WEAs or connect to online sources of news, specifically the Facebook page of Navajo Nation President Nez. “Many use computers at community centers, which shut down along with most public spaces,” Becenti said. “On top of that, people could not work from home or have their children learn remotely.”

: Lavina Willie-Nez, Deputy Director of the Navajo Nation’s Department of Emergency Management, sends an historic Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) to the Navajo Nation on March 23, 2020. “The Navajo Nation was among the initial alerting authorities, and the first from a tribal nation, to issue a live [WEA] as part of the COVID-19 public health emergency response,” said Bambi Kraus, National Tribal Affairs Advisor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Credit: Navajo Nation

The situation was bleak, and a lot to tackle, but with lives at stake, Becenti set his sights on fixing WEAs, since many Navajos reported being unable to receive them on their cell phones.

After numerous conversations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Becenti began to see the big picture. And the source of the problems.

Becenti began working directly with a host of carriers to resolve technical issues while also enticing major carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile to invest in providing coverage to the Navajo Nation. And while he was able to rectify issues with Android phones that prevented some users from getting WEAs, one smartphone maker was a holdout: Apple. WEAs were inaccessible to phones sold by smaller companies who were unable to order units in the large numbers Apple required for the phones to be fully provisioned to accept WEAs. Becenti and smaller carriers that serve the Navajo Nation made numerous attempts to discuss the situation with Apple, but repeated calls and emails got them nowhere.

Fortuitously, when the FCC invited the public to submit comments about WEA concerns in early 2021, Becenti recognized the Navajo Nation needed to respond immediately. It would be their best chance at getting Apple to pay attention and resolve the situation.

On April 20, 2021, the NNTRC and Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President (OPVP) formally submitted comments to the FCC with the assistance of Washington D.C. area attorney James E. Dunstan of the Mobius Legal Group.

“Thankfully, our concerns were heard loud and clear,” Becenti said.

Within eight months, Apple announced all iPhone users who upgraded their software to iOS15 would have access to WEAs.

Despite feeling like David taking on Goliath, Becenti was amazed by the win. So was the Navajo Nation leadership. After Apple’s announcement, Navajo Nation President Nez said, “The safety of our elders and those most vulnerable is important as we keep our Navajo families informed of any emergency. We can now immediately alert the Navajo people should one of our family members go missing or there exists a public safety threat.”

“Now we have about 99% penetration of WEAs on our wireless devices,” Becenti said. “We just need everyone to update their iPhones to get to 100%.”

To mitigate COVID-19’s devastating impact on the U.S. economy, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law (Pub L. No. 117-2) on March 11, 2021. It built upon many of the measures of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 by ensuring affordability and access to broadband infrastructure for federally recognized Indian tribes/indigenous communities and other rural regions. Additional help followed with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684), signed into law November 15, 2021.

Funding for the construction of new broadband connections across the Navajo Nation primarily stems from Legislation No. 0257-21, which provides more than $1.16 billion in ARPA funding.

In November 2021, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) began accepting applications from tribes for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, which provides $980 million through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. (NTIA limits funding applications to $55 million per tribe.) And by December 1, 2021, the 24th Navajo Nation Council met to discuss allocation of the myriad ARPA funds and grant applications for broadband internet expansion and public safety.

: On January 4, 2022, Navajo Nation leadership signed Resolution CD-62-21, approving $557 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the Navajo Nation. Credit: Navajo Nation

“Through the American Rescue Plan Act, our administration has a proposal before the Navajo Nation Council to allocate $208 million for broadband projects,” said Navajo Nation President Nez. “The Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Office continues to look at many ways of leveraging many sources of funding to expand broadband for homes, first responders, schools, businesses, and others.”

Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer added, “We are very optimistic that these collective efforts will lead to many new towers, fiber lines, and high-quality internet for our Navajo people and communities.”

As millions of dollars in funding awaits approval and allocation, Becenti is working with Navajo Nation leadership to achieve a number of goals, including: creating a single network, FirstNet, to be dedicated for first responders; gradually consolidating the Navajo Nation’s seven emergency dispatch call centers into a single facility that has full 911 routing capabilities; completing the Nation’s rural addressing initiative, which will allow 911 dispatchers to see the caller’s location and develop a database for record-keeping; and partner “in more creative ways” with the Navajo Tribal Authority, the Nation’s utility company.

Beyond the technical achievements, Becenti is most deeply motivated by knowing WEAs are reaching the Navajo Nation and saving lives, while he works to “close the digital divide.”

Six children have been recovered following two separate AMBER Alerts thanks to WEAs that would not have been as widespread as they are now. “Knowing the public can now receive such alerts is an amazing feeling,” Becenti said. “Every minute counts when there’s an active AMBER Alert. We all have to be connected.”

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Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron is a Project Coordinator with the AATTAP, working with its U.S. Territorial and International projects and partners. She also serves as the Region 6 Liaison, which includes these areas.

Prior to her current role, Jesi helped coordinate AATAP’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) program efforts, focusing on team certification and re-certification guidance and support. Jesi also previously served as the AATTAP Region One Liaison, working with the Northeastern state AMBER Alert partners and CART program leaders.

Jesi served as a law enforcement officer in Florida from 1997 through her retirement in 2012. During her career, she was assigned to the Orlando Regional Operations Center Cyber High-Tech Crimes Squad. She was a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Innocent Images Task Force, investigating the online exploitation of children and a member of the Florida Internet Crimes against Children Task Force. Under her leadership as the Central Florida Child Abduction Response Team Coordinator, their greatest achievement was the recovery of Nadia Bloom in 2010. The team became the 13th in the nation and the 4th in the state of Florida to be certified. In 2012, Jesi was awarded the State Law Enforcement Officer of the Year during the Florida Missing Children’s Day.

Jesi has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Florida International University in Miami, Florida, and a Master of Science degree in General Management from St. Thomas University.

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Hear from AATTAP’s CART Program Coordinator, Derek VanLuchene as he is featured in this great overview of and update on CART, which is now evolving and strengthening nationwide! Derek was recently interviewed for OJJDP’s ‘At a Glance’ publication, and offered great insights into AATTAP’s vision for CART and information on the program.

“We work hard every day to make sure agencies have the best, well-planned resources. That’s the heart of CART. Instead of looking for resources, we want them looking for the child.” —Derek VanLuchene, National CART Coordinator, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program

Read the full article here: https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/newsletter/ojjdp-news-glance-januaryfebruary-2022/early-preparation-essential-successful-child-recoveries#early-preparation-is-essential-for-successful-child-recoveries

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The final 2021 issue of the AMBER Advocate features the highlights and key takeaways from the 2021 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Virtual Symposium event. We also bring you a story of the amazing power of AMBER Alert at work in Connecticut with the safe recovery of a special needs 4-year-old in just one hour of the alert's issuance. Meet Florida's Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse Supervisor Jon Roddenberry and learn of his work and dedication to child protection and law enforcement over more than two decades with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Read about AMBER Alert and other endangered missing persons work underway through briefs from across the U.S. and internationally.

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An operation based in New Orleans called “This is The Way Home” rescued or recovered 19 missing and endangered runaways. The U.S. Marshals located or helped return another 20 children during the sweep that ran from March 1 to June 30, 2021, in Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee. The operation included an AMBER Alert that led to the safe recovery of a missing one-month-old boy from Arkansas. Officers also arrested nine adults on charges including felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile and/or contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.

The rock band Soul Asylum has created a new version of its hit song “Runaway Train.” The video for the 1993 tune included images of real-life missing and runaway children. The song and video have been updated with new names and images. “The problem’s never gonna go away, although I think there’s been progress made,” said singer Dave Pirner. “They didn’t have an AMBER Alert back when we made the video...” NCMEC said the original video helped reunite 21 missing children with their families.

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The Dutch National Police agreed to continue using AMBER Alerts after earlier announcing it would use another alerting system. In April 2021, Netherlands was going to switch to using the Burgernet system for child abduction alerts. In September, the Dutch National Police signed an agreement to take over issuing the alerts from AMBER Alert in Europe. Netherlands was an early adopter of AMBER Alerts in 2008 and has pioneered innovative ways to notify the public about abducted children. The Dutch AMBER Alert system has been deployed 1042 times. In 94% of the cases, the child was found alive and well.

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Jon Roddenberry, Florida Clearninghouse Supervisor

Jon Roddenberry has worked for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for 23 years. He has been the supervisor for the Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse (MEPIC) since December of 2019.

Before that Roddenberry worked with the Sex Offender Registry to help locate absconded sex offenders and predators. The FDLE honored Roddenberry and his team in 2017 for Innovation of the Year for locating high-risk sex offenders in Florida.

The Registry and Clearinghouse work closely together and Roddenberry is grateful for the opportunity to use his experience and skills in helping locate missing persons.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert/missing persons program, and what do you think makes it successful?
In 2000, Florida became the second state in the nation to establish a statewide AMBER Alert program and in the years since we have always tried to utilize the latest technologies and systems to assist in alerting the public as well as searching and locating missing persons. Additionally, MEPIC has a squad of crime intelligence analysts that has been trained to not only issue alerts but to utilize the latest analytical and investigative systems in order to assist in the location of missing persons.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?
I have three daughters and always try to approach my job from the perspective of a parent who has a missing child or loved one.

Please share details about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case. How did the AMBER Alert support the outcome? What were the most important lessons learned?
In March 2021, a young male diagnosed as non-verbal autistic wandered off from his home in Jacksonville, Florida. FDLE was contacted by local law enforcement in the area regarding the case and an Enhanced Missing Child Alert was issued by MEPIC. An Enhanced Missing Child Alert is similar to an AMBER Alert but on a smaller scale. It allows MEPIC to issue a targeted Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) to a defined area such as a neighborhood or area within a 5-mile radius of where the child went missing. As a result of the targeted WEA, a citizen who received the alert on their phone saw the child in the area and the child was recovered safely.

What makes these types of cases unique is that autistic children are more likely to wander from their homes. They are often drawn to water and more likely to drown than the general population. During the request for the alert, local law enforcement reported many nearby bodies of water in the immediate area of where the child went missing. So more than likely, the issuance of the alert and subsequent targeted WEA may have saved the child’s life.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert program and other programs in the future?
I would like to see the continued use of the latest technologies to assist in notifying the public on AMBER Alerts. I would also like to see more resources on the state and federal level to assist states with funding to help build their Clearinghouses and missing persons programs in their states.

How has training helped you in AMBER Alert cases?
Training is huge. In MEPIC we do mock AMBER Alert calls on a regular basis with our analysts, alert coordinator and supervisors. This training helps ensure that when MEPIC receives a request for an AMBER Alert that everyone is prepared to disseminate the alert if needed in a timely, accurate and efficient manner. FDLE as an agency also provides strong analytical and professional development training to analysts that assist them in effectively doing their jobs.

What advice would you give to other AMBER Alert partners?
Continue to seek out new technologies to assist with the issuance of alerts. Communicate with other states to inquire what types of alerts they issue and the technology they use to issue the alerts. Provide continual analytical training to your Clearinghouse staff and provide the resources needed for them to effectively do their jobs and assist with locating missing persons.

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Shifting stories, multiple suspects and a missing 4-year-old child with autism: all elements that complicated a case involving an AMBER Alert issued in Connecticut on June 1, 2021. It all began when the mother of the boy asked her brother to babysit.

While babysitting, the uncle said a family friend and known drug addict asked to borrow his car and take the child out but he refused. He called his sister at 11:20 a.m. after he woke up from a nap and told her his car and the child were gone.

The boy’s mother called the Middletown Police Department and reported her son had been missing for 23 hours. Middletown officers requested an AMBER Alert at 6:00 p.m. The alert was approved by the Connecticut State Police 20 minutes later and the child abduction alert was issued at 7:52 p.m.

The alert provided details about the alleged abduction to all state troopers, broadcasters and the public. The alert was also posted on social media, electronic highway signs and a message distributed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

At 8:15 p.m., a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) message was disseminated to local law enforcement agencies and the License Plate Reader (LPR) system was activated. The agency also notified the FBI and state police in New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Authorities discovered the missing vehicle was captured on camera heading south on the Berlin turnpike earlier in the afternoon. They also found the suspect’s cellphone pinging that evening near Wethersfield, Connecticut. Two different citizens called 911 and reported seeing the suspect’s vehicle at a motel in Wethersfield.

Officers found the vehicle but it was empty. A woman at the motel told police she saw two people running into the woods. A K9 officer and police dog began a search and found the suspect and her husband covered in mud.

They also discovered the missing boy crying hysterically. The couple was arrested and the boy was taken to a hospital as a precaution. The case was resolved at 8:52 p.m., exactly one hour after the AMBER Alert was issued.

“The alert provided crucial information to all law enforcement agencies and the child was located in a very timely manner,” said Connecticut State Police Lieutenant and State AMBER Alert Coordinator Robert Derry. “This is just another example of the AMBER Alert system working correctly.”

According to the police report, the suspect said she asked to borrow the uncle’s car to take the boy out. She said she picked up her husband from an emergency room after he had escaped from a halfway house. The woman said they bought cocaine and started getting high with the boy in the car and in the motel room. The woman claimed the child’s uncle had given her permission to take his car and had asked her to babysit.

The uncle later admitted to police that his brother had taken him to work and that he lied to his sister about the circumstances around her son’s disappearance. On June 3, the victim’s uncle was arrested and charged with risk of injury to a child.

Lt. Derry has been a trooper with the Connecticut State Police for 27 years. He is the Commanding Officer for the Central District Major Crime Squad as well as the state AMBER Alert Coordinator. The state police agency has 930 troopers and it manages and coordinates Connecticut’s AMBER Alert program.

“We are here to serve the public in our communities every day,” added Derry. “We all take our roles and responsibilities very seriously. We work very hard to protect the public and to keep everyone safe.”

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Nearly 10,000 Native Americans—more than 7,000 under the age of 18--went missing in 2020. Those statistics from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) were shared at the first virtual AMBER Alert Indian Country Symposium—which was held in conjunction with the National AMBER Alert Symposium on August 17-19, 2021.

Tribal AMBER Alert partners in attendance at this year’s event learned powerful lessons on the accelerated efforts to find missing and abducted children from American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Beyond the startling statistics, these cases represent real people and show that in 2020, homicide ranked as the #3 cause of death for Native American males, and #6 for Native American females. In that same year, 46% of homicides were preceded by an argument, 18% after a physical fight, and 18% involved an intimate partner.

Chris Chaney, Senior Counsel for Law Enforcement and Information Sharing, Office of Tribal Justice, DOJ, shared the findings but warned the overall statistics for Native Americans do not show what is truly happening in each tribal community.

“When you’ve seen one tribe, you’ve only seen one tribe,” said Chaney.

The U.S. has 574 federally recognized tribes—including 229 Alaska Native villages. California has 108 tribes; the remaining 237 are located throughout 34 states. Only 14 states have no tribes, yet all have Native American residents. The Navajo Nation has more than 300,000 members while the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians has 8 members.

Chaney shared recent efforts to protect Indigenous communities, including:

The Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, issued in January 2021, directs “all Executive departments and agencies consult with Indian Tribes and respect Tribal sovereignty as they develop policy on issues that impact Indian communities.”
DOJ invested $1.5 million to hire Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIP) Coordinators in 11 states to provide training and support local response efforts.
The MMIP coordinators created a Tribal Community Response Plan to implement culturally appropriate guidelines when investigating cases of missing and murdered American Indians.
Operation Lady Justice began in 2019 to improve the response to murdered Native Americans, particular missing and murdered women and girls.
Savanna’s Act clarifies federal, state, Tribal and local law enforcement responses to murdered Indian people.
The Not Invisible Act increases intergovernmental coordination in identifying and combatting violent crime within tribal lands.

According to the Indian Law Resource Center, four in five indigenous women have experienced violence, and Alaska Native women report assault rates 12 times higher than other U.S. citizens. On some reservations, indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be murdered.

In the Face of Tragedy: Fierce Hope, Radical Change

At this year’s symposium, AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen welcomed Pamela Foster, “the warrior mother who led the grass roots efforts to establish AMBER Alert in Indian country after her daughter Ashlynne’s abduction and death. Foster remains active in engaging Tribal leaders and government officials across the country to implement AMBER Alert plans and was invited to attend the State of the Union address in 2018, where she had the opportunity to speak with lawmakers.

Foster asked them to support legislation that would expand AMBER Alerts on Native American reservations by clarifying that Indian Tribes are eligible for DOJ grants. She received NCMEC’s Champion Award for her advocacy and efforts to encourage Native American communities to adopt AMBER Alert plans. She continues to work tirelessly, encouraging Indian communities to adapt AMBER Alert programs to protect children from predators.”

“Today marks five years, three months and 17 days since the loss of my daughter Ashlynne,” Foster told participants. “Those heart-wrenching days prompted me to voice my concerns and bring to light the problems that we face in Indian Country. It was the worst way to find out we didn’t have an AMBER Alert when we needed it most.”

Foster tragically learned firsthand about the limited means available in Indian Country when her daughter was abducted and murdered on the Navajo Reservation. On May 2, 2016, her 11-year-old daughter Ashlynne Mike, and 9-year-old son, Ian Mike, were taken by a predator who tricked them into getting into his van. Ashlynne was raped and beaten to death but Ian was able to get away.

After the abduction, Foster learned the Navajo Nation lacked the resources and training to issue an AMBER Alert. Nearly two years after Ashlynne’s death, Foster was instrumental in persuading Congress to pass the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act, a law enhancing the training and technical assistance tribes receive, and which paves the way for tribes to access state AMBER Alert plans. “I became Ashlynne’s voice,” said Foster. “I didn’t want another parent to have to experience what we did. Shortly after her funeral I started advocating in her sweet little spirit. And everywhere I went, I carried her spirit with me, and I brought about awareness of child abduction and missing children and what we can do to safeguard our children on the reservation.”

In closing, Foster offered a beautiful prayer for her daughter, and thanked the participants for their work and dedication. “I am elated by all the work that’s been accomplished since the passage of Ashlynne’s Law,” Foster expressed. “I thank every one of you who work hard to protect our children. I could not have done this without you.”

Resources for Indian Country

Foster worked closely with former AATTAP Administrator Jim Walters to pass the Ashlynne Mike Act and assisted with expanding efforts to help missing and abducted children in Indian Country. Walters spoke at the symposium about the resources needed for tribal AMBER Alert plans.

Walters advocated making sure the plan is able to deliver emergency alerts through as many means as possible like wireless messages, traffic signs, website, email, television and radio. But he said the system should be simple enough so everyone can use it.

“It needs to be something that in the middle of the night, you don’t need a technician or vendor to help with; or something you can get locked out of, or can’t use if there’s an issue,” said Walters.

He added that DOJ provides qualifying tribes with technology toolkits to assist in implementation of Tribal AMBER Alert plans. The kits include mobile tablets, scanners, headsets, web cameras, digital cameras and accessories.

Walters also urged tribal leaders to contact NCMEC. “You’ve got to be ready to reach out to them because they’ve dealt with these programs, and they already have access to them,” he said. “They can tell you what works and what doesn’t work. We forget AMBER Alerts are low-frequency high-risk events; they don’t happen all the time, so we have to train on these things. Exercise and collaborate with partners before you need them.”

Tyesha Wood is a member of the Navajo Nation and the AATTAP Project Coordinator for the AMBER Alert in Indian Country. Before the pandemic, she had been visiting tribes in-person around the country to help set up AMBER Alert and community response plans.

Wood said many Tribal leaders have access to state AMBER Alert coordinators but few had made strong connections with key partners. They also did not know if a response plan was available.

“So, yes, we had AMBER Alerts available to us five to 10 years ago, but when you think about those tribal nations within the United States, there was a disconnection there,” said Wood. “The Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert Act is about making those connections. We know who to call, we know who’s going to be responding. It’s about getting the information and making the resources available to tribal communities.”

Wood said the program can help get documents and flyers to tribes in English and their native languages. She and her AIIC colleagues continue to work with tribes on their response plans.

Wood added it is critical for Tribal leaders to have close contacts with all community members, including representatives from transportation, fire departments, Boys & Girls Clubs, Head Start, and others. “Let’s start talking about it now before something bad happens,” she said.

Ernie Weyand, the MMIP Coordinator in Montana, said Tribal leaders told him they did not want to use the national protocol for their community response plans.

“They didn’t think that would be effective,” said Weyend. “In fact, they really called for something that was specific to their community, to their culture and to their needs.”

Weyend said he is continuing to help tribes develop their own community response plans on how each will specifically respond to missing persons.

Tribal Breakout

As with the other regional breakout sessions held during this year’s virtual symposium, Tribal partners met together during a specific session to network, identify what is working, and what areas need improvement. Topical areas discussed during the Tribal breakout included:

Participation in their State AMBER Alert Plans
Obstacles in Requesting and Issuing an AMBER Alert
Tribal Community Education on AMBER Alert in Indian Country
AMBER Alert Program Partnership
Training Needs

This collaboration opportunity was especially important at this time, as most of the participants have not been able to meet with each other regularly due to the pandemic.

Final Thoughts and A Call to Action

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen concluded the online symposium by sharing her hope that the next national gathering will be in-person. “This is our first time holding the symposium virtually and your attendance was critical in the continued collaboration and improvement of the AMBER Alert program during this pandemic. The fact that children’s lives are put in danger each and every day did not stop with the pandemic, and we must continue to be prepared and respond.”

Rasmussen thanked everyone for being champions for children. “We must continue to be prepared and respond,” she said. “We value your input and suggestions and look for ways to implement initiatives that help to deal with the issues you are facing. You are dedicated and committed to protecting kids, and we appreciate the work that you do each and every day to make this program more successful and protecting children.”

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Nacole Svendgard’s 15-year-old daughter Jessica was excelling in school. She was named first violin in the orchestra and played on the varsity and junior varsity soccer team in Auburn, Washington. Jessica was outgoing, vibrant and lit up the room when she walked in.

Nacole was beyond shocked in 2010 when she came home and found a 5-page letter from Jessica saying she loved her family but was running away and not to worry. The mother of three spoke on the first day of the 2021 National AMBER Alert and AMBER in Indian Country virtual symposium held August 17-19, 2021.

More than 170 participants from 46 states and territories took part in the virtual event to learn, network and identify areas to help strengthen efforts to find missing and abducted children. They included AMBER Alert coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) leaders and other federal, state and Tribal partners.

Jessica’s Story

Nacole learned her daughter was being sex trafficked, raped, beaten and struggling to survive while her pimp was selling her on the online publication Backpage to strangers in Seattle. Nacole reported what happened to law enforcement. She finally got a call from Jessica, but she only said “I can’t come home.”

“I knew trafficking existed,” said Nacole. “I was one of those parents who thought it happened in the Philippines or another third-world country. It didn’t happen in my community and it definitely didn’t happen to my child.”

After 10 days of hunting for their daughter, Jessica approached a police officer and said she had run away and wanted to come home. Nacole explained that following her daughter’s recovery, rather than a clear after-care plan being in place, law enforcement and the community took a hands-off approach at that point and they assumed the teen was safe because she was now home.

Jessica didn’t want to talk to her family about what happened when she was gone. She went back to school, attended church and continued her violin lessons. However, three months later she ran again; lured away after the pimp contacted her on a hidden cellphone.

That’s when Nacole began her efforts to learn more about the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and her state’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse. She sought resources available to families of sex trafficking victims. In explaining this part of the journey in her daughter’s experience, she emphasized the critical importance of those who are involved with endangered, missing and abducted child cases pursuing comprehensive training to learn how to assist victims of exploitation and trafficking, as they rarely say they want help due to the deception, fear, violence, and trauma bonding by which they are entrapped.

Eventually Jessica came home again and the family began therapy and met with other survivors for support. Jessica and her parents generously and bravely participated in the sex trafficking documentaries “I Am Jane Doe” and “The Long Night.” Jessica’s trafficker and one of the “johns” were convicted and sentenced to prison.

“I was 15. I should have experienced a childhood during my teenage years. I should be going to football games,” said Jessica to a network reporter. “Now I’m a proud survivor, a mother, a daughter, a sister. I am all of these things and I want to be known for who I am, and not just what’s happened to me.”

Jessica and her family became advocates for other sex trafficking victims, helped pass legislation and pursued lawsuits that put an end to Backpage. The family was invited to the White House in April 2018 for the signing of changes to the Communications Decency Act.

Comms Decency Act Signing — White House Signing of the Communications Decency Act, April 2018

National Perspective

Chryl Jones, Acting Administrator for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Protection (OJJDP), provided symposium participants with the perspective of the Department of Justice AMBER Alert Program. She noted that more than 1,000 children have been recovered safely because of AMBER Alerts.

Chryl Jones, Acting Administrator, OJJDP

“That number represents a lot of smiles that you’ve returned to the faces of people who couldn’t fathom ever smiling again when their child went missing or was abducted,” said Jones. “Your job is not easy, but it is a worthwhile one. Thank you for your dedication to ensuring the safety and well-being of our nation’s children. You are the heroes they deserve.”

Janell Rasmussen, the newly appointed AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program Administrator (AATTAP), thanked everyone for participating in the first virtual symposium.

“I know firsthand the passion, hard work and dedication that you all put forward in your work to find missing and abducted children,” said Rasmussen. “This work is tireless, it is demanding, it takes a toll on you mentally, physically, and on your heart in ways you never knew possible, but it is also rewarding. You make a true difference in the lives of children, for their families, and for the future of the AMBER Alert program.”

Jayme Closs Case Study

Barron County, Wisconsin, Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald offered a detailed look into the abduction of Jayme Closs on October 5, 2018. The case received national attention when Jake Patterson took the 13-year-old girl after fatally shooting her parents and then keeping her hidden in his home for 88 days until she escaped on January 10, 2019.

Fitzgerald stressed the importance of developing a plan and close relationships with other law enforcement agencies, the media, and community groups - before you face a complicated and high-profile case like this one.

“Because you never know when this day is going to happen,” said Fitzgerald. “I never thought in my career I would touch anything like this, but this happened here--and it happens everywhere.”

The Sheriff said so many people wanted to volunteer to help at first that he had to learn to say no to protect the investigation and his limited resources. He emphasized how important it was to provide plenty of food for everyone working on the case and to have a photographer to document major milestones and the community response. Amidst the length and complexity of the case, he earnestly shared how rewarding it was to find Jayme alive.

“Jayme is doing great now,“ said Fitzgerald. “I just think you never give up hope, no matter how negative it is or how frustrated you are.”

Honoring an AMBER Alert Leader

Mark Simpson, Retired Detective, Arlington, TX, PD and NCJTC Associate

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen presented a special award to Mark Simpson. Simpson was a detective for the Arlington, Texas, Police Department and the lead investigator in the abduction and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman on January 13, 1996. He helped create the first AMBER Alert Plan and has been sharing his knowledge on AMBER Alerts and child abduction investigations through AATTAP course curricula, training events and contributions to the development of multiple resources for more than two decades before retiring this year.

“Mark was always willing to help any AMBER Alert coordinator in any way. His work, his genuine kindness, his passion, are just some of the things that make Mark the legend he is with this program. I cannot imagine the AMBER Alert program without Mark Simpson,” Rasmussen shared. “His work is legendary, and his commitment to this program has been unwavering. How better to recognize Mark today than to honor him in partnership with the coordinators who continue this work across this country and beyond?”

Phil Keith, the first AATTAP Administrator, praised Simpson for his knowledge, integrity and humility. “Integrity is incredibly important when it comes to training; making sure you have individuals who are qualified or experienced, and have a passion to help others gain the insights and abilities to be as successful as the instructors,” Keith said. He noted how Mark’s tenure and training outcomes epitomized his knowledge and integrity.

Jim Walters, his predecessor, also praised Simpson for his willingness to train others. “I’ve never worked with anybody who has a greater knowledge of how to handle or manage an investigation, and at the same time having the empathy and care for the people we serve,” said Walters.

Simpson said he was humbled by the award and that training others about missing and abducted children has been a highlight of his career. “There is no greater group of people than those who are absolutely committed to finding children and bringing those responsible for the crimes they committed to justice,” said Simpson.

Session Presentations

In addition to the USDOJ-OJJDP welcoming message, family perspective presentations from Nacole Svengard (luring and trafficking) and Pamela Foster (Abductions in Indian Country and AMBER Alert needs), and the case study presentation from Sheriff Fitzgerald, symposium participants enjoyed engaging with informative presentations on a variety of topics delivered by subject matter experts in their respective fields. Topics included:

Secondary Trauma and Traumatic Stress
Community Response to High-Risk Missing Victims
Crucial Digital Follow-Up and Recovery in Missing, Runaway and Endangered Child Cases
Long-Term Missing and Unresolved Abduction Homicides
Developing an AMBER Alert Plan for Tribal Communities
Child Abductions: Current Trends in Technology
Search and Canvass in Missing and Abducted Child Cases
Legal Issues in Missing and Abducted Child Cases
Technological and Specific Resources Needed to Support Tribal AMBER Alerts
Updates from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
AATTAP-AIIC Resources for the Field

Networking: Breakout Sessions for Collaboration Across States and Roles

One of the most important components of the symposium took place through regional breakout sessions where participants across states and disciplines could meet (or reconnect) with one another and discuss best practices and challenges through a facilitated series of topical questions, including:

Case Studies: Relevance in training and recommendations for new case study development
Technology advancements such as WEA’s hyperlink integration and geo-fencing
Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training and resource needs
High-risk victims and special needs populations: Understanding, identification and effective response
Best practices for and challenges with multi-state AMBER Alerts
Internet/Social Media luring into sexual exploitation and trafficking: identification and effective response with runaway youth
Effective administration of AMBER Alerts in light of the emergence of multiple public alerts (such as Silver, Blue, Green, etc.)
Best practices for and challenges with multi-state AMBER Alerts
Challenges in providing training during the pandemic

In addition to breakout sessions, the 2021 symposium’s virtual delivery platform, Whova, provided tools and features designed to promote introductions and information/idea sharing, along with session and overall event feedback.

AATTAP-AIIC and NCMEC Resources

In addition to the symposium, AATTAP-AIIC provides a wealth of additional training and resources. AATTAP Project Coordinator Bonnie Ferenbach invited participants to regularly check The AMBER Advocate and AMBER Alert in Indian Country websites for the latest news updates, downloadable resources, and training opportunities, including self-paced eLearning, webinars and live-instructor led courses.

Ferenbach urged AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers and Child Abduction Response Team (CART) leaders to use the secure AMBER Alert Portal located within the AMBER Advocate website; where they will find contact information for colleagues in other states, a partners discussion board, a resource library built upon the AMBER Alert plans and related child protection resources developed by the states, and more.

“You can share with other partners in a secure way, and can share templates, forms and documents that will help other partners so no one has to reinvent the wheel,” said Ferenbach.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a vital AATTAP-AIIC partner. As part of this year’s updates from NCMEC, Dr. John E. Bischoff III, NCMEC’s Vice President of the Missing Children Division, said the organization has expanded efforts to locate children with autism and kids living in tribal communities.

NCMEC Is also revamping the missing children posters for the first time since 2012. The new posters are more mobile-friendly and include QR codes that link to a website with more information about each case.

“We want to make it easier for them to find information, easier for them to share the poster faster and keep that image of a missing child out in the community,” said Bischoff. “So when they see our poster, they know what to do and they can take action right away.”

NCMEC has created new partnerships with the Outdoor Advertising Association for electronic billboards and automated license plate reader (ALPR) companies. The organization is also expanding efforts to collect biometrics (unique physical characteristics) and DNA samples to help track and identify missing children.

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The third 2021 issue of the AMBER Advocate highlights the 2021 National Missing Children’s Day and the remembrances which continue to inspire law enforcement and communities around the globe to join in the important work of bringing missing and abducted children home.

On the front lines of AMBER Alert, read about the safe recovery of an abducted child in which swift and excellent coordination between the St. Joseph Police Department and Missouri Highway Patrol resulted in the issuance of an AMBER Alert within 14 minutes of initial request, and the abductor’s surrender of himself and the child just 47 minutes later.

Also on the front lines, learn how Washington State’s Homeward Bound Program is working with the trucking industry to increase awareness and identification efforts around the state’s missing children.

Meet the other amazing leader in Maryland’s AMBER Alert Coordination team, Deborah Flory, who’s 25-year career with the Maryland State Police and work with that state’s AMBER Alert program since 2003 have proven her relentless dedication to safely recovering missing and abducted children and supporting their families through these terrible experiences.

And finally, read briefs from the U.S. and other countries around the globe for highlights on child protection and public alerting efforts underway.

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Virginia launched a new alert system on July 1, 2021, to be used when adults with autism go missing. Efforts to create the alert started after a 29-year-old woman with autism went missing and drowned in a swampy area a mile away from her home.

The Virginia State Police also began using a new communications platform to notify the public about the state’s six different alerts. Virginia has an AMBER Alert, Senior Alert, Critically Missing Adult “Ashanti” Alert, Missing Child with Autism Alert, and the new alert for missing adults with autism. The platform is designed to get the key details out to the public more quickly.

Gina DeJesus, a woman who was held against her will for 11 years, has partnered with the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Committee to assist families and law enforcement agencies. DeJesus’s organization, the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children, will offer support in cases involving missing or endangered children. DeJesus was 14 when she was abducted and held in a home with two other female teens. You can read more about her story of survival and advocacy efforts for missing children in the June 2019 issue of The AMBER Advocate.

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A majority of parliamentary members in the Netherlands support keeping AMBER Alerts for child abduction notifications instead of adopting a new program called the Burgernet system. The lawmakers passed a motion in June 2021 to stop the change scheduled for July 22. Burgernet is being used by local police for suspects wanted in urgent criminal investigations and government officials say it is cheaper than the AMBER Alert program.

“AMBER Alert has been a success for years. It has enormous reach, great results and works internationally. There’s no reason to throw it away so abruptly,” said Joost Eerdmans, co-sponsor of the motion.

Thousands of Alberta, Canada, residents are speaking out against using the emergency alert for COVID-19 health measures because it may cause people to stop paying attention to other emergencies like AMBER Alerts.

“I totally thought it was an AMBER Alert, I was panicked for whatever child was in danger and that was kind of my initial reaction to it,” said Kimberly Roy.

Government officials say the alerts are needed to prevent further spread of the virus during the worst pandemic in this lifetime.

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Deborah Flory has been with the Maryland State Police since 1996. She is assigned to the Criminal Enforcement Division’s (CED) Child Recovery Unit (CRU) as the AMBER Alert and Silver Alert Coordinator. Her assignment in CED began in 2003, and included the AMBER Alert program. The Child Recovery Unit (CRU) utilizes specialized computer skills and cell phone knowledge to track and locate critical missing and abducted children in Maryland. Flory is also a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Crimes Against Children Task Force, Special Deputy - U.S. Marshal, with full federal authority focusing on trafficking of juveniles.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert/missing persons program, and what do you think makes it successful?
Our program is unique in the fact our unit has full authority to issue an AMBER Alert or Silver Alert. Most programs have a long chain of command or need an outside commission to issue. Our command staff has full trust in our process, which cuts out a lot of wasted time and delays when issuing the alert.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?
The family of the missing. Knowing this is the most critical time and can be the difference between life and death. That’s what motivates me.

Please share details about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case. How did the AMBER Alert support the outcome? What were the most important lessons learned?
The AMBER Alert program has made all our alerts memorable. The alert has worked to make a speedy return or resolution. No matter how much time is lost from the time the missing child is reported until the time a police department makes the AMBER Alert request, in most cases the suspect gets the alert and releases or returns the child.

How have your career and life experiences, including your work as an AMBER Alert Coordinator, strengthened your commitment to helping endangered, missing and abducted children?
When I was assigned to CRU and the AMBER Alert program, I knew I wanted to finish my career here. Nothing is more rewarding than helping missing and endangered children.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert program and other programs in the future?
I would love to see a National AMBER Alert; the time needed to alert other states is too slow.

How has training helped you in AMBER Alert cases?
I would like to think I have attended every missing persons training there is, and every time I learn something new. The technology training alone has helped in locating missing, technologically savvy kids.

What advice would you give to other AMBER Alert partners?
Streamline your process. Time is of the essence.

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Two semi-trucks are now rolling down Washington roadways with images and information about a four-year-old girl who disappeared nearly two decades ago. The Washington State Patrol’s Missing and Unidentified Missing Persons Unit teamed up with Kam-Way Transportation to place age-progressed photos of Sofia Juarez on two of its trucks.

The trucks are part of the Homeward Bound Program and were unveiled on February 4, 2021, 18 years to the day after Sofia went missing in Kennewick, Washington. The missing girl’s family attended the event to showcase the truck trailers with the posters.
“We plead with anybody (who) knows anything,” said Victoria Juarez, Sofia’s aunt. “Please just come forward and let that light shine in that dark area because this family needs closure.”

Washington’s first AMBER Alert was issued for Sofia. Her disappearance has been featured on America’s Most Wanted, the side of a NASCAR race car, Times Square in New York and with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. A special investigator is now reviewing more than 20,000 pages of documents and interviewing people again.

“It’s been a long 18 years since Sofia was taken from her home and family,” said Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg. “The Kennewick Police Department has never forgotten Sofia, nor will we.”

The Homeward Bound Program started in 2006 with another trucking company and once featured 22 missing children. Kam-Way Transportation agreed to assume the program in 2018 after the other company was sold. This is the second child to be featured on Kam-Way trucks.

“The partnership will continue to expand in the coming months with the addition of several more missing children displayed on the side of the trailers,” said Carri Gordon, Washington State AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager. “Kam-Way Transportation has committed to continuing to feature as many children as they are able, with the hopes of bringing them home to their families.”

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Three men burst into a St. Joseph, Missouri, home and took a two-year-old girl at gunpoint and then fled with the child. Police say the non-custodial father had a physical confrontation with the mother before leaving.

The alleged abduction took place on March 15, 2021, at 3:30 p.m. Authorities received the call about the kidnapping seven minutes later.

At 4:20 p.m., communication operators Melanie Stallsworth and Kristen Bartles, with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, took a call about the armed home invasion and child abduction and immediately notified those responsible for issuing alerts.
A conference call with the St. Joseph Police Department was quickly established and an AMBER Alert was requested.

Missouri AMBER Alert Coordinator and State Highway Patrol Captain Corey Schoeneberg said recent events helped inform the decision about whether to issue an alert. This case involved a non-custodial father; and the event occurred less than one month after a separate incident in which a custodial parent killed two of his children before committing suicide.

“Making a judgement call as to what is a credible threat, reasonable threat, sufficient evidence of harm or whatever the language used may be, is not an easy call; and sometimes it is best to err on the side of caution,” said Schoeneberg. “Like all cases, a judgment call was made quickly based on the information available.”

AMBER Alert issued

Alternate AMBER Alert Coordinator Lieutenant Kevin Hunter was on duty and discussed with his team the scope and content of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA). A regional activation was approved, and the AMBER Alert was issued at 4:34 p.m., just 14 minutes after the request was made.

Missouri partners with Twitter and the WEA message includes a uniform resource locator (URL). The link directs the public to Twitter where the public can access the AMBER Alert bulletin.
The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department assisted in the investigation and discovered the suspect’s vehicle – but it was empty. The suspect learned from his former employer about the AMBER Alert and he voluntarily surrendered himself and the child at the St. Joseph Police Department at 5:21 p.m., only 47 minutes after the alert was issued. The AMBER Alert was cancelled three minutes later.

Lessons learned

“Our immediate thoughts revolve around the relevance of the AMBER Alert in this case; however, the fact the child was safely recovered and returned to the mother provides a sense of relief,” said Schoeneberg.

“You always have a huge knot in your stomach every time a child goes missing and you want to make sure that you find that child as quickly as possible; safe, healthy and unharmed,” Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett shared with reporters.

St. Joseph Police Detective Sergeant Jason Strong added that it can be difficult to distinguish whether a child custody situation constitutes an emergency situation, and warrants an AMBER Alert - but he is grateful the alert was issued.

“Being able to engage the public through media, and with alerts and billboards, it’s very helpful,” said Strong. “Statistically, the longer that a child goes missing, the worse the outcome could be. So we want to get a child back as soon as possible.”

After each AMBER Alert, a review takes place on what worked and what can be improved to get a full perspective on the incident. Schoeneberg said they reached the conclusion the alert went to a broader area than necessary, but overall the alert worked exactly as it should.

“This case highlights the role communications personnel, even when not directly involved in the investigation, can have on the notification process,” said Schoeneberg. “Time is such a critical component of any missing child, and communications personnel realized the circumstances may meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert. This decision saved precious minutes and expedited contact with AMBER Alert Program Coordinators.”

Recognition for a job well done

On April 28, the Missouri State Highway Patrol honored the two communications operators for their roles in saving the child. Kristen Bartles said their training at the law enforcement academy was critical to their ability to act quickly.

“While I was down there, we had (Assistant Chief Paula Heckes) come to speak with my class, basically saying, in the event of any kind of possible alert, notify them immediately,” said Bartles.

Melanie Stallsworth said she is grateful communications operators are being recognized for their role in AMBER Alerts.

“You don’t have to carry a gun, you don’t have to be out in the field,” said Stallsworth. “You can still serve our public; you can still serve law enforcement and not be one of the guys on the front line.”

Looking back, Schoenberg said every AMBER Alert partner in Missouri has the same goal: “The motivation of all those involved is based on the fundamental duty to safeguard lives and protect the innocent.”

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For nearly four decades the U.S. has been recognizing National Missing Children’s Day as a way to raise awareness of missing and abducted children and to teach parents how to keep kids safe. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25 as National Missing Children’s Day, six years after Etan Patz went missing. The disappearance of the six-year-old New York City boy launched a movement to create legislation and programs to better understand the scope and scale of issues around missing children, and to respond more effectively to locate and safely recover them.

In 2001, May 25 was also recognized as International Missing Children’s Day, thanks to the efforts of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) and the European Commission. The forget-me-not flower is recognized as the emblem for the international day.
“We remember today all missing children; those who have been recovered and reunited with their families and those who have not come home,” said Janell Rasmussen, Administrator for the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP). “We honor them and their families as their fight continues, and we support and advocate for them daily as we stand side by side with them to protect, recover and reunite all children. We also honor all those who have done so much to protect children, recover the lost and prosecute the predators across the nation.”

2021 National Missing Children’s Day

On this year’s 38th annual National Missing Children’s Day, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recognized those who have made extraordinary efforts in protecting children from harm and bringing perpetrators to justice. While an in-person awards ceremony did not take place due to precautions around the COVID-19 pandemic, the DOJ continued its tradition of presenting law enforcement and community awards through virtual and other web platforms.

Four detectives and one sergeant of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office’s Central California Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force were recognized for their joint investigation that resulted in the arrest of 34 sexual predators. The officers received the Attorney General’s Special Commendation for “Operation COVID Chatdown.” The summer 2020 campaign targeted perpetrators who sought to take advantage of the increased presence of children online during the pandemic.

“These five highly skilled and resourceful officers uncovered a well-organized and very disturbing scheme to exploit and harm children in the midst of a pandemic when young people were especially vulnerable to online predators,” said Amy Solomon, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department’s Office of Justice Programs.”

The DOJ also honored others for their efforts to protect children:

Missing Children’s Citizen Award - U.S. Postal Service employee Keith Rollins received the award for helping locate a 2-year-old boy who went missing after he followed an adult out of his house.
Missing Children’s Law Enforcement Award - Addison, Illinois, Police Department Sergeant Stefan Bjes was recognized for training 15 police departments across the Midwest and presenting at national police conferences about enhancing the safety of children with special needs.
Missing Children’s Child Protection Award - Amanda Leonard and Kaleilani Grant from the Hawaii Attorney General’s Missing Child Center received the award for implementing Operation Shine the Light, a joint effort between law enforcement and non-profit agencies to help recover 180 missing children from November 2019 to November 2020.
Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest - Dodge City, Kansas, fifth-grader Heidy Jimena Perez Veleta was honored as the winner of the national poster contest for her artwork which depicts two hands forming a heart around a small child.

Click here for more details about each of the National Missing Children’s Day honorees.

Other 2021 National Missing Children’s Day Activities

Law enforcement agencies and child advocacy groups also recognized National Missing Children’s Day at the state and local level. Here is a small sample of activities held:

In Cleveland, Ohio, the FBI and Cleveland Police Department set up a booth at a shopping mall to offer tips to parents on how to keep their kids safe.
In Rochester, New York, cyclists participated in a 350-mile, cross-state ride to raise awareness and funds for missing children efforts and to celebrate the life of Brittanee Drexel, who went missing in 2009.
In Dallas, Texas, the Texas Center for the Missing and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas used digital billboards throughout the state to show an age-progressed photo of Maria Elizalde, a 17-year-old girl who went missing in 2015.

2021 International Missing Children’s Day

ICMEC and AMBER Alert Europe, the umbrella organization for most child abduction alert systems in Europe, highlighted this year’s International Mission Children’s Day by releasing a video showing how a TikTok dance challenge is being used to educate teenagers about signs of child grooming. The viral video kicked off a global prevention campaign #CheckBeforeYouChat. A month before May 25, the song “Love Birds,” secretly containing the five stages of online grooming in its lyrics, was officially released on the popular TikTok app. Another video was released later showing the dancers standing still and revealing the true meaning behind the TikTok challenge. More information about the campaign can be found here.

AMBER Alert Europe recently released its 2020 Annual Report, which documents that 800,000 people go missing in Europe each year, with half of those missing being children. In its ongoing work, the organization reports the formation of new alliances with national police forces in Finland, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Kosovo, Serbia, North-Macedonia, and Hungary; and with NGOs and child protection agencies in Greece, Albania, Israel, Portugal and Spain. Click here for the full report.

The Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) leveraged International Missing Children’s Day to draw greater attention to cases of missing children across Canada. The society is urging the public to sign up for alerts and help in the search for missing children.

Final Thoughts

AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen also used the day to discuss future activities to protect missing and abducted children. Those efforts include holding virtual meetings in 2021 to discuss strengths and challenges for all state AMBER Alert and Missing Children Clearinghouse programs. The “50 States Initiative” will include facilitated discussions with key program representatives from each state and will focus on understanding their needs around training and technical assistance which can inform and support best practices for law enforcement response and processes related to AMBER Alert and related public alerting programs.

“Each child recovered as a result of an AMBER Alert, good police work and involvement and help from the public is a success,” added Rasmussen. “We work continuously to improve our program in providing training, technical assistance and resources through the U.S. Department of Justice to help law enforcement and other child protection workers to prevent abductions and quickly recover missing children.”

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The second 2021 issue of the AMBER Advocate features a tribute to outgoing AATTAP Administrator Jim Walters, with reflections of gratitude offered from AMBER Alert partners across the nation as part of a virtual farewell event held in his honor.

On the front lines of AMBER Alert, read about a February 2021 child abduction in which a Minnesota woman’s rapid response to the AMBER Alert on her cell phone helped police safely recover the child just seven minutes later.

In remembrance of Ashlynne Mike’s abduction and murder 5 years ago, her mother, Pamela Foster, shares how she and others honored Ashlynne through what is now an annual walk to keep her memory alive and continue to increase awareness of the importance of AMBER Alert in Indian Country.

Meet Maryland’s AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager, Carla Proudfoot, a highly experienced and tireless professional working to protect children and support operational readiness for law enforcement’s effective response to endangered missing and abducted children in her state.

Read briefs from the U.S. and other countries around the globe for highlights on child protection and public alerting efforts underway.

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Tennessee will require parents to report missing children after two days, or face increased penalties. “Evelyn’s Law” goes into effect on July 1, 2021, and also requires parents to notify law enforcement within 24 hours if a missing child is 12-years-old or younger. The law was passed after the mother of 15-month-old Evelyn Boswell did not notify law enforcement that their daughter was missing until months later. The mother was charged after the child was found two and a half weeks later.

Tennessee’s Holly Bobo Act is now in effect which raises the age limit for missing person alerts. The law increases the age limit from 18 to 21 to notify the public for an endangered missing person.

State legislators are also considering a Silver Alert to notify the public for missing and vulnerable adults. Alzheimer’s Tennessee is lobbying legislators for issuance of an alert for missing adults with dementia, disabilities, or impairments.

The Wisconsin legislature is considering creating a Purple Alert to help find missing and endangered domestic violence survivors. The law would eliminate any waiting period before law enforcement can issue a statewide notification with the missing person’s picture and information.

Florida lawmakers are considering a Purple Alert also; however, it would be used by law enforcement for a missing adult with a developmental disability. State Senator Lori Berman says she wants the alert in place after a man died while wandering away from a care center.

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Law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands plan to replace AMBER Alert and Missing Child Alert notifications in July with a separate citizen warning system called Burgernet. Minister of Justice and Security Ferd Grapperhaus said the change will create a more coherent, centralized service for warnings about criminal suspects as well as missing adults and children.

AMBER Alert Europe President and Founder Frank Hoen believes the switch is a mistake. “When the term ‘AMBER Alert’ is mentioned people know that a missing child is in danger,” he said. “We are gravely worried that with the disappearance of the AMBER Alert, the collaboration between the public and the police will also vanish.”

AMBER Alert Netherlands estimates 95 percent of the Dutch public knows about the purpose of the AMBER Alert. Since November 2008, the Netherlands issued 30 AMBER Alerts and 1,010 Missing Child Alerts. The missing children were found safe in 94 percent of cases, often with the assistance of the public.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is endorsing a new search network to help in high-risk missing children investigations. The Missing Children Society of Canada’s (MCSC) Child Search Network provides police with the ability to share information and collaborate with one another and the public to help find high-risk missing children who do not meet the AMBER Alert criteria. The system has a database with real-time details about missing children cases. A date for release of the network is pending.

The International Cold Case Analysis Project is teaming up with the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) of AMBER Alert Europe. The collaboration will also include Locate International, the Police Academy of Lower Saxony, and several British and Australian Universities. The project enables young police officers and students to establish a close link between theory and practice in cold cases. The goal is to help families across Europe find closure after the disappearance of a loved one. The project has already help bring in leads about a 1991 murder in Germany.

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Carla Proudfoot has been with the Maryland Center for Missing and Unidentified Persons since October 1985. She is the state’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager and assisted in the creation and implementation of the Maryland AMBER Alert Program in August 2002.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert/missing persons program, and what do you think makes it successful?

Our AMBER Alert plan is only activated by the Maryland State Police on behalf of other police agencies in the state. We strive to get the alert out as quickly as possible; we have timed the process, and have seen dissemination within eight minutes. I think having one entity issuing, vetting the information, and making the decision makes it happen very quickly. Only the AMBER Alert coordinators make the decision, based on each case meeting the criteria.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?

I ran away when I was 12. I vividly remember what it was like. In my opinion, it seems as though the “runaway” is not a concern for the general public, unless it’s their child. These children need help, and they don’t get any.

Please share details about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case. How did the AMBER Alert support the outcome? What were the most important lessons learned?

Unfortunately, the one I remember most was the first one, but it did not end well. The child was deceased before the parent ever reported the child missing. Most of our success stories are because of issuing the AMBER Alert. The abductor sees the alert and leaves the child somewhere, or contacts the police or reporting person.

How have your career and life experiences, including your work as a Clearinghouse Manager strengthened your commitment to helping endangered, missing, and abducted children?

I am very passionate in getting help for the kids falling through the cracks. Sometimes too passionate. In 36 years, I’ve seen some change, but not nearly enough. I have been saying for too many years that the kids need help now, the current system in place is not helping. No one wants to provide money to help, but if they don’t receive some help, we will be paying for them in the future when they are part of our homeless population or dealing with HIV, drug or alcohol addiction, etc.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert program and other programs in the future?

I would like the AMBER Alert and the Silver Alert to be the only alerts. The more alerts there are, the less likely people will pay them any attention.

How has training helped you in AMBER Alert cases?

I believe it has helped that the AMBER Alert plans are similar and share much the same criteria. Meeting and working with other state coordinators has assisted us in cases where the child has been taken to another state. We know them, they know us, and as a result we meet with very little opposition in gaining assistance.

What advice would you give to other AMBER Alert partners?

Stick to the criteria, and keep politics out of it as much as possible. Remember the reason for the alert is to save a child’s life.

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Contributed by Pamela Foster, mother of Ashlynne
May 2, 2021, will mark five years since the abduction of my children Ashlynne and Ian Mike. Ian was at a tender age of 9 and still very young and spent a majority of his time cementing his relationship with his sister. Ashlynne was 11 and she was in the “in-between” years of 9 and 12 and was flourishing as she moved through her childhood. I was blessed with two amazing children and life was just about as perfect as it could be. I’m not sure how to begin the story of the abduction of my children, but I can say we were “not ready” for the shock that occurred that day.

On the morning of May 2, 2016, Ian and Ashlynne woke up like any other morning, they got dressed for school, gave a round of morning hugs and off they went to school not knowing the terror that awaited them. My children were abducted after school from their school bus stop and my sweet angel never made it home.

Since that horrific day, I became my children’s advocate, fought for Justice, and raised awareness about the lack of AMBER AMBER Alert programs across Indian Country. With hard work from so many dedicated leaders who saw the loop hole in the system, we were able to pass the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018 on April 13, 2018.

I am elated we now have the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country program, a life-saving system for our indigenous children and their families. Tears flow down my cheeks because I am so passionate about making a change, and the very source of my movement started from the grassroots. Not sure if I’d get this far, I put all my faith in Ashlynne and the universe. My angel was with me in spirit every step of the way.

Since the tragedy, we remember Ashlynne with an annual walk. Unfortunately, we were not able to gather this year with each other like last year. Because the spirit of the walk is important to us, this year we met virtually.

On May 2, 2021, we honored Ashlynne and our thoughts were with our beautiful angel. A time to commemorate her life, a day in which we give so much respect to her. Although she is no longer with us, she is still moving mountains and her spirit still lives on. There’s always a special feel in the air when I’m working and doing things for her and I know she is with me/us. We love her dearly; she has touched the lives of so many people during her short time on earth. Eleven beautiful years filled with cherished memories, and they are kept safe in our hearts.

By commemorating this day to Ashlynne, we remember the times we shared together, celebrations from her birth to her death, and all the milestones in between. We will never forget those precious moments, the twinkle in her eyes, the sound of her laughter.

Some Oklahoma lawmakers are seeking enactment of the Kasey Alert Act to address the problem of missing and murdered Native Americans. The bill is named after 26-year-old Kasey Russell who went missing five years ago. The law would enable law enforcement to send out an emergency message to phones and road safety signs, similar to an AMBER Alert, for adults ages 18 to 59 who are believed to be in danger. Last year, Oklahoma passed Ida’s Law, which makes investigating missing and murdered Indigenous women easier for law enforcement.

A new report finds Wyoming’s Indigenous residents have a disproportionately higher homicide rate than the general population. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon created the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Task Force in 2012 and assigned the group to address the barriers for investigating and helping victims. The report finds Indigenous people make up less than 3% of Wyoming’s population, yet account for 21% of homicide victims. These rates are also higher than the national average.

Tribal communities identified three key barriers to consistent reporting and response to cases.
Lack of trust in law enforcement and/or the judicial process.
Absence of a single point of contact among law enforcement, agencies and communities to help families navigate the system.
Perceived lack of information concerning the timely progress of an investigation or judicial proceeding.

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The premise of the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” is that cars can be stolen in a minute or less. Unfortunately, that short time frame was the real-life situation after a mother left her one-year-old son in the back of her vehicle to grab something from their Minneapolis, Minnesota, home before leaving.

At 12:21 p.m. on February 6, 2021, the mother’s white Jeep Grand Cherokee was taken with her baby still inside. The Minneapolis Police Department contacted the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) at 12:52 p.m. about issuing an AMBER Alert.

Janell Twardowski, Minnesota AMBER Alert Coordinator

“The situation met Minnesota’s AMBER Alert criteria for a stranger abduction, so the BCA quickly worked with the Minneapolis Police Department to gather the information and issue an alert,” said Janell Twardowski, Minnesota AMBER Alert Coordinator.

BCA issued the AMBER Alert at 1:49 p.m. through the Minnesota Crime Alert Network, Wireless Emergency Alert, and the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Under the Minnesota plan, the EAS messages are broadcast on radio and television and a Crime Alert is distributed to media outlets statewide.

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are sent to all compatible cellphones in Minnesota. The alert is also shared on social media and goes to electronic highway signs and billboards.

“It was winter in Minnesota; the weather added a heightened concern with the low temperatures that day,” added Twardowski.

The AMBER Alert was heard and seen by thousands of Minnesota residents, including Barbara Gusse. She saw the alert on her phone while she was feeding the birds outside her Brooklyn Center home.

Gusse grabbed her birdwatching binoculars and focused on a SUV that had been idling for about 20 minutes at a church parking lot across the street. She checked the license plates and discovered the plate was an exact match with the vehicle in the AMBER Alert.

Gusse contacted the police at 2:40 p.m. Seven minutes later, police confirmed the child was safe and asked for the alert to be canceled.

WCCO reporter Justin DeRusha interviewed Gusse shortly after the child was found. DeRusha’s cellphone interview was shared on Twitter and has since gone viral with more than 300,000 views. “I was crying,” Gusse said. “I’m just so happy. I could hear that little thing crying when they opened the door. I’m just glad he’s OK.”

Gusse said she is not a hero—just a grandmother of nine who wanted to make sure the child was safe. The Minnesota AMBER Alert Coordinator said Gusse’s actions played a significant role in the safe recovery of the child.

“Her keen awareness to notice the vehicle parked in her neighborhood and quick actions to notify authorities were remarkable and were exactly what we ask the public to do when an AMBER Alert is issued,” said Twardowski.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was so impressed with what happened he named February 9, 2021, as “Barbara Gusse Day.” The mayor posted his delivery of the proclamation on Facebook.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey presents Barbara Gusse with the “Barbara Gusse Day” proclamation

“You are that important to our city,” said Mayor Frey. “You certainly saved a life and you should be honored. We as a city are eternally grateful for (your) attentiveness and swift action that led to the heartwarming end of a terrifying day.”

Minnesota’s AMBER Alert Plan has been operational since 2002. BCA has issued 39 AMBER Alerts as of May 1, 2021. Minnesota’s AMBER Alert Program has established many partnerships that provide resources to disseminate AMBER Alert information as quickly as possible throughout Minnesota.

Twardowski said training and preparedness are instrumental when issuing an AMBER Alert. Each alert is different she said, so continuous education and training is needed to ensure AMBER Alerts are activated smoothly and effectively.

“The AMBER Alert Plan worked just as it is meant to work,” said Twardowski. ” Working with our partners and the public to find missing and abducted children is rewarding work. I am honored to be part of the AMBER Alert Program in Minnesota.”

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When Jim Walters looks back at all the accomplishments he made while he was the program administrator for AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), his biggest feat may be fulfilling a promise to a distraught mother. Walters pledged to Pamela Foster to make a real difference in helping missing and abducted children in Indian Country after her daughter was abducted and murdered.

Ashlynne Mike was kidnapped and killed May 2, 2016, near Shiprock on the Navajo Nation Reservation. The case highlighted gaps in public safety preparedness and coordination for tribal children across the country.

Walters worked with Foster to pass the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act in April 2018. The new federal law supports integration of tribal AMBER Alert plans with state plans and provided grants to help tribes improve communications and responses for missing and abducted children in Indian Country.

“What I have enjoyed most about working with Jim is his kindness and compassion,” said Foster. “I felt like I was with a superhero when my world was falling apart. He believed in me to make changes for a better tomorrow, for our native children. I could not have done what I did without his help.”

Before Walters became the program administrator, he had overseen the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative (AIIC) for ten years; and for six years during that same time period he also headed the Southern Border Initiative (SBI), coordinating child abduction recovery efforts in Mexico and U.S. border states.
“Tribes face a number of challenges; ones most of us don’t consider on a day-to-day basis,” said Walters. “I remember this officer who told me how the training really helped when an AMBER Alert was issued. I believe drawing on the right resources and improving the speed and efficiency of their response can make the difference between the safe recovery of children - or losing them.”

Walters officially retired as program administrator for the AMBER Alert program in February 2021, but said his heart will never be far from its people—especially the children. During his tenure, Walters expanded efforts with Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training, AIIC, SBI, and provided important leadership with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, guiding all aspects of AATTAP as staff and associates worked to swiftly create additional modes for training and technical assistance delivery, including virtual, live instructor-led training (VILT), virtual meetings for regional and state-level events, and increased marketing toward greater awareness of AATTAP’s existing on-demand, self-paced eLearning courses and recorded webinars.

Those who have worked with Walters on the AIIC Initiative say his work to help tribes has been unparalleled.

“Jim elevated tribal nations to the level where they could receive education and training to protect their children,” said Tyesha Wood, AIIC Project Coordinator. “He is the wind beneath my wings.”

“Thank you so much Jim for all you do for Indian Country,” added Chelsa Seciwa, AATTAP-NCJTC Project Specialist. “God bless you. May our Creator watch over you.”

Those remarks were given during a ‘surprise’ online farewell tribute, held February 19 via Zoom. AMBER Alert partners from around the country gathered to offer their thoughts and thanks to Walters.

Janell Rasmussen joined AATTAP as its new program Administrator in February, working with Walters to transition into the new role. She brings to the position nearly 20 years of experience through her coordination of the Minnesota AMBER Alert Program and related child protection work with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Rasmussen helped launch the AMBER Alert program in Minnesota in 2002, serving as the state coordinator while also supervising the state Missing Persons Clearinghouse for 16 years.

Rasmussen also brings with her the experience and insights of having collaborated with other AMBER Alert partners and AATTAP for many years through state-level training, regional events, and national networking at AATTAP symposium gatherings. Most recently, she served as AATTAP’s Region 3 Liaison before accepting the program administrator position. Rasmussen is the third program administrator since Phil Keith led the US Department of Justice’s launch of AATTAP in 2004.

Rasmussen expressed her gratitude for Walters’ work with AMBER Alert. “Thank you for your dedication to protecting kids and for your work with the AMBER Alert program,” she said. “Your passion for the AMBER Alert Program will live on through your team and the partners that have come together to protect kids as a result of your work. We will make you proud.”

Not surprisingly, Walters said the credit goes to everyone who supported him. “None of this happened because of me,” he said. “It was every one of you that made this happen. You have a very special place in my heart for what you have done for the families we serve.”

“Thank you for your genuine heart and your leadership. You certainly paved the way and will leave a legacy for so many.” Yesenia Leon-Baron, Region 1 AATTAP Liaison

“We’re seeing a lot of good things happen with the AMBER Alert program across the board and you’re responsible for making us all shine.” Derek VanLuchene, AATTAP CART Program Coordinator

“Jim really stresses the importance of teamwork and the common goal - to recover a missing child and reunite a family. ” Beth Alberts, Texas Center for the Missing CEO

“Jim’s commitment to child safety is unmatched. His contributions to the AMBER Alert program and his extensive training of law enforcement and other child-serving professionals has certainly made this world a safer place for children.” John E. Bischoff III, NCMEC Missing Children Division VP

“I enjoy Jim’s passion. He makes you feel like you are his best friend and that you are important to him. ” Regina Chacon, New Mexico AMBER Alert Coordinator

“I enjoy Jim’s sense of humor, his compassion and willingness to support others.” Helen Connelly, NCJTC-FVTC Associate

“I have enjoyed and will remember Jim most for his professionalism and dedication to everything he does.” Byron Fassett, JCJTC-AATTAP Program Manager

“Jim is a ‘go to’ person for knowledge and experience; we will definitely miss having him here.” Carri Gordon, AATTAP Region 5 Liaison

“Jim is a legend in the AMBER Alert/missing children/child protection community. His energy, ideas and passion uplifts all of us working in the field when we need it most.“ Amanda Leonard, Hawaii Missing Children’s Center Coordinator

“Jim has a huge heart and really cares about the people he works with and teaches. I will miss his smiling face, his encouraging manner and his humor.” Cindy Neff, New York Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager

“Jim has a lot of great ideas and isn’t afraid to try things that we don’t typically do.” Jill Nysse, NCJTC-AATTAP Project Coordinator

“It’s something special to have colleagues you can work with so easily and joyfully, which we are lucky to see a lot of in the AMBER Community, especially with Jim.” Carly Tapp, NCMEC Program Specialist

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May 25, 2021: As we come together today as a Nation to commemorate the 38th National Missing Children’s Day, we do so virtually, which we have become accustomed to over the last year. While the world has adapted to social distancing, working from home and communicating virtually, our front-line workers have continued to work diligently in responding to missing children cases and working tirelessly to bring them home.

We remember today all missing children; those who have been recovered and reunited with their families, and those who have not come home. We honor them and their families as their fight continues, and we support and advocate for them daily as we stand side by side with them to protect, recover and reunite all children. We also honor all those who have done so much to protect children, recover the lost and prosecute the predators across the nation.

It is an honor to be working with you as the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program Administrator on this day. Each child recovered as a result of an AMBER Alert, good police work, and involvement and help from the public is a success. We work continuously to improve our program in providing training, technical assistance and resources through the U.S. Department of Justice to help law enforcement and other child protection workers to prevent abductions and quickly recover missing children. Through these efforts, we endeavor to work closely with our state, local and tribal partners to develop strategies to quickly locate missing and abducted children.

Our AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) staff and regional liaisons are working with every state AMBER Alert and missing children program throughout 2021 to hold virtual meetings to discuss program strengths and successes, areas for growth and improvement, training needs and more; all with a focus on how AATTAP can support operational readiness for effective response to cases of endangered, missing and abducted children. These facilitated meetings will include key representatives from each state and will focus on the best practices across first response, case investigation, support and advocacy for the family and survivors, and ongoing case management. Across this ’50 States’ initiative and beyond, AATTAP will focus on supporting ongoing and productive communication and collaboration to support those working in the field everyday to protect our children.

In closing, I invite you to join us in recognizing the 2021 National Missing Children’s Day awardees. Today and every day, let us remember that the work done on behalf of endangered missing and abducted children never ceases.

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In This Issue:

The first 2021 issue of the AMBER Advocate features AATTAP’s efforts to keep training opportunities alive through virtual, live instructor-led training and self-paced eLearning, in light of the unprecedented changes the COVID pandemic has brought to travel and onsite training. On the ‘Front Lines’ of AMBER Alert programs across the nation, this issue highlights the Utah AMBER Alert, law enforcement, and public’s rapid response to the November 2020 abduction of a 10-month-old infant. Read about AMBER Alert success in Indian Country as the Navajo Nation demonstrated its readiness in response to a November 2020 abduction of two sisters. And meet another dedicated partner in the AMBER Alert network, Corporal Shawn Kofluk, Pennsylvania AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager.

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The Canadian Emergency Alert System was tested again on November 25, 2020, to make sure the emergency alerts are effectively reaching cellphones, radio, and TV stations. Past tests have revealed technical issues that led to notification delays. Authorities are still working to make sure the system is compatible with different networks and cell towers. The Alert Ready system has been used more than 170 times since it was launched on January 1, 2020, and its notifications can be sent by emergency management officials, warning of severe weather or when there is an imminent threat to life. The alerts have been valuable in warning the public and have also prompted the public to provide tips.

The Ontario Provincial Police have also begun using Alert Ready to keep residents safe and notify the public about AMBER Alerts. The system has been used four times in Ontario since July 2020.

The Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) in Europe has grown to include more than 80 members in 30 countries. The network is part of AMBER Alert Europe and recently added eight new law enforcement members from Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, North-Macedonia, and Serbia. The PEN-MP is the official European missing persons police network, consisting of police experts in the field of missing persons.

The PEN-MP is also connecting organizations in different countries on a project to analyze cold- and long-term missing persons cases. The network will work with different police academies and universities all over the world. Four disciplinary teams are now analyzing an attempted child homicide and long-term missing person’s case in Germany. More cases are expected to be analyzed in 2021.

Slovenia hosted a digital conference on missing persons cases for PEN-MP officers on November 3, 2020. Law enforcement officers shared a missing person case in Poland and offered insight on the correlation between online grooming and missing children.

Organizers hope the event will help different European countries to better connect when a missing person case crosses national boundaries. “We all know that law enforcement cooperation is of the utmost importance when it comes to missing person cases, not only nationally but also across borders,” said Mr. Jože Senica, Deputy Director General of the Slovenian National Police.

AMBER Alert Europe is now partnering with the WePROTECT Global Alliance, an international organization working to stop child sexual abuse and exploitation. The partnership follows up AMBER Alert Europe’s 2020 #DontBeAnEasyCatch campaign, which warned children about online grooming. “Awareness of online child sexual abuse and exploitation is still lacking. With this partnership, we can strengthen the efforts to better protect children in Europe,” said Frank Hoen, Chairman and Founder, AMBER Alert Europe.

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A U.S. hacker asserts he can break into the U.S. and Canadian Emergency Alert Systems and claims he could send a nationwide message through both systems. He said he was able to discover passwords from key manufacturers to access their systems. “Theoretically I can send anything from a volcano warning to the entire U.S. to an AMBER alert. If I really wanted, I could send out custom messages too,” he said. The hacker also warns of others with the same technological know-how.

In November 2020, hackers gained access to Florida’s emergency communications channel and sent an unauthorized message to the state’s emergency response team. “The fact that someone would use an emergency alert system for their own purpose, whatever it is, is both irresponsible and unlawful,” said Jason Mahon, communications director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been asked to investigate.

A Pennsylvania state legislator wants to crack down on hit-and-runs by creating a “Jay Alert” which would notify body shops after an incident occurs. Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Williams said the law was inspired by an eight-year-old girl who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home from school. The suspect was caught after a body shop owner notified police. The law would expand the AMBER Alert system and send descriptions of vehicles in hit-and-runs to all state body shops.

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Corporal Shawn Kofluk is the Pennsylvania Missing Person Clearinghouse Manager and AMBER Alert Coordinator. He is the supervisor of the Criminal Investigation Assessment Unit (CIA) at the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) and supervises seven AMBER Alert designees.

Kofluk has done undercover work and has been with the PSP for more than 25 years. He’s been involved in numerous homicide and large-scale criminal investigations—including cases involving the Nalani Johnson abduction and murder, child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky, serial murderers, outlaw motorcycle gangs, and a prison guard who was convicted as a serial rapist.

Kofluk has received numerous awards and commendations, including Trooper of the Year. He was recently interviewed for an episode of the TV show “Bloodline Detectives.”

He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and worked in the mental health field for several years prior to going into law enforcement. He is married with four children.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert and missing persons programs, and what do you think makes them successful?

Currently we have eight AMBER designees who can issue both AMBER Alerts and Missing Endangered Person Alerts (MEPA). We implemented a policy requiring monthly trainings and mock alerts to keep everyone prepared.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?

Probably the thought of my own children being abducted or missing. Having seen these types of investigations and knowing what abductors are capable of gives me with perspective. This is a parent’s worst nightmare and I never want to see any family go through something like this.

Tell us about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case. How did the AMBER Alert support the outcome? What were the most important lessons learned?

The very first AMBER Alert I issued involved multiple children. I was experiencing technical issues with our software and kept running out of time for the recording because we had so much descriptive information for the children and abductor. As soon as I got the recording right, some background noise ruined it.

Regardless, I stayed calm and I was able to work through all the problems. We issued the AMBER Alert and recovered the children safely. I learned that as long as I stay calm and rely on all resources, we can work through any issues that may arise.

How have your career and life experiences, including your work as an AMBER Alert Coordinator, strengthened your commitment to helping endangered, missing, and abducted children?

I have a unique perspective because I’m a parent and I have investigated many horrible crimes over the years. Once you become involved with the AMBER Alert program, it sort of takes on a life of its own, and you find yourself becoming very protective over your state’s program. It helps me understand the importance of protecting the integrity of our program.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert program and other programs in the future?

I would like to see our AMBER Alert program continue to grow and find new ways to get AMBER and MEPA alerts out quicker. I would also like to see our CIA Unit continue to provide training to state and municipal law enforcement entities to prepare them to respond to an abducted child emergency.

We are working on a new initiative involving an annual web-based training that will be mandatory. This training would provide our people with knowledge on how to activate an AMBER Alert, the activation criteria, and the importance of speed when issuing and responding to these types of emergencies.

How has training helped you in AMBER Alert cases?

Training is crucial. In my opinion, you can never have enough. Whether you are training first responders on how to handle a child abduction emergency or training AMBER Alert designees on how to actually put out an alert, it all has one goal in mind, the quick response and activation of the alert to save the life of a child.

Our unit teaches as much as we can, and we are always looking to find new audiences and formats to push out training. We are constantly educating and updating police officers, prosecutors, judges, lawmakers, members of the media, and the public about our AMBER Alert program.

What advice would you give to other AMBER Alert partners?

Implement policies requiring training within your department on how to respond to child abduction emergencies, time factors involved, and issuance procedures for an AMBER Alert. Our policy requires officers to take the training, so they better understand the program.

Institute a training protocol for AMBER Alert designees that includes holding drills and other exercises to prepare for issuing an alert. The policy is needed so folks don’t become lazy.

Push for checklists within your department, specifically for first responding officers. The checklists ensure officers have all the appropriate information needed for issuing an AMBER Alert which helps to prevent any delays.

Always be on the lookout for new technology to achieve quicker AMBER Alert issuance. And support your designees to the fullest; this can be an extremely stressful job.

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Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye is joined by NDEM Director Harland Cleveland, Vice President Jonathan Nez, Chief of Police Phillip Francisco and DPS Director Jesse Delmar.

“Thankfully, we were prepared.”

On Nov. 25, 2020, the Navajo Nation AMBER Alert faced its first real test – and aced it. The AMBER Alert led to two young sisters being safely returned to their home in northwest New Mexico, and that left Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management Harlan Cleveland breathing yet another sigh of relief. Three years of intense planning, training, and testing for just such a day had paid off.

Prior to November 25, Cleveland and his team had practiced issuing the child recovery alert in a simulated lab environment. “We were wondering how it would go in real-time,” he shared. “Thankfully, we were prepared.”

Also thankful is the family of Jayda John, 7, and Jaylee Spencer, 14.

On Saturday, November 21, the girls were taken from their uncle’s home in Fort Defiance, New Mexico, without his knowledge or permission. His girlfriend, Kristy Marie Pinal, had taken his car, and his nieces, to visit her parents several hours away on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona; that is what Pinal told him when reached by cell phone. She also said she would return with the girls the next day.

But Sunday came and went, and Pinal was not responding to calls and voicemails. By Monday November 23, Jayda and Jaylee’s family reported them missing to the Navajo Nation Police Department in Window Rock, New Mexico.

In issuing a Missing and Endangered Persons Advisory, Cleveland and Deputy Emergency Management Director Lavina Willie-Nez worked with the Navajo Nation Public Information Officer (PIO) to create a flyer that could be shared far and wide – on social media and at well-traveled locations throughout the reservation. Reaction to the girls’ disappearance gained attention, but no leads, and by the next day, Navajo Nation Police Department investigators filed kidnapping charges against Pinal.

An AMBER Alert – the first for Cleveland’s team to independently issue – would be needed. And quickly. Although Cleveland and Willie-Nez were working in separate locations in different states that day, they got the job done. “The good thing about our system is that it’s cloud-based, which allows us to respond instantly, wherever we are.”

Communicating by cell phone, with open laptops at the ready, Cleveland and alert co-coordinator Willie-Nez confirmed the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) had the necessary information to push out the AMBER Alert to two states simultaneously. The AMBER Alert needed to go statewide in New Mexico and Arizona; the states in which Pinal and the girls were likely traveling.

With every minute holding the very lives of the missing girls in hand, Willie-Nez recalled her resolved mindset. “There’s no panicking in this line of work. We’re trained to get it done.”

After working with AMBER Alert Coordinators in New Mexico and Arizona to finalize alert elements, the AMBER Alert was activated, notifying citizens via their phones and other devices. “It was great to see how quickly the alert went out,” remarked Willie-Nez. Social media activity around the alert and case rose quickly as well.

Within 30 minutes, the girls were found safe, some 50 miles west of Window Rock, by a Navajo Nation public safety officer. Pinal was arrested and the girls were returned home to a greatly relieved family. The case remains under investigation.

In the debrief following the AMBER Alert, Cleveland and Willie-Nez identified a few small internal adjustments that could be made toward improved process efficacy with future alerts. In concluding their overall review of their AMBER Alert response and with having identified those process improvements, they feel good about their progress and readiness.

“We’re thankful to have budgeted for a system with all the bells and whistles, one that doesn’t leave us without add-on capabilities that we didn’t know we needed until we did,” Cleveland said.

While the Navajo Nation’s first AMBER Alert ended on a high note, the roots of their mass-notification system were born from a tragedy – the May 2016 abduction and murder of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike.

The anguish over Ashlynne’s disappearance intensified after it was discovered that a series of miscommunications around jurisdictional issues had delayed the issuance of an AMBER Alert. In response, the Navajo Nation vowed never to let such a situation occur in the future. And Tribal Nations throughout the country realized that, like the Navajo Nation, they needed to enact their own comprehensive child recovery strategy.

Foundational to the heart of Tribal communities working to make that happen was the passage of the 2018 Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act, championed by Ashlynne’s mother, Pamela Foster, and the late Arizona Senator John McCain. The Act gives Tribal Nations access to state AMBER Alert plans, provides federal grants to support related technology and training, and serves as the catalyst for the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative. As Tribal Communities and Nations partner with their states, either in utilizing the state AMBER Alert plan or adopting and operationalizing their own plans, the overarching result is clear: the continued growth and strengthening of the nationwide network of law enforcement, public safety, media, transportation, citizens, and numerous organizations working in partnership to bring endangered, missing, and abducted children safely home.

Building the Navajo Network
Building and maintaining an emergency communications network that would effectively serve the nation’s largest Indian reservation has been a gargantuan undertaking. First among the challenges was the sheer size of the reservation, a geographically diverse region spanning 11 counties in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah; comprising a total 27,000 square miles (about the size of West Virginia).

Additionally, without its own plan and procedures, the Navajo Nation would need to contact each AMBER Alert Coordinator in the three adjoining states to provide information for AMBER Alert and IPAWS notifications. “We couldn’t risk any delay that might cause,” Cleveland said. “We had to have our own system.”

Building an emergency alert system that integrated IPAWS took a few years, but thanks to a unique Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Navajo Nation now has the authority to access IPAWS to issue AMBER Alerts. It also has the capability to push out non-emergency alerts (e.g., for COVID-19, traffic, and weather) via radio, television, and instant messaging.

In finding a platform that could not only integrate IPAWS but also provide personalization, Cleveland, his team, and a Navajo Nation task force comprised of law enforcement and public safety officers, as well as civic and community leaders, spent countless hours evaluating 40-plus vendor products for their capabilities and effectiveness. Ultimately, they chose Everbridge, and “so far so good,” Cleveland said.

The Nation’s mass-notification system, approved in December 2018 and launched a year later, is overseen by the Navajo Division of Public Safety (NDPS) and managed by the Navajo Department of Emergency Management (NDEM). To stay on their game, Cleveland and his team participate in monthly meetings with Everbridge and FEMA while also hosting beginner-level webinar training sessions for new Navajo Nation law enforcement officers.

While the idea of future missing and abducted child incidents is never easy to consider, Cleveland and Willie-Nez understand it is inevitable. This is what drives their daily work and never-ending commitment to being prepared to respond – swiftly and effectively. They will be ready for it, they said.

“As a mother, I can’t even imagine how I’d feel if one of my children went missing,” shared Willie-Nez. “When a child’s life is on the line, all of us know we have to get the word out to as many people possible, as quickly as possible.”

When searching for the perpetrator of an abduction, “Anybody can be everywhere,” she said. “That’s why the public has to be our eyes and ears.”

SOUND ADVICE

An independently operated mass notification system is well suited to the Navajo Nation due to its vast size and ample resources, but it may not be feasible for most Tribal Nations. Harlan Cleveland and Lavina Willie-Nez of the Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management offer these tips for Tribes working to create a solid communications plan:

Work with your state’s AMBER Alert Coordinator to build from existing AMBER Alert programs. Any Tribal leaders who are reticent about tapping into state/national resources and expertise “should consider that at the end of the day, it’s not about us, it’s about our children,” Willie-Nez said.
Learn what criteria your state’s AMBER Alert program needs to ensure your alert goes out quickly and accurately. Also make sure law enforcement, public safety leaders, and community members know what is required so that families can be prepared.
Assess your technological strengths and weaknesses. Do the cellular or broadband service/wireless transmitters in your community/area need updating?
Participate in training whenever possible. Ask FEMA to provide an IPAWS tutorial. Also take courses provided by the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC)/AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and the National Criminal Justice Training Center. “Both paint a really good picture of what’s required,” Cleveland said.
Network with knowledgeable sources and attend regional/national conferences.
Maintain a dynamic social media presence and encourage others to like and share important information. Also stress the importance of opting in for AMBER Alert notifications. “If it were your child, wouldn’t you want everyone to see the AMBER Alert?” Willie-Nez said.
Be ready for the media to call after an AMBER Alert is issued. They will want a good quality, emailable photo of the child and a flyer, if available.
Check out the FEMA fact sheet, “How Tribal Governments Can Sign Up for Public Alerts and Warnings.”

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It took only moments for ten-month-old Amila Spratley-Apkey to vanish. Amila’s mother Breesha Spratley left her car running in the driveway with her daughter in the backseat in Ogden, Utah, at 10:45 a.m. on November 4, 2020. The mother ran into her home to use the bathroom and her friend who was in the car also decided to go into the house.

When the mother returned, her car and infant daughter were gone.

Spratley called 911 for help. The Ogden City Police Department determined the situation met the criteria for an AMBER Alert and began gathering as much information as possible before initiating an alert.

Ogden Police Department Technical Agency Coordinator (TAC) Angie Turner entered the alert into the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Utah Criminal Justice Information System (UCJIS) at 11:16 a.m. The alert was activated just moments later at 11:30 a.m.

Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) Criminalists Alex Martinez

Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) Criminalists Ofa Vaisima and Alex Martinez began their positions as AMBER Alert co-coordinators just two months earlier in September. Vaisima was the on-call coordinator November 4th and issued the alert to law enforcement agencies, businesses, Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), Utah Trucking Association, and all media outlets.

A Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) also sent details about the abduction to all cellphones in Utah. The wireless alerts reach approximately three million cellphones throughout the state.

Ogden Police Captain Timothy Scott set up the Area Tactical Analysis Center (ATAC) and briefed dispatchers about the potential for an overwhelming number of tips.

“Cases like this involving non-family or unknown suspects heighten the concern significantly,” said Ogden Police Captain Jacob Sube. “It becomes imperative to locate the child as soon as possible to reduce the risk of harm. We also had concerns of the child being abandoned in the cold or being physically harmed by the suspect.”

Investigators on scene continued gathering information from interviews and shared their updates with the police command center.

Citizens Respond

Mindy Michelle and her sister, Tiffany Bingham, saw the AMBER Alert on their cellphones and decided to help with the search for the missing infant. “I was just bawling because I felt so drawn to this Amber Alert,” Bingham told a Deseret News reporter.

The two sisters spotted a car without a license plate that matched the missing vehicle. “I don’t know how, but I knew that that was the car, and I knew she was in this neighborhood,” added Michelle.

Breesha Spratley is reunited with her daughter, Amila Spratley-Apke

They called 911, started looking for the baby on their own, and ultimately heard a baby crying. They found the infant on a porch in their neighborhood, but the car was nowhere in sight. “I just grabbed the car seat, and I picked her up,” Michelle said, “and I said, ‘Hi, baby!’”

When Ogden police officers arrived, they found one sister cuddling the child and the other one on the phone with a 911 dispatcher.

“The two women who participated in the locating and safekeeping of this child are prime examples of how important it is to be observant of your environment,” said Ogden Police Officer Nigel Bailey. “They realized the seriousness of the situation and acted quickly and appropriately to keep this child safe.”

In the meantime, a DPS helicopter spotted the missing car and began following it. Officers from the Ogden Police Department and Weber County Sheriff’s Office began a pursuit and eventually arrested a 20-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman at 12:30 p.m. The AMBER Alert was canceled at 12:51 p.m.

Vaisima breathed a sigh of relief and felt gratitude for the two sisters who responded to the alert.

“Their quick thinking and effort ensured the safe recovery of the child,” said Vaisima. “We are also grateful to all the other citizens who contacted the police with tips and information.”

Improving Utah’s AMBER Alert

The arrests and safe recovery are an important milestone for what has been a whirlwind year for the Utah AMBER Alert program. This AMBER Alert was the seventh in 2020; the highest number of alerts Utah has ever issued in a single year. All seven alerts resulted in safe recoveries.
The DPS had also been working during the past year to address concerns they were having regarding use of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA). DPS stopped using the WEA system until technical issues could be resolved to ensure the public receives the best and most accurate information.

“For a long time, we’ve been talking about how to get a message to as many people as humanly possible,” said Joe Dougherty, DPS Director of Public Affairs. “This is one tool that allows us to hit a person in every pocket and every purse where they’ve got their cell phone.”

The WEA messages now contain a link to access the latest information about a child abduction. The Utah AMBER Alert coordinators also created a blackout period between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. when alerts would not automatically go to cellphones. Depending on the circumstances, law enforcement agencies can still request a WEA during this time frame.

“Each AMBER Alert definitely teaches us something to help us the next time an alert is issued,” said Vaisima. “With this AMBER Alert being as successful as it was, we learned the changes we are making and have made are leading us in the right direction. We will be able to use this success and information gathered from this alert in future training, which will ultimately help us with any future alerts.”

The DPS is also updating its AMBER Alert program policies and procedures. The coordinators will continue training officers and have several training events scheduled this year.

“It is really important to understand the way different systems work, the needs of the public, and how new technology may improve the AMBER Alert program,” added Vaisima. “Doing these things helped with the success of this alert.”

In the end, the victim’s mother is grateful so many were working together to bring her daughter home safely. “I really appreciate you guys being there and being a good place for her to be,” Spratley said to a reporter. “That’s really awesome, that there’s good people out there still.”

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AATTAP offers virtual, instructor-led live training through virtual platforms to ensure child protection professionals’ needs are served.

A law enforcement officer from Arizona engages in a highly involved conversation with another officer from Washington about an ongoing child abduction case. An Idaho therapist and a New Jersey prosecutor weigh in during a breakout training session in which the best approach to bring the child home safely is discussed.

Across multiple disciplines such as law enforcement, child advocacy and social services, these professionals are taking part in the latest virtual, instructor-led live training (VILT) opportunity offered by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP).

Across states, time zones, and various ‘work environments’ (home office, kitchen table, and bedrooms-turned office) created by stay-at-home and physical-distancing precautions, interactive training through virtual collaboration platforms such as Zoom is proving to be an absolute lifeline. Virtual training events are helping to maintain and improve knowledge and skills, despite the inability to gather in person for classroom-based training.

In response to pandemic-driven shutdowns and travel restrictions, AATTAP began developing VILT courses based on current classroom curriculum, with its first virtual training delivered in early fall 2020.

AATTAP’s self-paced eLearning courses, available for 24/7 access via the National Criminal Justice Training Center at Fox Valley Technical College’s (NCJTC-FVTC) Blackboard online learning platform, were already in play and very popular with law enforcement and public safety professionals across the country. An information campaign was ramped up in early spring 2020 to boost awareness of those offerings and to ensure training and resource sharing continued uninterrupted as the challenges of COVID-19 emerged.

During the 4th quarter of 2020, ten VILT events were offered across three courses:

Child Abduction Tabletop Exercise (CATE) scenario-based training;
Community Response to High Risk Missing Victims; and
Initial Response Strategies and Tactics When Responding to Missing Children Incidents.

Additional course offerings are already in development for 2021.

Evolution in Training

For more than 16 years, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has been offering AMBER Alert training to tens of thousands of child protection professionals through FVTC with a focus on in-person teaching—until now.

“For obvious reasons, in-person training, conferences and meetings were impacted early on,” said Jim Walters, AATTAP Program Administrator. “This required a change in our business processes. One thing hasn’t changed: we are still working to improve the way we all do what we do to safely recover an abducted child.”

AATTAP Program Manager Byron Fassett has coordinated the addition of VILT courses by leading specific subject matter project teams. He notes how the first course delivered via Zoom concerning high-risk missing victims was ultimately as much of a learning experience for the instructors as it was for the students.

“We used it as a trial to see what is needed to convert the curriculum to an online environment,” said Fassett. “We also had to help our instructors to engage with students so we could make it as close to a classroom setting as possible. We have had to think outside the box, not letting the virtual delivery method limit us.”

The addition of VILT courses makes it possible for participants to better engage through discussions around polls, breakout rooms, and other interactive activities, with the ability to hear others’ voices and see facial expressions. This approach offers added learning and practical application benefits beyond the more passive ‘watch and listen’ framework of traditional webinars.

Noting the importance of this level of engagement through virtual training, Fassett added “I can read people’s faces. I can engage people very easily within a classroom environment.

People retain some information from the spoken word, but they are better at recalling instructions when they can see an instructor’s delivery and movements.”

The instructors, moderator, and behind-the-scenes support team, comprised of AATTAP staff and associates, utilize pre-event ‘full dress rehearsals’ to ensure no aspect of the live event administration goes untested beforehand. The entire team also meets after each event to carefully review and discuss what did and did not work, making sure improvements are made for future training events.

“We need to make sure the classes work for everyone because we have such a diverse mix of law enforcement officers, social workers, teachers and other professionals,” added Fassett.

Modifying Courses

Yesenia Leon-Baron — AATTAP Associate and Region One Liaison Yesenia ‘Jesi’ Leon-Baron

AATTAP Associate and Region One Liaison Yesenia ‘Jesi’ Leon-Baron uses her years of experience as a special agent for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to offer real-life examples for the multidisciplinary groups during VILT events. Leon-Baron and other instructors have a clear understanding that students likely have more distractions at home than they do in an actual classroom training environment.

“You have to be energetic and engage the class,” said Leon-Baron. “This is such a hard situation for all of us, especially for somebody who has been in front of the computer all day doing other things with work or other meetings. We have to make sure our training is worth their time and give them the opportunity to gain knowledge and grow their skill sets to help vulnerable children.”

The VILT courses are delivered in both single and multi-day formats, offering child protection professionals options which best fit their demanding and varied schedules during these unprecedented times. The events reference and offer access to digital resources that can be used during and following the training.

During the event, visual training materials focus on a clean, conceptual design which delivers key information while not overwhelming participants with details, allowing them to focus on the instructors as well as having a discussion with other participants.

Students can speak up or use the chat function on Zoom to make comments or ask questions. Instructors also remain online for a bit following each session to address additional questions or comments not covered during class.

As with AATTAP’s in-person training, the VILT courses offer instruction, case study examples, and interactive scenarios delivered by subject matter experts as well as family members who have experienced the tragedy of a child abduction and/or exploitation. AATTAP CART Program Coordinator Derek VanLuchene fits in both of these important categories.

In 1987, when VanLuchene was 17 years old, his eight-year-old brother Ryan was abducted and murdered by a repeat sex offender. VanLuchene went on to become a supervising agent for the Montana Department of Justice, and he continues to work tirelessly as an advocate for missing and abducted children and their families.

VanLuchene coordinates the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) classroom and VILT trainings, as well as the Child Abduction Tabletop Exercise (CATE) courses.

“We expect everyone to interact in these virtual courses, just as they would in the classroom,” said VanLuchene. “In one of our tabletop scenario exercises, we present a case where a girl goes missing from a park. Her parents report her missing and initial officers respond. What do you do next in your investigation? What are the steps you need to take in that investigation?”

Because of their strong use of breakout room discussions, the CATE VILT course is held to a slightly smaller class roster, with around 50 participants per event. The breakout groups optimize multi-agency and/or discipline discussions and groupwork. Instructors visit each room to answer questions and facilitate communication between people who may be meeting one another for the first time through the virtual training.

Overcoming Reservations

AATTAP CART Program Coordinator Derek VanLuchene

VanLuchene said some participants have told him they were skeptical an online tabletop exercise like this was sufficient to support the preparation and readiness needed for a complex law enforcement and child protection response. However, students are reporting their early reservations about the effectiveness of virtual courses were unwarranted.

Here are some examples of the feedback from participants:

“Highly effective delivery through the online platform; really exceptionally done. Far better than any other experiences I’ve had.”
“Very professional online training. I enjoyed the breakout sessions where we were able to collaborate and discuss resolutions to the incident.”
“This was the best virtual training I have been to so far; it was engaging and informative. I enjoyed it.”
“The instructors provided great information. I really enjoyed the diversity of individuals attending and professional background during the breakout sessions and having [the family perspective presenter] tell her personal story was very powerful.”
“The web-based format is a great time saver.”

AATTAP eLearning, Publications and Digital Collaborations Coordinator Bonnie Ferenbach expects the VILT courses will continue beyond pandemic-related travel and in-person event restrictions, noting the importance of continuing work to develop additional VILT offerings toward an expanded array of training options. Even as travel and classroom training resumes, she emphasized AATTAP’s commitment to delivering training both in-person and web-based formats.

“Increasingly, adult learners working in demanding realities need and expect options in how they receive training, including both self-paced ‘anytime-on-demand’ courses, as well as live webinars and interactive virtual instructor-led offerings.”

As the AATTAP team continues work on expanding the VILT course catalog alongside its self-paced eLearning courses, Ferenbach emphasized “When developing the curriculum for virtual classes, we are careful not to assume that what works in the classroom will make a one-to-one transfer to online instruction.”

AATTAP eLearning, Publications and Digital Collaborations Coordinator Bonnie Ferenbach

Noting the incredible efforts and ongoing hard work of the AATTAP team, she added, “We have an amazing team, with each member embracing an ‘all hands on deck’ mindset, to develop, test, deliver and continuously improve, with an eye toward meeting what is sure to be a continued and increasing demand.”

This trajectory is based on clear evidence that was evolving pre-pandemic, and which has only been increased through stay-at-home restrictions and financial hardships across the nation; online learning is turning out to be the only way most organizations can obtain essential training and continuing education. And even as pandemic restrictions subside, many agencies and jurisdictions simply do not have the personnel bandwidth, time, or budgets for time off and travel to participate in classroom training.

As of January 2021, AATTAP had 10 additional VILT events scheduled to date, with more than 800 registration requests received. Additional courses on other topics are being added monthly.

“As these new classes are approved for delivery, we have seen rosters fill quickly, with waiting lists and requests for more training topics,” said AATTAP Program Director Jim Walters. “Our team will keep developing and refining these new learning options while preparing for the time we can get back into the classroom.”

Registration and additional information about AATTAP learning opportunities can be found here.

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Materials Release/Use Authorization Form

For use by agencies/organizations or individual contributors to authorize AATTAP's use of images, videos, and/or documents for training, publications, and/or website content. If you have questions about this form or the materials release/use authorization process, please email us at askamber@fvtc.edu.

REGARDING IMAGE OR VIDEO FILES: I authorize the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), a U.S. Department of Justice Initiative, through the National Criminal Justice Information Center of Fox Valley Technical College, to use my name, words, image and/or voice for the purpose of providing training and technical assistance content and/or awareness materials. I understand that my name, words, image and/or voice may be used in the following media: printed publications, official AATTAP website content, and/or training materials. I further understand that my statements may be edited or adapted to fit space limitations, though the meaning of my statement will not be altered. Additionally, I consent to any necessary minor retouching/reproduction of my photo/video content for reproduction purposes. I acknowledge that I have full permission/release from any/all individuals depicted in any image/graphic I am submitting. I hereby waive any rights of compensation, control or royalties related to the content I am agreeing to share with AATTAP for the purposes expressly stated above. I understand that my authorization is effective from the date of this form submission and will remain in effect unless/until I or my authorized designee requests removal/discontinuation of use by AATTAP. *

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Jenniffer Price-Lehmann is a Deputy Administrator with AATTAP and is responsible for the management, compliance and oversight of program activities, major events, training and technical assistance delivery, and required reporting and performance metrics for its programs. Jenniffer serves in a lead role in the development of grant proposals and related submissions.

Jenniffer was in law enforcement for twenty four years and previously served as the Director of Special Operations for the Wisconsin Department of Justice (WIDOJ), Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) where she led the Wisconsin Statewide Intelligence Center including the Technical Services Unit; Criminal Intelligence; AMBER Alert; Silver Alert; Wisconsin Clearinghouse For Missing and Exploited Children and Adults; the Wisconsin Crime Alert Network; and the Cyber Crimes Unit.

Prior to her appointment to the Director of Special Operations, Jenniffer was the Special Agent in Charge of DCI’s Digital Forensics and Child Sex Trafficking Units and the Commander for the Wisconsin ICAC Task Force. Jenniffer developed DCI’s child sex trafficking unit and authored legislative initiatives that resulted in funding to support the ongoing efforts of the DCI ICAC and human trafficking programs.

Jenniffer was a founding member of the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) since its inception in 2009 and served as the CART Commander from 2010 until her appointment as the AATTAP Program Manager in 2021; and she led the WIDOJ CART to becoming Wisconsin’s first USDOJ certified program.

Jenniffer has developed curriculum and provided training to thousands of criminal justice, government, and community stakeholders in the investigations of crimes against children, including child abductions, sexual assault and abuse of a child, child enticement, computer facilitated crimes against children, child sex trafficking and forensic interviewing of children. Additionally, Jenniffer has trained law enforcement in vicarious trauma associated with child exploitation investigations and delivered training to WIDOJ new employees in the area of trauma informed care and resiliency. She developed the Division of Criminal Investigation’s current policy on ICAC Wellness that provides specialized mental health services to employees serving on the ICAC and human trafficking units. In her role as the Director of Special Operations, Jenniffer led, planned and directed DCI’s wellness program and coordinated the division’s wellness initiatives to achieve employee well-being goals and objectives in a multiple work and location environment setting.

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Tyesha M. Wood is a Program Manager with AATTAP's AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative. Tyesha is a former police detective with 17 years of law enforcement experience with tribal nations in Arizona. A majority of her police career was comprised of work in criminal investigations, with more than 15 years as a detective working in the areas of sex crimes and crimes against children. Tyesha has experience in working with multi-disciplinary teams in tribal family advocacy centers to ensure the safety and protection of children. She also served for two years as an Executive Protection Officer for the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice-President.

Tyesha is an alumnus of the 2018-19 McCain Institute of International Leadership Next Generation Leaders Program. She holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of Arizona, and is a member of the Navajo Nation.

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Charles “Chuck” Fleeger serves as the AATTAP Region 3 Liaison, and is an Associate Employee with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) providing subject matter expertise and instruction in Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training and Search and Cavass Operations in Child Abductions.

Chuck currently serves as the Executive Director of the Amber Alert Network Brazos Valley, a regional non-profit in central Texas that focuses on local missing children issues, public education and partnering with local law enforcement and other responders in alerting, response and investigative readiness. He has served as a regional Amber Alert Coordinator since 2003.

Chuck retired as an Assistant Chief of Police with the College Station Police Department where he served for over 30 years and completed his career in law enforcement with over 34 years total service with College Station and the United States Army Military Police Corps.

Chuck has worked with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program since 2014 serving as an instructor and curriculum development associate in areas related to Child Abduction Response Teams (CART), Search & Canvass Operations, and AMBER Alert Best Practices.

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As we start the new year it is important for us to look back at 2020 and some of the lessons we learned on how to continue the critical mission of recovering the endangered missing and abducted child, despite the obstacles thrown at us by man or nature.

As our partners at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) recently reported, we have now seen 1,029 successful recoveries: (87 due to WEA) directly related to the AMBER Alert system. Over 20 children were safely recovered and returned to their families in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, further proof that those on the frontlines of protecting America’s children cannot and will not be deterred in their mission, regardless of the obstacles they face.

2020 certainly made its impact on the AATTAP and how we do business. For obvious reasons, in person training, conferences and meetings were impacted early on. For a program that has provided in person training for tens of thousands of child protection officials over the last 16 years, this required a change in how we do business. Regional Meetings and technical assistance visits were conducted online while we shifted to a new way of delivering training with virtual-instructor lead training. This shift in delivery methods required an incredible amount of work behind the scenes.

While we wanted to provide training to the field, we insisted that the quality of training could not suffer from the change in formats. This required developing new curriculum, determining what could be done virtually and what simply must be taught in person and then pushing these resources out in a format that the field could make the most efficient use of. This effort was led by Byron Fassett, AATTAP Program Manager and an incredible staff of eLearning experts, Administrative staff and associates who made up the core of subject matter experts tasked with creating a new way of providing training and tools to the field. The outcomes where outstanding.

As these new classes are approved for delivery, we have seen rosters fill quickly, with waiting list and request for more training topics. Our team will keep developing and refining these new learning options while preparing for the time that we can get back into the classroom.

As we move forward into 2021, we commit to providing an array of resources for those of you on the front lines. From new training offerings in varied formats to publications and “Best Practice” guides for the field. Take a look at some of the most recent publications designed to help you do your work by visiting our best practice resources on the AMBER Advocate website, and by visiting AMBER’s resource listing at NCJTC.org.

Our AMBER in Indian Country (AIIC) team continues the work of implementing the Ashlynne AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018 and facilitating the integration of tribal communities in their State and Regional AMBER Alert plans. By facilitating State-Tribal meetings on implementation, providing technology and resources to tribes and through community awareness events, we have seen over 100 new tribes participating in the AMBER Alert program over the last year. This team will keep pushing until all tribes that wish to be part of the system, have that ability.

Finally, the AATTAP team will continue the behind the scenes work of working with surviving family members and victims of child abductions and exploitation to support their input on the training we provide and to ensure that their sacrifices and contributions remain an integral part of everything we do. In the final analysis, they are why we are all here, working to improve the way we all do what we do to safely recover the abducted children.

Jim Walters, Program Administrator

AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program, National Criminal Justice Training Center

(877) 712-6237 | askamber@fvtc.edu

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The afternoon of Jan. 13, 1996, Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who lived in Arlington, Texas, was last seen riding her bike in a parking lot. A witness saw a man with a black, flat-bed truck snatch Amber from her bicycle. Four days later, Amber’s body was found in a creek 3.2 miles from her home. Her murder remains unsolved. Dallas-Fort Worth area residents were outraged and began calling radio stations, not only to vent their anger and frustration but also to offer suggestions to prevent such crimes in the future.

One person, Diana Simone, suggested a program be implemented allowing use of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to notify the public when a child has been abducted. If the community was aware, then residents could also assist in the search. Simone followed up with a letter, and her only request was the program be dedicated to the memory of Amber Hagerman. That letter was used by broadcasters who met with local law enforcement and created Amber’s Plan in Amber Hagerman’s memory.

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From the Dallas Morning News: “For the first time, police said they have DNA evidence that someday — with new technology that has solved other high-profile cold cases — could be the key to finding her killer.”

A hallmark of surviving families is their strength and resilience in keeping hope – active and intentional – alive in their child’s case. In working with law enforcement to

support the investigation, and in sharing their experiences and learnings with other families to support them, they do not give up, nor give in. They strive, they share, they help, they persevere.

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) is honored to work with law enforcement and surviving families across the nation. We stand committed to continuing our efforts to provide training, resources, and opportunities for collaboration and learning. We work for continuous improvement in the protection of children; and the efficacy of response by law enforcement and other professionals working to safely recover endangered, missing and abducted children.

Read full story here: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2021/01/13/25-years-after-amber-hagermans-kidnapping-heres-why-detectives-stay-hopeful-for-a-breakthrough-in-her-case/

Photo by Tom Fox, Staff Photographer with Dallas Morning News: A large painted mural adorns a memorial for Amber Hagerman, the little girl who was abducted on her bike and later found dead in Arlington, Texas in 1996.

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In This Issue:

The fourth and final issue of 2020 features California's efforts to increase the effectiveness of the state's AMBER Alerts, and brings you a harrowing story of Georgia's August 2020 rescue of a kidnapped infant through swift response by law enforcement and the issuance of an AMBER Alert. Read about the Pennsylvania CART program's work to strengthen operational readiness through the use of comprehensive tabletop exercises, and meet Montana's AMBER Alert Coordinator Brian Frost, who works tirelessly to stay ahead of the curve in his state's missing child recovery efforts. The issue also brings you important updates on AMBER Alert in Indian Country, as well as state and international briefs.

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The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) released new age progression photos for two children who went missing from a house fire on September 23, 2012. AMBER Alerts were issued at the time for nine-year-old Chloie Leverette and seven-year-old Gage Daniel. Their remains were never found. “AMBER Alerts do not expire,” said Leslie Earhart, Tennessee Bureau of Investigations spokesperson. “They remain active until we have definitive information concerning the child’s whereabouts.”

College Station, Texas, Assistant Police Chief Charles “Chuck” Fleeger was honored for his work to help missing and abducted children when he retired after serving with the agency since 1989. The U.S. Department of Justice honored Fleeger as the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Year in 2010. Fleeger will now direct the nonprofit Brazos Valley AMBER Alert Network, and will continue teaching and consulting on issues concerning missing and exploited children, including his work with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College.

States can now apply for federal funding for the Ashanti Alert pilot program. The Ashanti Alert notifies the public about missing or endangered adults, ages 18-64, and sets up a national communications network to assist law enforcement in the search. The Bureau of Justice Assistance will make $1 million in technical assistance available to facilitate and expedite the development of statewide Ashanti Alert programs. The alert is named after Ashanti Billie, the 19-year-old college student was abducted and murdered in North Carolina in 2017.

Family and friends in Kansas City are raising money for memorial benches to honor Olivia Jansen, a three-year-old who was allegedly murdered by her father and his girlfriend. Police issued an AMBER Alert on July 12, 2020, after the father reported his daughter was missing. “The whole situation, has touched so many hearts and it hits home,” said family friend Ramona Olivas, “It’s beautiful to see all these people coming out for her.” A motorcycle group organized a ride to raise money and additional fundraisers are planned.

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A nine-member task force has begun compiling a report on murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Utah. The task force hopes to understand the scope of the problem and stop further injustices from occurring. The members include representatives from Restoring Ancestral Winds, the Urban Indian Center, the Paiute Indian Tribe, and several state officials.

Utah Rep. Angela Romero sponsored a 2019 resolution making May 5th Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and LGBT+ Awareness Day. The resolution passed, providing support for a task force. “We ran the resolution honoring the memory of murdered and missing Indigenous women and reminding people that this is an epidemic in our country,” said Romero, who identifies as Hispanic and Assiniboine (part of the Sioux Nation). “And when the resolution passed, we knew that we had enough support to put together a task force.” The report was slated for completion by November 2020, but has been pushed back due to the pandemic.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada wants law enforcement to update how it applies the AMBER Alert criteria for cases involving Indigenous girls. The demand comes after a 14-year-old Indigenous girl was found in a wooded area with the suspect a week after she went missing. Law enforcement listed the girl as a runaway, but the group said an AMBER Alert should have been issued because of her age and the larger issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. “They may have run away, but we have to look at it more in depth,” said Lorraine Whitman, president of the association. “We just can’t take it as a case that they wanted to leave. We have to look into it because there are more underlying areas that we have to investigate as well.” The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Nova Scotia is reviewing its protocols and policies.

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Brian Front Montana — Montana Missing Person Specialist Brian Frost

Brian Frost is the Missing Person Specialist for the Montana Department of Justice. He spent the first seven years of his career as a dispatcher and spent time speaking with family members of missing loved ones and witnessing firsthand the start of AMBER Alerts. He then began working for the state’s Criminal Justice Information Network (CJIN), which also doubles as the Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse. For three years he served as a training officer for CJIN, providing online and instructor-led training in all aspects of CJIN/NCIC/Nlets and missing persons. In April of 2020, he was designated as the agency’s Missing Person Specialist, and now acts as a liaison between families and law enforcement for missing persons. He also provides training, resources, and outreach on missing persons to both the public and law enforcement.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert/missing persons program, and what do you think makes it successful?

Our AMBER Alert partners and the citizens of Montana; we have terrific AMBER Alert partners that take the goal of AMBER Alerts very seriously. Whether it is law enforcement, the National Weather Service, Montana Department of Transportation, Montana Lottery, NCMEC, or the Montana Public Broadcasters Association – all are dedicated professionals with an interest and determination in finding missing and abducted children. Additionally, our citizens are the best. Montanans have a reputation of being friendly and helpful, and I think that extends to helping civically. We constantly hear from the public when AMBER Alerts are issued and people genuinely care. We all want a positive outcome.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?

I believe it’s a combination of things – when you talk to family members of missing loved ones, you can’t 100% relate to how they feel because you’re not in their shoes, but you can do the best job that you’re capable of in hopes of reuniting them. The relief in their voices when there is a positive outcome – makes it worth it.

Also, my wife is eight months pregnant with our first child. 2020 has been a strange year and it feels like a bit of a rollercoaster, but it is comforting knowing that should anything happen to our son, a group of AMBER Alert partners and supporters in Montana is standing by.

Tell us about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case. How did the AMBER Alert support the outcome? What were the most important lessons learned?

The Montana DOJ recently issued an AMBER Alert on behalf of the Great Falls Police Department. A non-custodial mother took her two children out of school and fled with another male suspect. We were aware of several reasons to believe the children were in immediate danger. Within just a few minutes after the alert was issued, tips began pouring in. The suspects, along with the children and vehicle, were spotted by witnesses at a gas station approximately 15 miles away from the abduction. The suspects fled the gas station and a sheriff’s deputy pulled them over on a traffic stop shortly afterwards. Both children were recovered without incident. I believe it is a testament to how speed, accuracy and working together can lead to a positive result – in only a few short minutes.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert program and other programs in the future?

I would like to stay ahead of the curve as much as possible. I recently attended a webinar that discussed some of the new (and existing) alerting technologies. Some of the technology included hardware features like sirens and public broadcasting speakers – but others demonstrated Wi-Fi hot spot kiosks that display advertising and could also display public alerts. Montana is mostly rural, but I would like to see us keep updating and adapting our program to keep it as effective as possible.

How has training helped you in AMBER Alert cases?

Training helps me see how everyone comes together, what roles that individual agencies and partners play and how information is processed. AMBER Alerts are low frequency but high-stress and high public-exposure events. I am a firm believer in the IPAWS test lab, practicing checklists and knowing your resources – who to reach and constantly evaluating protocols. Training keeps everyone sharp.

What advice would you give to other AMBER Alert partners?

Provide training and outreach when you can. I think some of the best feedback I ever received was to keep training and keep reinforcing what you teach. We provide AMBER Alert training to new police officers as they attend Montana Law Enforcement Academy (MLEA), but with all the different subjects the new peace officers learn – it is information overload. You can teach the AMBER Alert criteria, but it may not stick when they are balancing felony traffic stops, interviewing techniques and evidence collecting. The best we can do is to continue to reinforce and provide guidance on missing persons and alerts throughout their law enforcement career – not just at the beginning.

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The mother of one-year-old Mateo Alejandro Montufur-Barrera was pushing her son in a stroller when a man snatched the child at gunpoint. Leslie Barrera put up a fight and ripped off a piece of the abductor’s plaid shorts, and one of his red and black shoes.

The kidnapping took place at 12:33 p.m. on Saturday, August 29, 2020, in Chamblee, Georgia. The victim’s mother called the Chamblee Police Department to report the abduction. Barrera said her baby was only wearing a diaper and a Batman t-shirt and was taken in a maroon SUV or van.

“It’s an experience no parent wants to experience,” said Chamblee Police Chief Kerry Thomas. “It becomes personal. It becomes a mission to get everything we have available for a successful outcome.”

Detectives found surveillance video from the apartment complex showing the vehicle was a maroon Acura SUV with a paper dealer tag. Officers made careful note of specific details of the vehicle, searched their license plate reader (LPR) system, and found an image of the vehicle taken just before the crime; the vehicle displayed a paper tag.

Through further searches in the LPR system, earlier images of the vehicle bearing a valid metal tag were found. Although the suspects had switched to a paper tag just before the crime, the prior LPR images, some from days before, gave officers the lead they needed to identify a suspect. Police requested a helicopter to help find the SUV.

The Chamblee police officers also enlisted the help of the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI). The GBI has a partnership with the Georgia State Patrol (GSP), which handles 24-hour communications for AMBER Alert activations. An AMBER Alert was issued at approximately 3:15 p.m.

The AMBER Alert, known in Georgia as Levi’s Call, was sent to law enforcement and broadcasters. Abduction details were shared on electronic highway signs. Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) were sent to cellphones in the area.

GSP Trooper First Class Johnathon Nelms received a call about an AMBER Alert in the area. Nelms surveilled an address associated with the suspect’s vehicle when he saw the SUV. At the same time, Chamblee Assistant Chief Mike Beller arrived on the scene and saw the vehicle leaving the residence.

Nelms initiated a felony traffic stop. “I got out of the car, drew my service pistol and started giving commands for the driver to get out of the vehicle and get on the ground,” said Nelms.

Beller used his squad car to block the suspect from fleeing. He assisted the trooper in the arrest of an adult man and a woman who was disguised as a man.

The child was safe but was also disguised as a girl with female clothes and pigtails. Another boy, 9 years old, was also in the vehicle.

“You think the man upstairs put you in position to save that child?” a WSB-TV reporter asked Nelms. “Yes, sir I do. Without a doubt in my mind. With the good Lord’s blessing that day, everything lined up just right for the information to be passed out to the officers it needed to be given to, where that child could be returned safe.”

Maynor Dario Valera Zuniga and Kristin Nicole Valera Zuniga (Nash) were taken into custody at 5:03 p.m. and the victim was returned to his mother. The child was recovered less than two hours after the AMBER Alert was issued.

“This was a quick recovery,” said Georgia AMBER Alert Co-Coordinator and Missing Person Clearinghouse Manager Emily Butler. “Our Georgia State Patrol is very diligent in making quick identification and stopping potential suspect vehicles.”

At a press conference, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge J.C. (Chris) Hacker noted it is very rare to have a stranger abduction.

“I’ve been in law enforcement for 25 years and this is the first time I’ve personally been involved with a case like this,” said Hacker. “Because it’s so rare and significant, everything has to work out pretty much perfectly for us to have this resolution right here.”

The safe recovery was especially meaningful for Nelms because he has children, and he and his wife are about to welcome another child into the family. “I want to take my hat off to the young mother who fought like a true warrior,” said Nelms.

After the recovery, Chamblee police learned the couple scouted the area for days and chose the victim at random. They had also attempted to kidnap a child from a mother earlier the same day.

“He jumped out and challenged her with a gun, but she ran so fast into an apartment that he couldn’t tell which one she ran into,” said Beller.

However, the mother never called 911 about the attempted abduction. Police believe she did not report what happened because of the possibility of undocumented status and being afraid to contact law enforcement.

“We know some people live in the shadows,” said Beller. “We try to protect all of our citizens of this city, regardless of their immigration status.”

Beller is working with Spanish media to help find the woman in hopes she will provide enough information for additional charges to be filed for the suspects.

Georgia has issued 210 AMBER Alerts since the program’s inception in 2001. Georgia’s AMBER Alert is named Levi’s Call in honor of Levi Frady, an 11-year-old boy who was abducted on October 22, 1997, while riding his bike home. His body was found the next day in a wooded area in an adjacent county. Law enforcement continues to search for Levi’s killer.

A frantic search for a nine-year-old deaf girl took place during a tabletop exercise for the York County Child Abduction Response Effort (CARE) Team in York, Pennsylvania, on September 17, 2020. The drill used realistic documents and involved simulated neighborhood canvassing, checking Megan’s Law offenders, analyzing video surveillance, and utilizing forensic searches and cell phone tower data.

The team was also tasked with verifying tips called into an actual tip line, and eventually found the scenario “victim” safe. Participants also coordinated medical treatment, family reunification, and forensic interview of the child.

“Our best lessons learned have come from ideas and mistakes from the past,” said Lt. David Kahley, West York Borough, Pennsylvania, Police Department and CARE Team Coordinator. “We find out what works and what doesn’t work. For instance, something as simple as keeping track of our investigative tasks on a white board, so everyone knows what has been completed and what needs to be worked on. It helps the team stay on track and prevents repetitive work.”

The exercise involved 36 members from 17 local, state and federal agencies, including investigators, probation and parole, assistant district attorneys, victim/witness coordinators, forensic interviewers, search and rescue specialists, K9 handlers, 911 dispatchers, and logistics coordinators.

Kahley said all members had an opportunity to weigh in and offer ideas to help with the investigation. For example, the forensic interviewer brought up the need for having an interpreter to help during the search and when the child was recovered.

CARE was organized in 2006 and was certified in November 2010 by AATTAP through the USDOJ’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) certification program. Each new member receives CART training and additional missing person trainings from local investigators.

“After our drill, we complete an after-action report to evaluate ourselves,” said Kahley. “We’ve learned during the past couple years to take everything that worked, improve on it, and fix the things that didn’t work.”

The organization holds quarterly meetings and annual trainings, either tabletop or simulated mock drills. CARE plans to have a full-scale mock drill next year.

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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.

“When you have that many alerts you really need all the resources you can get,” said Bertola. “So we hit launch - the button actually says Launch.”

The latest alert went out and the child was recovered safely in a short time. However, Bertola and his team were finding only 13% of the people were able to access additional details about the alert at the CHP website using the link provided in the initial message. While this percentage represented an increase in access, in fact more than any alert before it, Bertola and his team at CHP knew even greater reach was needed, and critically important in these cases where minutes matter in law enforcement’s ability to safely recover abducted children.

“We were happy [with the response], but at the same time knew we were missing an important piece because we were able to see the difference between those who attempted to access our website versus those who actually got in,” said Bertola.

The CHP began working to improve the state’s AMBER Alert plan because they found it impossible to convey all the information the public needed in 90 characters. Also, CHP’s AMBER Alert flyers were not being picked up by media, nor shared on social media.

“Public engagement wasn’t very high,” said Bertola.

He explained that feedback indicated CHP was seen as providing ‘only enough information,’ resulting in people being either confused or scared. In response, CHP reached out to broadcasters and the agency’s Community Outreach and Media Relations for input on improving their flyers.

“They said, ‘Your flyers were obviously designed by people without any experience in marketing,’ and I said, ‘You’re exactly right,’” explained Bertola. “I have zero experience in marketing. Can you help us?”

CHP got help from media professionals in simplifying the flyer to ensure it included all the information the public would need during an alert – without any ‘cop jargon.’ The format has since been adopted for Endangered Missing Advisories, Silver Alerts, and Blue Alerts.

During this time, more people began using streaming or satellite services instead of watching TV or listening to radio through traditional broadcasting channels. As a result, they were not seeing AMBER Alerts. Bertola reached out to other states for help, but none had a solution.

In July 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did make it possible to put a URL link in Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). Some states had included a URL in past alerts and discovered the links did not work.

The CHP reached out in November 2018 to the URL shortener company ‘Bitly’ to provide a specific link the public could use to get details in alerts. Still, the CHP Information Technology staff cautioned that the agency’s network did not have the bandwidth to handle the traffic generated by hundreds of thousands of people – or more – hitting the information page of their website at once.

The site’s security features were also slowing down traffic. Bertola reached out to different social media companies to see if they could help provide a platform which would support this level of activity with link usage and site visits.

“Twitter was the only one that could set up a page with us where anybody could access that information, whether or not they have ever used Twitter, or have the app,” said Bertola.

Twitter was also willing to not include advertisements on California’s AMBER Alert account. In January 2019, CHP launched its first AMBER Alert using its new Twitter account.

“We had a 98.7% rate of people clicking in to get the AMBER Alert information,” said Bertola.” We reached 3.2 million people in just a matter of minutes.”

“We were able to recover that individual within a matter of minutes and it was directly related to the fact that somebody clicked on that link and it went to the Twitter page. It was amazing.”

The CHP decided to allow people to comment and even leave tips on the Twitter page. Bertola said the public has been good to call out people who leave inappropriate comments during an AMBER Alert. The alerts are immediately removed once the victim has been recovered.

The CHP AMBER Alert Twitter account went from having 10 visitors to 10 million. During the first two years, more than 170 million people have clicked on the AMBER Alert account.

July 2018 – Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) makes the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) capable of having a URL embedded in the message.

July-September 2018 – California Highway Patrol (CHP) tries to find the best method of utilizing the new tool and addresses concerns from the media about lack of consistency and quality of flyers being produced.

October 2018 – CHP launches its first WEA/URL and overloads its website in less than 5 minutes.

November-December 2018 – CHP works to find a solution to keep the URL directed to the CHP website. The first alert using the URL did not allow everyone to get all the details about the child abduction. The URL shortener Bitly shows only 13% of users who clicked on the message made it to the CHP website. CHP considers alternatives to the CHP website and selects Twitter to house the alerts page. Twitter helps CHP set up an alert-specific page.

January 2019 – CHP approves the use of Twitter to activate AMBER and Blue alerts using the new WEA/URL format.

February 2019 – CHP approves the use of WEA/URL for Silver Alerts and Endangered Missing Advisories (EMA) and begins training to explain the reduction in WEA/URL activation areas based on information from the investigation and supporting analytics from previous cases.

January 2019-present – CHP sees a more than 50% reduction in the duration of active AMBER Alerts using the new process when the CHP is contacted within six hours of the abduction. information is reaching the public, and they are able to act quickly to receive additional information and offer tips and leads in the case.

The success of the newly revamped AMBER Alert also allows the CHP to direct the alerts to a more localized area based on the information gathered during the investigation. Updated alerts are issued when significant new information becomes available.

“Everybody wants to go statewide for AMBER Alerts all the time, and we feel the same and we wish we could, but we don’t want to desensitize the public and oversaturate them with alerts so that they opt out of receiving them,” said Bertola.

Another significant change is that broadcasters are getting the AMBER Alerts at the same time as everyone else. This means broadcasters do not have time to prepare more information for the public when an alert is activated. However, broadcasters can reach more people beyond those areas where messages are received by cell phones.

The WEA can also be redirected or expanded based on updated information. Even though the radius of the alerts is now smaller, the results continue to grow stronger.

Bertola said they have learned a lot and made mistakes along the way. The CHP is doing more training to help California law enforcement agencies and other AMBER Alert partners understand the newly revamped child abduction notification plan. They are also providing information to other state AMBER Alert coordinators to support their ability to update and strengthen their plans.

“From the moment we hit launch until recovery, the time has decreased over 50%,” said Bertola. “Sometimes it takes hours, and other times only minutes. As everyone knows, every minute counts in this situation.”

Recent CHP Public Alerting Successes:

Silver Alerts:

On a Saturday in October, California issued three WEAs for Silver Alerts and all the victims were found within just a few miles of the alleged abduction. One suspect was found after a nurse discovered that a “John Doe” in a hospital room was the missing person being sought in a Silver Alert. Another victim was found when a citizen saw the alert, walked out of a store, and saw the missing person sitting by a tree. The third was found by a neighbor.

AMBER Alerts:

A mother and her child were safely recovered, due to the quick reaction by two youths who were riding their bicycles and received the alert on their cellphones about a kidnap for ransom. When the WEA was sent, they clicked the URL and accessed the CHP Twitter page with the flyer and associated pictures from the alert. They recognized the suspect vehicle parked near a tree, partially obscured from view. They immediately went home and had their parents call 911. Officers found the mother and her child gagged, but still alive, near the vehicle.

In another case, a suspect was believed to be taking a victim from San Jose, California, to Mexico. The alert went out in the coastal region of California south of San Jose. A group of people recognized the suspect’s vehicle at a gas station. The citizens all positioned their cars so the suspect could not leave until law enforcement arrived.

“When the sheriff’s department got there, people were high-fiving each other,” said Bertola. “It’s amazing to see because those are the feelings we all feel whenever we have a safe recovery.”

In thinking about several successful alerts over the past 18 months, and commenting on the improvements overall, Bertola remarked, “Now the public is able to engage in a new way. Some of the feedback we’ve gotten from them is, ‘Thank you. Thank you for giving us all the information instantly.’ If I don’t do anything else in my career, I feel very proud that this is making a difference for all these individuals. Because they’re not statistics – they’re people.”

This new process has not only changed the game for AMBER Alerts, but significantly improved the other alerts California administers.

“With the success the new process has brought, we’re not done yet. We will continue to adjust our program, use new tools, expand our reach, and help anyone who wants to adopt this new process. This is a team effort - when one improves, we all improve,” concluded Bertola.

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Amber Hagerman, for whom the AMBER Alert is named.

A case that ended with the safe recovery of four missing children from the Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming became the 1,000th AMBER Alert success story. AMBER Alerts were issued in Wyoming and Colorado for the missing children, ages 5, 6, 11 and 14. Authorities believed they were be in imminent danger after being taken by their non-custodial mother. A citizen saw the alert and helped police recover the children from a motel in Colorado. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has been documenting all successful AMBER Alert recoveries after the program began in 1996.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul launched a new task force to help fight the abduction, homicide, violence, and trafficking of Native women in the state. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Task Force will examine contributing factors to the crimes and focus on understanding the roles of federal, state, and tribal jurisdictions. The task force will also improve and implement data collection and reporting methods.

“The problem of violence against women and children and the disproportionate impact on Native women and communities is the responsibility of all of society to address,” said Kristin Welch, Menikanaehkem Women’s Leadership Cohort-MMIW Coordinator. “For meaningful long-term reform, we must look to solutions that are Indigenous-led while addressing both historical acts of violence against Indigenous women as well as those that still exist today within modern institutions.”

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AMBER Alert Europe marked a number of important milestones for its goal of #ZeroMissingKids in its annual report for 2019. The highlights include:

The organization’s Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) was officially recognized by all member states of the European Union.
PEN-MP appointed Damjan Miklič with the Slovenian Police Directorate as the new president representing the 60 police experts from 16 countries.
The ‘Stay Safe With Simon’ campaign was launched to teach children how to protect themselves from being abducted.

AMBER Alert Europe also started partnerships with national police forces of Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Lithuania, as well as with missing persons organizations in the UK and Spain. The full report can be found here.

AMBER Alert Europe now has 38 official organizations representing 23 countries after welcoming four new organizations into the fold during the summer of 2020. The following are the newest members:

Fundación ANAR is a non-profit that promotes children’s rights in Spain and Latin America. The organization has been managing the European hotline number for missing children in Spain since 2010. https://www.amberalert.eu/fundacion-anar/
NGO Instituto de Apoio à Criança has been defending children’s rights since 1983. The non-profit has been operating the missing children hotline for Portugal since 2004. https://www.amberalert.eu/iac/
Child Rights Centre Albania is a non-governmental organization that was established in 1997 to improve children’s rights in Albania. https://www.amberalert.eu/crca/
The Greek Safer Internet Center was launched in 2016 to promote internet safety for children. The organization teamed up with AMBER Alert Europe on the #DontBeAnEasyCatch prevention campaign. https://www.amberalert.eu/greek_safer_internet_center/

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The Texas Center for the Missing has teamed up with Clear Channel Outdoor Americas to utilize digital billboards for providing information on missing children. The effort was started to help Robyn Bennett find her missing 16-year-old daughter. The messages will be broadcast about 1,250 times every day on each of the 10 billboards throughout the Houston area. “These cases can all be solved if we all work together and look for these missing children actively and report what you see if you see something,” said Beth Alberts, CEO of the Texas Center for the Missing.

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Rupert, Idaho, population 5,554, is an agricultural hamlet known for its charm and friendliness. The town is in an area of Southern Idaho known as Magic Valley. On the surface, Rupert would seem like an unlikely setting for a human trafficking case that sparked an intensive search crossing state borders.

During the afternoon of April 16, 2020, the Rupert Police Department received a call from a mother that her 14-year-old cognitively impaired daughter was missing. The Minidoka Sheriff’s Office sent out an Attempt To Locate (ATL) for the missing child.

Idaho State Police (ISP) Dispatcher DeLisa Orren saw the ATL and contacted Rupert police to learn more about the situation and to determine if it qualified for an AMBER Alert. Orren soon found information linking suspects associated with the incident to previous assaults and human trafficking.

Rupert Police Detective Samuel Kuoha discovered text messages indicating the child had been groomed, and was taken around 8:00 a.m. after her mother left for work.

Idaho AMBER Alert Coordinator Tanea Parmenter determined the case met AMBER Alert criteria because the victim was lured away from home and taken across state lines for the purpose of sex trafficking.

The Big Picture

Unfortunately, it is not unique for a vulnerable child living in a small town to be enticed by traffickers through text messages or social media. Consider these findings:

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) found human trafficking suspects were most commonly charged with peonage, slavery, forced labor, or sex trafficking (39 percent), followed by the production of child pornography (32 percent) and transportation for illegal sex activity (29 percent). BJS also reports the number of human trafficking defendants sentenced annually to prison has increased more than fivefold from 2000 to 2015, from 132 to 759.
The 2018 Federal Trafficking Report determined over half (51.6%) of the criminal human trafficking cases active in the U.S. in 2018 were sex trafficking cases involving only children.
The U.S. State Department of State reported in 2019 a growing trend of traffickers using online social media platforms to recruit and advertise targets of human trafficking.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services notes the average age for a person entering the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14 years old.

Idaho AMBER Alert

In this case, Parmenter helped the Rupert Police Department ensure the missing person record was updated in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and issued an AMBER Alert at 8:23 p.m. through the state’s alerting system, CodeRed. The alert was sent to law enforcement terminals, highway signs, lottery terminals, 511 information, as well as news and radio broadcasts.

The AMBER Alert brought in many tips, including information from people who knew one of the suspects. Those tips helped police obtain the suspect’s cellphone number and determine he was in California. The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system was not activated because the suspect and victim were believed to be out-of-state at this point.

“We were confident we were doing all we could to help find her; however waiting to hear the outcome of the interaction with officers took quite a while and we were on pins and needles waiting for the investigation to play out,” said Parmenter.

California AMBER Alert

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) contacted Rupert police officers at the request of the Idaho State Police (ISP) about issuing an alert in California. Sgt. Matt Whitworth was working that night and consulted with his on-call manager regarding the request from Idaho.

The CHP protocol requires officers to talk to the activating agency to make sure communications are established throughout the investigation. After determining the case met California’s AMBER Alert criteria, CHP issued an AMBER Alert at 9:38 p.m. for seven counties along the I-80 corridor in California.

Supervisor and California AMBER Alert Coordinator and Lead Instructor, Sergeant Ed Bertola said, “It can be tricky to activate for another state because we need to be sure it meets our criteria and there’s good evidence there’s a nexus to California, and that the victim is in our state. AMBER Alerts are most effective when you have good information to give the public and our allied agencies.”

The California AMBER Alert was sent to law enforcement, broadcasters, highway signs, lottery terminals, schools, and businesses that have agreed to post the alerts on electronic signs. By law, California must create its own flyer with information about the suspect and victim. The WEA message includes a link to Twitter with the flyer information included.

“We were just trying to think of other avenues for what we could do,” said Whitworth. “We were seriously worried about the victim.”

Meanwhile, Rupert detectives found information about a second suspect who might still be in Idaho. ISP issued a second AMBER Alert through WEA at 11:00 p.m. in several Southern Idaho counties.

Also, CHP undertook a massive search of databases to glean information about the suspect and his vehicle. They activated license plate readers in an attempt to locate the suspect’s vehicle and began tracking the suspect’s cellphone.

CHP officers from multiple areas descended on a location obtained from the cell phone ping and identified the suspect’s vehicle at a rest area in Truckee, California, at 1:04 a.m. on April 17. They called for backup and then approached an older woman inside the car who said everyone in the vehicle was part of her family.

“We were disappointed when they found the car and one of the two suspects and the victim we were looking for weren’t there,” said Whitworth. “It was devastating that this could be a false report.”

The CHP officers did not give up searching after hitting this roadblock. CHP was still receiving pings from the victim’s cell phone in that location, so they conducted an exhaustive search of the large rest area. A swift yet thorough search of the area presented challenges, including many other vehicles, large buildings, and a groundcover of new snow.

While searching the back area behind one of the buildings, an officer spotted what appeared to be a fresh set of footprints leading to a densely wooded area. They followed the footprints in the snow for about 150 yards and found the suspect and the victim hiding behind a large tree. “They had a ‘Spidey-Sense’ that something was wrong,” added Whitworth. “We are very relieved we found the victim, I definitely slept well that night.”

The suspects were arrested, and the child was placed with child protective services. Three other juveniles, who were with their non-custodial mother, were also located with the Idaho teen.

Lessons Learned in Idaho

Idaho’s AMBER Alert coordinators Leila McNeill and Tanea Parmenter are grateful for the CHP’s cooperation and quick action. “We were excited to hear the victim was located safely and they were able to catch the suspects before they got too far into California,” said Parmenter. “We are also extremely fortunate to have an experienced dispatcher catch the ATL and take the time to ask questions, knowing that potential existed that this could be more than ‘just a runaway.’”

Orren humbly dismisses any personal credit for what happened. “A successful AMBER Alert is all about teamwork,” she said. “There are no jurisdictions, diversified agencies, state borders or egos. It is all about everyone working together, doing their part, for the good of the victim. The AMBER Alert system works because of the dedication of each person to the safe rescue of the child.”

Looking back, Parmenter said training and practice helps to ensure policies and procedures are in place to support quick activation and dissemination of AMBER Alerts. A press release was sent after the alert to explain the AMBER Alert process overall, and why WEA was not used initially.

She said this case is an important example of why AMBER Alert coordinators should stay connected with coordinators in other states. “Suspects rarely stay in the same state; building a relationship with the other states assists in the quick recovery of the child and suspects.”

“We work in law enforcement because we care,” added Leila McNeil. “We strive to do all we can to help those in need during the most harrowing time a family can imagine.”

Lessons from California

California Highway Patrol Sergeant Matt Whitworth

As AMBER Alerts are still relatively rare in the larger scheme of law enforcement’s work, Sgt. Whitworth noted the importance of other emergency alerts utilized in notifying the public. He said the experience gained from issuing the other alerts helps him keep up on what needs to be done to issue an effective alert.

Sgt. Bertola emphasized that AMBER Alert coordinators, law enforcement officers and telecommunicators must listen and look for indicators of sex trafficking when responding to calls/reports, because more and more often there is a connection between trafficking and missing children.

He said this case is a good example that officers should never give up—even when leads initially point to confusing or contradictory information.

“The officers could have said, ‘Good luck’ but they took the information and followed their gut and held the people for an extended period of time to figure this out,” said Bertola. “They didn’t give up on what they thought was happening. All the technology in the world doesn’t substitute for determination or good police work.”

Both Bertola and Whitworth have children, and they say that experience gives them extra motivation to find missing and abducted children.

“At the end of each alert you hug your kids differently,” said Bertola. “I’ve often tried to put myself in a victim family’s place. I couldn’t bare the loss in this type of situation. The CHP is dedicated to do whatever we can do and develop any technology we can to make the amount of time a family is separated the shortest time possible and get every child back safely.”

“It does give extra motivation when you have kids of your own,” said Whitworth. “It’s why you sign on to do this job in the first place, because you want to help people. We want to do the right thing and do the best job we can.”

Sergio Anaya Alcantar, 18, was charged with felony rape and kidnapping. Alcanter’s stepfather, Carmelo Villanueva Galarza, 35, was charged with kidnapping and sexual abuse of a minor under 16.

Idaho State Police Director Kedrick Wills said dispatcher DeLisa Orren’s extra efforts exemplify the agency’s goal of changing and saving lives. “The action DeLisa took that night made the difference between this girl being returned to her family and being abducted by people who could have caused her harm.” Orren humbly dismisses any personal credit for what happened. “A successful AMBER Alert is all about teamwork,” she said. “There are no jurisdictions, diversified agencies, state borders or egos. It is all about everyone working together, doing their part, for the good of the victim. The AMBER Alert system works because of the dedication of each person to the safe rescue of the child.”

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(From front, left to right) Colonel James Wiggins – Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Deputy Chief Jay Ethridge – Dept. of Financial Services, Ashley Moody – Florida Attorney General, Casey Desantis – First Lady of Florida, Commissioner Richard Swearingen – Florida Department of Law Enforcement

May 25 is the date both the U.S. and the international community designate as Missing Children’s Day. Because this annual event holds such significance in the work done by state AMBER Alert Coordinators and Missing Children Clearinghouse Managers, a great deal of planning and preparation is undertaken to ensure events are successful in raising community awareness of and commitment to efforts to recover missing and abducted children. This can be daunting for individuals newly serving in these roles as they look to carry on (or create) strong traditions around annual Missing Children’s Day.

Missing Children’s Day was first designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. The annual commemoration was adopted as a joint venture in 1998 by the U.S. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC).

Craig Schroeder, who recently left the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), has been actively involved in making Missing Children’s Day a huge success in the Sunshine State. He graciously shared with us how he makes it happen, and welcomes other states to consider the strategies and action steps he and his team used if they can be helpful in planning for Missing Children’s Day and other special events recognizing missing and abducted children.

Can you walk us step-by-step through what you have done for recent Missing Children’s Day planning and events?

Missing Children’s Day is a ceremony with two major components. The first is an awards ceremony honoring law enforcement officers, citizens, and children who have made heroic efforts to recover a missing child or have made great strides in combatting child abduction and human trafficking.

The second component is the Time of Remembrance, where we invite the families from Florida Missing Children’s Day Foundation, as well as families of children who were missing and found deceased. We honor their children in the presence of the Florida governor, heads of state, sheriffs, police chiefs and other state dignitaries.

During the program, the FDLE Commissioner reads the names of each child as specially selected music is played. The governor and first lady present each family with a rose—white roses for deceased children, and yellow roses for missing children. Roses are placed by posters which display each honored child’s picture.

How is responsibility for tasks organized when preparing for the annual event?

The Florida Missing Children’s Day event requires cooperation from multiple agencies. FDLE is the primary coordinator, and it partners with local vendors and state agencies, including the Florida Capitol, Capitol Police, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Tallahassee Police Department, and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. Funds are raised for the event by the Florida Missing Children’s Day Foundation, a 501c3 established to raise funds for the annual event.

What awards are presented in conjunction with the Missing Children’s Day event?

Florida offers awards in the following categories:

Legacy Award
Local Law Enforcement Officer of the Year
State/Federal Law Enforcement of the Year
Task Force/Team of the Year
Combatting Human Trafficking Award
Citizen of the Year
School Bus Operator of the Year
Essay Contest Winner
Poster Contest Winner

How are these categories decided upon? Do they change from year to year?

Many of our categories have been in place since the inaugural Missing Children’s Day ceremony in 1998. Over time, some categories have been added. For instance, when Pam Bondi was the Florida Attorney General, her office asked to sponsor an award recognizing work in Combatting Human Trafficking, which has been an ongoing category of recognition made every year since. Additionally, we created the Legacy Award last year, and it was presented for the first time to Mr. Don Ryce, father of Jimmy Ryce, a tireless advocate for endangered, missing, and abducted children.

How is outreach for nominations done each year?

Our award nominations are opened in early spring of each year and are disseminated statewide to law enforcement agencies through our partners at the Florida Police Chiefs Association and the Florida Sheriffs Association.

What has been one of the most significant outcomes from the work done to recognize AMBER Alert partners in your state?

Recognizing AMBER Alert partners and those who made strides in protecting children has really brought awareness to Floridians about the ongoing and steadfast commitment of agencies across the state in working together to respond swiftly and effectively when a child is in danger.

What is involved in administering your essay contest?

Our essay contest begins in January of each year when schools return from winter break. Our partners at the Florida Department of Education send out a memorandum outlining the contest rules to all Florida grade schools, calling for essays from their fifth-grade classes. Students are asked to write a one-page essay on the theme “How I Stay Safe All Day.”

Essays are generally due in early March. Once all have been received, they are divided up into seven regions—one for each FDLE Regional Operations Center. The essays are sent to the governor’s legal office, another partner who helps us facilitate many facets of the Missing Children’s Day event. They choose a single winner from each of the seven regions. Those seven winners are then sent to Department of Education representatives who select a panel to determine a single, statewide winner.

In the event of a tie, FDLE assembles a panel to make the final decision. The winning essayist is invited to the Florida Missing Children’s Day ceremony to receive his/her award and read the essay to the audience.

What steps do you take to administer the poster contest?

The poster contest is usually initiated in the late fall by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Florida begins its poster contest the first week in January when students return to school. The information and rules for the poster day contest are disseminated to schools across the state through our contacts at the Department of Education (DOE).

Once the deadline arrives, we gather all posters. The contest coordinator holds an initial review to eliminate any posters that did not adhere to contest rules (wrong poster size, unacceptable medium, missing the required phrase, etc.). All eligible posters are then judged by a panel of FDLE and DOE members to select the winner.

The winning artist is invited to the Florida Missing Children’s Day ceremony to receive his/her award. A billboard is created from the poster and is posted throughout the state, thanks to our partners at the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association.

What do you do to help publicize the event?

The Florida Missing Children’s Day presentation is a public event that usually draws around 500 people to the Capitol Complex. To publicize the event, we send out invitations to all partner agencies and post information to the Florida Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse (MEPIC) page as well as the Florida Missing Children’s Day Foundation page. News releases are sent statewide and our public information officers also provide updates both before and following the event.

Can you share some examples of media coverage?

We always have the Florida Channel broadcast the event live. In addition, local news media attend and frequently interview award winners and family members.

We also try to create other events to garner attention. For instance, last year we partnered with the Tampa Bay Rays to hold a Missing Children’s Day event at Tropicana Field, where our poster and essay contest winners threw out the first pitch. All attendees were given a Florida Missing Children’s Day bracelet and we set up a table at the main entrance to provide more information.

What is the overarching goal of Florida’s Missing Children’s Day program?

Our goal for Missing Children’s Day is to bring awareness to the issue of missing children. We highlight ongoing challenges by awarding law enforcement officers and citizens for their bravery, as well as keeping a spotlight on Florida children who are still missing.

Can you share any stories of previous winners or events that made a difference in the recovery of missing and abducted children?

Our Jimmy Ryce K-9 Trailing Team of the Year, named for Jimmy Ryce, who was abducted and murdered in 1996, always produces a winner who made direct and significant impacts on recovering a missing child. For instance, this year’s winner was an officer and his K9 partner who tracked an at-risk child who wandered from his home, over a highway and through the woods. Their efforts brought the child home unharmed.

What advice would you offer to other AMBER Alert Coordinators in their work to make Missing Children’s Day a significant and effective event in their states?

The most significant part of the ceremony is the Time of Remembrance; it is important to remind these families whose children have been missing for weeks, months, years, and even decades, that we have not forgotten about them. For other coordinators who are working on a Missing Children’s Day event or program, I encourage them to never lose sight of the important and positive impacts created when we strive to keep these families and their children front and center.

Note: Craig Schroeder recently left FDLE for another position but Florida Missing Children’s Day will continue as it always has. Craig’s supervisor, Senior Management Analyst Supervisor Brendie Hawkins, will assume his duties until a replacement is made. She is available for any questions at BrendieHawkins@fdle.state.fl.us.

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By Patricia Davis

07-23-2020

A home movie was being shown on the evening news, and Diana Simone stopped what she was doing to watch, curious why they were featuring an excited little girl opening her Christmas presents nearly three weeks after the holiday. The blue-eyed brunette happily held up a Barbie doll for the video camera and waved and smiled as she took her new pink bicycle for a test drive.

Simone was eager to hear what this child had done to warrant a spot on the news. Her curiosity quickly turned to heartbreak. The news anchor said the 9-year-old girl, Amber Hagerman, had just been yanked off that new pink bicycle by a stranger and thrown, kicking and screaming, into his black pickup truck in the parking lot of an abandoned Winn-Dixie in Arlington, Texas. Her family was there visiting her grandparents, and she’d been riding bikes with her 5-year-old brother. He pedaled as fast as his little legs would go to get help.

Like Simone, her Arlington community desperately wanted to help search for Amber but didn’t know what to look for, even though there had been an adult who saw the whole thing. Frustrated, Simone called a Dallas-Fort Worth radio station with an idea: We have weather and civil defense alerts – why not alerts for critically missing children? Amber’s body was found four days after her Jan. 13, 1996 abduction in a creek bed, her throat slashed. Her killer has never been found.

In the wake of the tragedy, Simone’s idea eventually took off and became what is known today as the AMBER Alert System, which was designed to quickly galvanize a community to help search for critically missing kids. Now, 24 years after it began, America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) has reached a remarkable milestone: its 1,000th success story with the recovery of four children in Wyoming believed to have been in imminent danger.

“It’s so uplifting, especially during this time when you’re seeing so many negative examples of selfishness,” said Simone, describing the public’s enduring response to AMBER Alerts as humanity at its best. “To see that the country’s spirit and caring is still very active is heartwarming to say the least.”

*Diana Simone at White House with President Bush in 2003 for signing of the PROTECT Act.*

The 1,000^th successful recovery came when the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming requested an AMBER Alert for four missing children, ages 5, 6, 11 and 14, from the Arapaho Tribe. Their non-custodial mother had taken them from a home outside the reservation where they had been placed by the tribe for protection.

Chris McGuire, Wyoming’s AMBER coordinator, confirmed that the children were in imminent danger and that there were sufficient descriptions of the vehicle, suspect and children for the public to help find them. A tribal court had issued a protective order to keep the mother away from the children, and McGuire activated the alert in the state.

The alert generated a lead when the mother, Stacia Potter-Norris, 30, stopped at a glass company to have a rear-window of the vehicle replaced and, with no money, offered to sell some guns in exchange for the work, McGuire said. She left her phone number with the clerk, who turned it over to law enforcement. Another tip came when a homeless man saw the vehicle described in the alert at a truck stop. He watched the driver swapping her vehicle with someone she appeared to know in another vehicle.

Using the phone number the mother gave the store clerk, investigators were able to track her movements to the Denver area. At Fremont County’s request, Colorado issued an AMBER Alert in that state with the updated vehicle information. That prompted a call from someone who saw a vehicle matching that description parked at a Motel 6. Using the motel’s surveillance tape, the children were found safe in Room 222, but the mother had disappeared. She was later found, arrested on felony charges and extradited back to Wyoming.

“This is a success story that could have gone really bad, really quick,” said McGuire, who’s proud of the milestone success story. “It really does show how the AMBER Alert works.”

AMBER got its start in 1996 after Simone, a self-described “ordinary woman and mother” who saw the report about Amber on TV, called the radio station and was asked by the station manager to follow up with a letter, explaining what she envisioned. The station manager promised to present Simone’s idea at an upcoming meeting of regional station managers. In her letter, dated 14 days after Amber’s abduction, Simone wrote that if the radio station could gather enough support for such an emergency broadcast system, she had one request: “That it be known as Amber’s plan.”

*Diana Simone’s letter proposing an AMBER Alert system after Amber’s abduction.*

Simone’s persistence paid off, and, with the media and law enforcement working together, the alert system was given FCC permission to operate. But after the first two years, Simone said, when there had been no successful recoveries, she feared its demise was imminent. Then, in November 1998, Arlington, Texas police received a report that an 8-week-old girl, Rae Leigh Bradbury, had been abducted by her babysitter, who may be headed to a crack house.

After she'd been missing for a day, law enforcement decided to give the new AMBER Alert system another try. This time it worked – and it only took 90 minutes for someone to recognize the babysitter's turquoise truck. Rae Leigh was recovered unharmed and now, as an adult, has become a strong advocate for AMBER and a symbol of hope for all families of missing children.

Since that first success, the AMBER Alert system, which is administered by the Justice Department and has 86 plans nationwide, has vastly expanded its reach, using all available technology to get vital information into the hands of people in the best position to help. They’re only used in the most serious child abduction cases, and only those that meet the individual state’s strict criteria. At the direction of law enforcement, the alert is first sent to radio and television stations, the lottery, the Department of Transportation and to us at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (NCMEC) Then we, as secondary distributors, send it out to a wider audience, including internet service providers such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, digital billboards, the trucking industry and truck stops.

Then, seven years ago, AMBER Alerts got a significant boost. Law enforcement began enlisting the public’s help through their cell phones via a Wireless Emergency Alert, dramatically increasing the chance that the right person, at the right time would see the alert and help save a child. Because so many people have cell phones, more people are getting the information faster than ever before.

“It was a game changer,” said Carly Tapp, AMBER’s program specialist at NCMEC. “Awareness skyrocketed. Now, almost everyone knows what an AMBER Alert is. And when you receive one on your cell phone, please know that the child is in extreme danger. That’s what they’re helping with – the worst of the worst cases.”

Of the 1,000 success stories, 75 have already been attributed to alerts on cellphones, Tapp said. She said there are likely many more than 1,000 cases that have been resolved due to AMBER Alerts, but that it’s not always easy to confirm when someone calls in a tip resulting in a recovery that they had seen the alert, she said.

Twenty-four years later, Simone is thrilled by the sustained success of AMBER Alerts, a wonderful legacy for Amber. And why was she so certain that an alert system would work when others weren’t so sure? Said Simone: “Because I believe in the goodness in people.”

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OJJDP has released its 2019 Annual Report to Congress. The report describes OJJDP’s programs and activities during fiscal year (FY) 2019. Find information on the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Program (AIIC) beginning on page 14.

OJJDP awarded more than $323 million in FY 2019 to fund programs, research, training and technical assistance, and information dissemination activities that enhance public safety, ensure juvenile offenders are held appropriately accountable, and empower youth to live productive, law-abiding lives. In FY 2019, the Office supported efforts to promote youth mentoring and address gang and gun violence, substance use disorders, the maltreatment and exploitation of children, and a range of other issues through a diverse portfolio of programs and resources.

View the full OJJDP press release here.

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In This Issue:

The second 2020 issue of the AMBER Advocate features a closer look at the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program's capacities in bringing a customized learning and collaboration experience to your jurisdiction or community, shares a front lines example of the power of AMBER Alerts as evidence through rapid citizen response to assist in a Massachusetts child abduction case, and spotlights the multi-faceted experience and tireless dedication of Tennessee's AMBER Alert Coordinator.

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The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee issued a warning not to support a GoFundMe page connected to a missing 15-month-old girl. On February 19, 2020, the sheriff’s office issued an AMBER Alert after 18-year-old Megan Boswell reported her daughter was missing. On February 23, the sheriff’s office said a donation site that claimed to be connected to the investigation was fraudulent and it was not authorized to use the agency’s name. On March 6, the child was found dead, ending a 17-day-search in 3 states. The mother is now charged with making a false report.

A Pennsylvania legislator wants law enforcement agencies to immediately issue a Missing Endangered Person Advisory when a parent or family member reports an abduction. Representative Anthony DeLuca is calling the change to the AMBER Alert program the “Nalani Johnson Rule,” named after a two-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered on August 31, 2019. DeLuca said the child’s father reported the child missing with information about the kidnapper, vehicle, and direction they were traveling. He said the alert was delayed for hours because the approved criteria for an AMBER Alert had not been met.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) is encouraging residents to subscribe to ‘Mo- Alerts’ for immediate receipt of AMBER Alerts issued in the state. MSHP launched the upgraded AMBER Alert system in December 2019 which streamlines the process for faster public alerting. The new system was first used on January 17, 2020, for a 2-year-old child. A resident saw the AMBER Alert and the child was located minutes after the alert was issued. Missouri residents can sign up at moalerts.mo.gov/.

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AMBER Alert Europe has partnered with a technology company for AMBER Alerts to be seen on 23,000 ATM screens across Europe, with the potential of being viewed by millions of users and others passing by. The concept began in the Netherlands with Euronet Worldwide in the summer of 2019. “This partnership will significantly increase the amount of exposure that missing children will receive,” said Frank Hoen, AMBER Alert Europe Chairman and Founder. “I am certain this will save children’s lives in the future.”

A couple was arrested after the Attorney General of Mexico City offered a 2 million peso reward (approximately $80,000 USD) for information leading to the capture of the people involved with kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl.

A woman picked up the girl from her elementary school on February 11, 2020, and said she was going to take her home. Surveillance video shows the woman and girl walking down the street. Five days later the child was found deceased in a garbage bag.

Police say the woman gave the girl as a “gift” to her abusive husband. The child was killed when the husband saw a TV report of her disappearance and the active police search. An autopsy revealed the child had been sexually assaulted before her death. The Mexican Public Ministry is seeking the maximum penalty for both the abductor and the murderer, a sentence of 70 years each.

The southeastern European country of Bosnia-Herzegovina is now part of the continent’s child abduction alert program. The country is the 21st to join AMBER Alert Europe, which now has 34 participating organizations. “By joining we want to contribute to quickly and successfully solving missing children cases through cooperation with colleagues from other countries,” said Mirsad Vilić, Director for Coordination for Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country is also joining the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons, a network that allows law enforcement to quickly consult with members in other countries on missing persons.

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Tyesha Wood, Project Coordinator, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program and ITCN Council Members

On January 31, 2020, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AATTAPAIIC) team members Tyesha Wood and Tanea Parmenter attended the quarterly meeting of the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada (ITCN) in Sparks, Nevada. During this meeting, they provided a brief presentation on the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018 and the ongoing efforts by AATTAP-AIIC to support its implementation. The ITCN is comprised of members from the 27 tribes in Nevada. The purpose of the Council is to promote opportunities for the tribes and to assist with the tribe’s partnerships with local and state organizations. AATTAP–AIIC staff will continue to collaborate with the ITCN council members and assist tribes in developing programs that protect children and support the work being done with missing and exploited children programs in their communities.

Wyoming law enforcement agencies are now required to collect more information and better collaborate across jurisdictions on cases involving missing or murdered Native Americans. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed a bill on March 9, 2020, that will also help the state’s two tribes implement their own AMBER Alert systems. The legislation requires Wyoming law enforcement to include biographical information on reports to give the state better data on the number of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“For the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho, we all have our stories,” said Wyoming Legislative Representative Andi Clifford, an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. “This is a step in the right direction.”

AATTAP–AIIC Team Members and Representatives from the Wyoming State Patrol and Wind River Inter-Tribal Council

On March 11, 2020, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AATTAP-AIIC) team, in partnership with the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program, conducted a one-day AMBER Alert in Indian Country Implementation Meeting with the Wind River Inter-Tribal Council in Fort Washakie. The Wind River Inter- Tribal Council is comprised of members from the two tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, which combined have approximately 12,500 total enrolled members. Representatives from the Wind River Indian Community, Wind River Police Department, and surrounding state and county law enforcement agencies were also in attendance. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together representatives from Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, and the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program, to develop strategies for implementing AMBER Alert Plans for tribes in the aftermath of a child abduction.

During this meeting, staff from the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program provided a presentation on its missing persons programs and resources, specifically explaining the protocol for working collaboratively to request and issue an AMBER Alert. Presenters emphasized their continued commitment to cooperate and assist the Wind River Indian Reservation and the Wind River Chief of Police with continued AMBER Alert training. The Wind River Tribal Community representatives and State Representatives also met to discuss state resources and valuable information to ensure a cooperative effort to enhance response in the event of an endangered missing or abducted child. The meeting concluded with a discussion of the role and duties of a possible AMBER Alert Coordinator within the Tribe to represent the Wind River Indian Community, and with concurrence to work with the Wyoming AMBER Alert Program on development of an AMBER Alert activation plan for the Tribe.

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Shelly Smitherman is the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Criminal Intelligence Unit/ Fusion Center. She oversees the AMBER Alert/Endangered Child Program, Human Trafficking analysts, and the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry. Smitherman has been with the TBI for 18 years and has worked in the Middle Tennessee Drug Division, Training Division, and Criminal Intelligence Unit. Shelly received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Belmont University. She is also a graduate from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy and LEAD Tennessee. ASAC Smitherman began her career with the State of Tennessee in 1996 as a case manager with the Department of Children’s Services (DCS). While employed at DCS, she conducted severe child physical and sexual abuse investigations. In 1999, she was hired by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission as a Special Agent. Shelly lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the proud mother of 2 children (ages 18 and 14) and 4 dogs.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL?

We have an amazing team at TBI that supports our AMBER Alert program in Tennessee. We have 16 intelligence analysts who are on-call and assist with AMBER Alerts. Team members train together regularly to ensure we are always ready to respond quickly when an AMBER Alert is issued.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

I am humbled to oversee the Tennessee AMBER Alert/Missing Children Program. There is no greater reward than being part of locating a child who is in harm’s way; this has been the most rewarding job in all my 23 years of state service. Every recovered child is a reminder of the critical importance the AMBER Alert.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM?

Although we have little turnover in our unit, it is difficult to keep local law enforcement trained on the protocol for issuing an alert, due to changing personnel. We provide onsite training across the state throughout the year to ensure law enforcement officers are aware of the requirements for AMBER Alert issuance. The training includes guidelines for preparing local agencies before a child abduction occurs in their communities.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE? WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE PROGRAM?

I am always communicating with my AMBER Alert partners from other states and searching for the best technology we can utilize to notify the public rapidly and provide as much detail as possible in order to resolve missing children cases quickly. We have recently updated our WEA message through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that directs the public to the TBI Twitter page. This allows us to quickly provide details to every cell phone in the state.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE. HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT SUPPORT THE OUTCOME? WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED?

We had a recent AMBER Alert that involved a 12-year-old victim who was safely recovered by law enforcement. This case reminded everyone of the importance of agencies working together for one goal - the safe return of the child. The recovery of the victim was a result of successful collaboration between several local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The child was recovered at a building in Nashville that had a billboard directly outside displaying the AMBER Alert poster from NCMEC.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

In my 23 years of working for the state of Tennessee, I have had the opportunity to work a variety of investigations that have prepared me for this role as the AMBER Alert Coordinator.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS?

I urge other AMBER Alert Coordinators to build relationships with their counterparts from other states. I have also developed great relationships with the people at the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College, as well as with NCMEC; they have been great partners in coordinating various training events in Tennessee for local, state, and federal agencies.

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Maggie Kenney was sitting on her front porch when she saw a man grab a young girl and push her into his car. She immediately started screaming at her husband to call the cops.

“I’m screaming, yelling to wake up the neighborhood,” said Kenney to a reporter. “(The girl) was saying ‘Stop! Put me down!’ It was terrible.”

The abduction took place at 1:26 p.m. on January 15, 2020, in Springfield, Massachusetts. The 11-year-old was taken while she was walking home after getting off her school bus. Kenney told police the abductor was driving a blue two-door Honda Civic.

Detectives searched the area and found a home security camera had captured video of the suspect’s vehicle and the victim moments before the abduction. The video also showed the same vehicle following the girl the day before.

The Springfield Police Department (SPD) media relations officer began contacting local news outlets and posting information on social media about the stranger abduction while detectives prepared information for an AMBER Alert. SPD and the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) coordinated swiftly to move the AMBER Alert activation forward. MSP provided activation guidance at 3:35 p.m. SPD submitted photos of the suspect’s vehicle to MSP by 4:14 p.m.

The police department issued a press release at 5:15 p.m. with the name, age, a physical description, and photographs of the endangered child, along with the location and time she was last seen, and a description of the suspect vehicle. The AMBER Alert was issued at 5:20 p.m.

Massachusetts AMBER Alert Coordinator Sergeant Nicole Morell — Massachusetts AMBER Alert Coordinator
Sergeant Nicole Morell

“A child’s life and safety is at stake and we want to engage the public across our entire state, so everyone can help us look for that child and the person who abducted her,” said Sergeant Nicole Morell, Massachusetts AMBER Alert Coordinator.

The MSP sends AMBER Alerts to law enforcement via directed messages and broadcasts, and to the public through television and radio broadcasts, website and social media pages, and public transit stations and electronic highway signs. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) also deliver these critical messages and updates to the public.

“This was the first stranger abduction in Massachusetts since the AMBER Alert system was implemented in this state in 2002,” said Dave Procopio, MSP Media Communications Director. “Naturally, there was great concern for this child’s safety, and a determination by everyone involved in the process at MSP that we would keep working until she was found.”

Emergency dispatchers were flooded with calls, including numerous motorists who said they spotted the suspect’s car, beginning around 7:15 p.m. The license plate number information received from tips was fed into automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems to locate the vehicle. MSP Troopers also started slowing the traffic in that area by reducing the highway to one lane.

Amanda Disley and her husband saw the vehicle and started following it. Their son was in the back of the car live-streaming the event.

“I hope they find that girl, I really do,” Disley said in the video “It’s got me sick to my stomach. I cannot imagine being that mom. I can’t imagine how that mom feels.”

They lost sight of the car, but other motorists called 911 to report the vehicle was fleeing from the city of Chicopee. State troopers stopped the vehicle at 7:20 p.m. and arrested the 24-year-old perpetrator. The missing girl was recovered safely from the back seat. Troopers found a knife in the car door pocket.

“I felt tremendous relief,” said Procopio. “The AMBER Alert only works when civilians take time to listen to the information and commit themselves to remain alert as they go about their lives. That is what happened in this case, and we are eternally grateful to the civilians who helped us rescue this girl and apprehend her abductor.”

Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood held a press conference after the ordeal was over. “What happened is I think every parent’s worst nightmare,” she said. “The biggest factor [in the safe recovery] was the assistance of the public. The tips coming in were amazing.”

MSP has issued 28 AMBER Alerts involving 36 children and has a 100% rate of safe recovery. Apart from the January 15, 2020, alert, the other 27 AMBER Alerts issued to date in Massachusetts all involved perpetrators who were known to the abducted child or members of the child’s family.

As information started coming in about the stranger abduction, the Massachusetts AMBER Alert Coordinator was actively communicating with coordinators in other states. At the same time MSP was responding to this abduction, Rhode Island was preparing to issue a Senior Alert. Morell said the strong relationships with other AMBER Alert partners helps make each state’s program work better.

“The process works; trust it,” added Morell. “Trust your instincts, your knowledge, and expertise. This being our first stranger abduction, we knew we had to work fast to get accurate information out to the public.”

MSP determined years ago to release information about a possible abduction to the public as soon as possible. This results in more people looking for the victim sooner and provides the media much-needed information when the AMBER Alert is issued.

“We realized that the news and information flow is continuous and, in an emergency, needs to be as instantaneous as possible,” said Procopio. “A child’s safety and life are at stake, and we want to engage the public across our entire state, so they are helping us look for that child and the person who abducted her. An AMBER Alert activation has a lot of moving parts, and it’s important that everyone involved knows their unique responsibilities and fulfills them satisfactorily and as quickly as possible.”

An after-action review found everyone fulfilled their roles well, but determined the AMBER Alert protocol and intake/request form need to be updated to reflect current technology.

The abductor in this case was charged with 3 counts of aggravated rape of a child with force, indecent assault, battery, kidnapping, witness intimidation, and assault with a dangerous weapon on a child under the age of 14. The judge in the case ordered a psychiatric evaluation for him.

The victim’s parents issued a statement to thank the motorists who followed the suspect “for their vigilance and courage for putting themselves in harm’s way to make sure she wasn’t out of their sight.” They also thanked the law enforcement officers, doctors, social workers, and everyone involved in the AMBER Alert. “The outpouring of love and support, near and far, is overwhelming. We are eternally grateful."

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Delapaz Training — Dallas Police Detective and AATTAP Child Sex Trafficking Course Coordinator Cathy Delapaz at the two-day training in Springfield, Missouri

This training on the law enforcement response to child sex trafficking was not for the faint of heart. More than 180 people listened to case study summaries and evidence-based information on how child sex trafficking victims may be reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement officers, or to assist with the investigation because of shame, or from fear that they or their families will be harmed by the traffickers. This is largely due to bonds forged through trauma and fear. These child victims, whose average age is 14–15, are repeatedly forced into commercial sexual exploitation through coercion or physical violence.

The two-day training in Springfield, Missouri, on January 28-29, 2020, is one example of the individualized instruction the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) can offer a community through its broad array of course offerings.

A CUSTOMIZED TRAINING EXPERIENCE

The overarching goal of targeted training such as that developed for Springfield is to provide customized information and resources which support local/area law enforcement and the community it serves in developing an effective approach to understanding, rescuing, and appropriately serving the recovery needs of victims of sex trafficking. Representatives from law enforcement, child protection, medical, juvenile services, and non-profit groups united over the two-day training to develop a response protocol specific to the dynamics of sex trafficking occurring in the community.

Developed by Byron Fassett, AATTAP Program Manager, and Cathy Delapaz, Dallas Police Detective and AATTAP Child Sex Trafficking Course Coordinator, this training and its customized application for these Missouri participants was developed from a follow up request for additional training following a “Child Sex Trafficking Training for First Responders” course provided by Delapaz in 2019.

Fassett, who has more than 25 years’ experience in investigating child sex abuse cases, shared studies that found 80% of victims ran away four or five times in a one-year period. He urged law enforcement officers and social workers to probe deeper into the elements at play when a child runs away. Fassett said traffickers seek out vulnerable teens living on the streets, luring them with offers of food, shelter, clothing, and other basic needs.

“It’s a process. They are first going to overwhelm them with love, affection, and attention,” said Fassett. “After they’ve pulled them in that way, then they will introduce the need for money.”

He said the victim is unscrupulously led to believe the perpetrator is owed something and paints a romantic picture of how they are working together as a team.

“Pimps call it selling the dream,” said Fassett. “And if that doesn’t work, the trafficker will use force.”

The group was provided evidence-based and results-oriented methods for identifying victims of sex trafficking, as well as those at high risk of luring and exploitation. The training included instruction and group discussion around discipline-specific victim interview techniques, and important elements in the documentation and reporting processes to support effective prosecution of perpetrators.

Delapaz shared what she has learned through years of helping sex trafficking victims. She noted that crimes commonly associated with child sex trafficking include sexual assault, child abduction, drug trafficking, robberies, and other violent crimes.

“Traffickers are a public safety danger,” said Delapaz. “Any child who is a runaway is at high risk of falling prey to traffickers. These traffickers must be met with the same response with which we meet any other exploiter of children.”

“Time is of the essence, these children must be rescued and saved from endless acts of exploitation. These are not cases where we can afford to take weeks to work; they are as pressing as an abduction or other situation in which an exploiter has access to a child.”

Delapaz explained it is crucial for communities to have an established team approach for these victims which is seamless, efficient, and quick.

In Springfield and across the nation, AATTAP works with state, regional, and local partners to develop an event and curriculum resources which best meets their child protection and community safety needs. Whether spearheaded by law enforcement agencies or the public safety and child protection organizations with whom they partner in local, grassroots endeavors, AATTAP audiences receive carefully constructed training like that provided to the dedicated professionals and community members of Springfield.

“Communities which develop a robust, impactful response to child sex trafficking victims will see a dramatic increase in recoveries of victims, disclosures of exploitation during interviews, prosecution of traffickers, and development of relevant long-term services for victims,” said Delapaz. These AATTAP trainers began with two goals for this course, as they do for all such trainings and presentations: 1) Share impactful information which resonates with participants; and 2) connect with the experience and situations in the participating community, to support their ability to practically and effectively apply the information.

“We were able to accomplish both goals,” added Delapaz in reflecting on the two days spent with the participants in Springfield.

LESSONS FOR OTHER COMMUNITIES

AATTAP is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice and is administered through Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) and its National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC). AATTAP provides a variety of in-person and online (both live webinars and self-directed) training opportunities to help law enforcement, other child protection professionals, and the community better understand and ready themselves to effectively respond to endangered missing and abducted children.

Trainings like what was offered in Springfield, developed out of the Child Sex Trafficking topical area, focus on understanding and identifying high risk victims, children in crisis, and the commercial exploitation of youth; and the critical importance of rescue and recovery work as victims and their families endure prosecutorial/judicial aspects of the case and forge a plan for long-term recovery.

These training events have outcomes geared toward powerful collaboration, development of effective policies and procedures, and the identification and application of best practices to safely recover endangered missing and abducted children.

AMBER Alert training courses can be hosted by local, regional, state, and tribal law enforcement training academies, agencies, or organizations. AATTAP encourages collaboration between law enforcement, public safety, and non-profit partners to identify training needs for each community.

AATTAP’s courses address numerous subjects, including effective first response to and investigation of endangered missing and abducted child incidents; child sex trafficking investigations and interdisciplinary community readiness to respond; AMBER Alert in Indian Country, Child Abduction Response Teams (CART), and many other important topics. Learn more, request training, and register for scheduled training events (both classroom and online) at the AMBER Advocate website’s Training and Resources area: https://www. amberadvocate.org/training-resources/.

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In honor of Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day and to support the efforts to fight this crisis, the City of Portland Tribal Relations Program sponsored “Strengthening the Safety Net: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Week” from May 3-8, 2020. During this week, the City of Portland’s Tribal Relations Program invited the AMBER Alert in Indian Country program to participate in their Educational Panel during its May 7^th Law Enforcement Day.

Panel members included, Tim Simmons, Tribal Liaison for the Oregon United States Attorney’s Office; Sarah Sabri, Oregon Department of Justice; and Tyesha Wood, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program – AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AATTAP-AIIC). The event was moderated by Laura John, Tribal Relations Director for the City of Portland.

Throughout the panel, members provided an overview on the complexities surrounding missing and murdered indigenous women, including the dynamics of enforcement in tribal protection orders, a review of Operation Lady Justice, and additional resources available to assist programs in the City of Portland in addressing this issue. AATTAP-AIIC team member Tyesha Wood also provided a presentation on the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018 and ongoing efforts to assist tribes with missing and exploited children programs in their communities.

To learn more about this event and view the recording, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/TribalRelationsPDX/videos/233727178063153/

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It goes without saying that Missing Children’s Day 2020 is like no other. The current situation with COVID-19 may impact our ability to gather and recognize those who have done so much to protect children, recover the lost and prosecute the predators, but it has not lessened the importance of the day or the work being done by child protection officials across this country.

While many may be limiting their movement or isolating at home, those on the front lines protecting children have not been able to slow down at all. In fact, if anything the threats have increased.

According to our partners at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), they took in 4.1-million reports of child cyber abuse in April, a fourfold increase over April 2019. In March, the center received more than 2-million reports, more than double what it received in March 2019.

Let this be a reminder of the importance of the work that each of you do to protect children and the need to constantly improve the way we respond, investigate and recover the missing and exploited child. We must always be looking for ways to do more, to do better and to bring children safely home to their families. We must make use of the training, resources and tools provided to us by the Department of Justice and our State, local and tribal partners, and share our knowledge and lessons learned.

In the coming weeks our AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Regional Liaisons will be convening a series of Regional online meetings between AMBER Program Coordinators, Clearinghouse Managers and CART Coordinators to keep open the lines of communications and collaboration and to make sure that we are supporting those in the field who are working everyday to protect our children.

For more information on the AATTAP regional online meeting being planned for your state/area, please email your regional liaison. You can a link to email your AATTAP Regional Liaison at the bottom of this site’s About AMBER Alert Page.

Please join us in recognizing the 2020 awardees, and remember that the work done on behalf of endangered missing, abducted and exploited children never ceases.

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As part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s 37th annual commemoration of National Missing Children’s Day, the Attorney General’s Special Commendation award was presented to Criminal Investigation Director Matthew Joy, Commander of the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Appleton, Wisconsin, and Special Agent in Charge Jesse Crowe, Supervisor of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for the Western District of Wisconsin. In January 2019, Director Joy and SAC Crowe led an urgent search to locate a missing 14-year-old girl who had been transported across state lines by a suspected child molester with whom she had been chatting online. The perpetrator was arrested, convicted, and is now serving a sentence of 11 years and 3 months in federal prison.

The Attorney, General’s Special Commendation award recognizes the extraordinary efforts and significant investigative or program contributions of an Internet Crimes Against Children task force or affiliate agency, or an individual assigned to either. The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program is honored to join with the DOJ in congratulating Director Joy on this important recognition of his steadfast commitment and diligence in protecting children.

Read the full DOJ press release here.

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During this 2020 National Police Week, we wish to thank each of you for your service and sacrifice on behalf of the tribal communities across the United States. During these unprecedented times you have stayed strong, placing yourselves on the front lines, facing the dangers of the corona virus while protecting our children and our communities. Each of you have left family members at home as you head out, facing the unknown, but willing to sacrifice everything in the line of duty.

As a community of many tribal nations, we know all too well the cost of sacrifice and the dangers of this profession. Let us not forget our fallen brothers and sisters. Take the time to visit the Fallen Officer Memorial Page https://www.odmp.org/search/browse/tribal-police and learn about some of the heroes lost in 2019. The names include Sergeant Steven Gaspare Greco of the Miccosukee Tribal Police Department, Conservation Officer Shannon Lee “Opie” Barron or the Red Lake Conservation Department, Officer Clayton Joel Townsend of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Lieutenant Joseph P. Johnson of the Seminole, FL Police Department and Officer David Kellywood of the White River Police Department who died February 17, 2020, while responding to a call of shots fired. David, like those listed here laid down his life, going towards danger to protect others.

Law Enforcement is both a profession and a calling. It is not for everyone, and at times it can be dangerous, frustrating, and unforgiving. We are held to a higher standard and are often unable to say what we think or feel. We see and do things so that others will not have too. Many of us will carry scars, both physical and emotional for the rest of our lives. However, we do so with pride. We realize that our duty is to protect and serve the community, to keep the peace, protect the rights of others; to serve as mediator, counselor, warrior, peacemaker, and servant. It is a noble calling.

This year, 307 names are being engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, bringing the total to 22,217 officers killed in the line of duty memorialized there. If you have not had the opportunity to watch this year’s Law Enforcement Memorial program, I encourage you to do so.

Please remember that each of you are incredibly important, you are the protectors and are in our thoughts and prayers. Continue to serve with pride and professionalism.

With Great Respect,

Jim Walters | Program Administrator

AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program | National Criminal Justice Training Center

AMBER Advocate Website: https://www.amberadvocate.org

AMBER Alert in Indian Country Website: https://www.amber-ic.org

Contact AMBER Alert:

(877) 712-6237 | askamber@fvtc.edu

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With the signing of a proclamation declaring May 5^th as Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day, President Trump has taken a step forward in our nation’s efforts to raise awareness and protect Native American and Alaskan Native communities.

Before we can make any real progress, we as a nation must first acknowledge there is a problem. We must collectively open our eyes to the reality that for far too long, women and children in these communities have faced levels of violence that should make the nightly news in every major media market in the US, and which would draw the ire of the nation.

Throughout this nation’s history, the dangers faced by the most vulnerable in these populations have been obscured by distance and isolation. Many have suffered, many have gone missing, and many have been murdered over the decades. Thanks to the courage and persistence of community members who have worked to raise awareness, we are finally beginning to see progress.

The Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day proclamation takes a strong and important step in acknowledging the problem as it states “…we reaffirm our commitment to ending the disturbing violence against these Americans and to honoring those whose lives have been shattered and lost.” And with this much needed progression in awareness comes great responsibility for action.

Each of us should now be engaged in the fight to protect those who for too long have not been protected. We have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of communities across the country, and we should all commit to strengthening the ability of tribes to end the violence, protect their citizens, and recover the missing.

Please heed this call and do your part; be it on the front lines of child protection, by volunteering in your community, or by learning and sharing more about the challenges facing our native communities. As you commit to learning and doing more, please engage with and share our AMBER Alert in Indian Country website.

Jim Walters | Program Administrator, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program

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As shared from WhiteHouse.gov’s Law and Justice Proclamation on May 5, 2020:

The American Indian and Alaska Native people have endured generations of injustice. They experience domestic violence, homicide, sexual assault, and abuse far more frequently than other groups. These horrific acts, committed predominantly against women and girls, are egregious and unconscionable. During Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day, we reaffirm our commitment to ending the disturbing violence against these Americans and to honoring those whose lives have been shattered and lost.

Resiliency, collaboration, and resourcefulness are all necessary to eradicate the heartbreaking incidents of missing persons and fatal violence experienced by American Indian and Alaska Native communities across our country. My Administration stands squarely behind the tribal governments that are leading the efforts to address this pattern of violence so that their people can live in peace and thrive. The Yakama Nation in southern Washington is using the State’s major violent crime database to track the disappearance of tribal members. On the Navajo Reservation, the Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives Work Group is working to end sex trafficking, child abductions, and other challenges within the largest tribal jurisdiction in the Nation. In Montana, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are engaged with State officials to prioritize cases of missing and murdered tribal citizens. Beyond these and other efforts, tribal communities are leveraging rich cultural traditions of healing ceremonies and spiritual practices to offer refuge, compassion, and comfort to individuals and families in crisis.

Under my Administration, tribal governments are not alone in fighting the epidemic of violence against American Indian and Alaska Native people. In October of 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) awarded more than $270 million in grants to improve public safety, serve victims of crime, combat violence against women, and support youth programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The DOJ’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative is placing coordinators in 11 United States Attorneys’ offices to develop comprehensive law enforcement responses to missing persons cases. These responses also include the use of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s advanced capabilities, enhanced data collection, and analysis to support local efforts when required.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is also taking action to address the critical concerns of American Indian and Alaska Native communities. DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs has launched a series of “Reclaiming Our Native Communities” roundtables focused on domestic violence prevention of missing or murdered American Indian and Alaska Native women, children, and men. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) is equipping officers to handle long-standing cold cases and child abduction investigations, including positioning Special Agents on cold‑case task forces in strategic locations throughout the country. BIA-OJS has partnered with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to aid in identifying missing persons cases involving Native Americans.

Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made the health and safety of American Indian and Alaska Native communities a priority. HHS is developing a comprehensive, whole-person approach for strengthening these vulnerable populations through prevention, health, and education activities. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) partners with tribes and tribal organizations to strengthen responses to Native American victims of domestic violence. ACF will soon disburse $22 million to increase the public health response and expand shelter and supportive services to victims of family violence, domestic violence, and dating abuse in tribal communities.

To help bolster these efforts to address this terrible crisis, last November, I was proud to sign an Executive Order establishing Operation Lady Justice. This interagency task force is developing an aggressive government-wide strategy for ending the cycle of violence and providing grants to improve public safety in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The task force is consulting with tribal leaders to develop and strengthen investigative protocols to resolve new and unsolved cases, improve information and data sharing, establish best practices for communicating with families throughout an investigation, and raise public awareness through outreach to affected communities.

Tragically, violence is prevalent in tribal communities, but we are determined to reverse this unacceptable trend. Through partnerships across Federal, State, and tribal governments, we are aggressively working to ensure that members of tribal communities can live lives free from fear of violence. We will not waver in our mission to bring healing, justice, hope, and restoration to our American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 5, 2020, as Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day. I call upon all Americans and all Federal, State, tribal, and local governments to increase awareness of the crisis of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives through appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fourth.

DONALD J. TRUMP

And as shared from the U.S. Department of Justice:

Attorney General William P. Barr issued the following statement:

“American Indian and Alaska Native people have suffered injustices for hundreds of years, including today’s rampant domestic and sexual violence carried out primarily against women and girls. Today, President Trump has proclaimed a day to remember all those missing and lost to this unacceptable violence. Through the Presidential Task Force – co-chaired by Katie Sullivan, who heads our Office of Justice Programs – and in partnership with Tribal Nations, we are all committed to ending this cycle of violence. To that end, we have brought unprecedented resources to support public safety and victim services, including $270 million in grant funding in fiscal year 2019. The department is also hiring 11 coordinators to consult with tribes and develop common protocols to address this scourge of violence. From this day forward, today’s proclamation marks a time for all of us to honor Native Americans who have been lost and rededicate ourselves to what President Trump has called ‘our mission to bring healing, justice, hope, and restoration’ to American Indian and Alaska Native communities.”

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The United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) will soon begin outreach to more than 4000 law enforcement agencies for assistance in updating and expanding data and analysis on stranger abductions of children. This effort – the Law Enforcement Survey of Stereotypical Kidnapping – will update the last systematic count which took place in 2011. It is part of the National Incidence Study of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway children (NISMART), a series of studies that extends back to 1988.

As part of the study, brief questionnaires will go out this summer requesting law enforcement agencies to check records for abductions by strangers or slight acquaintances for the year 2019. The study is being conducted by researchers at Westat and the University of New Hampshire, and will provide updated information about perpetrator characteristics, where children were taken, how many children were recovered, and the use of technology in the crime and in its resolution. Results are expected in 2021. For more information on this important area of NISMART research, visit https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/pubs/249249.pdf

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Written by: Tyesha Wood

On January 31, 2020, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AATTAP-AIIC) team members Tyesha Wood and Tanea Parmenter attended the quarterly meeting of the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada (ITCN) in Sparks, Nevada. During this meeting, they provided a brief presentation on the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018 and the ongoing efforts by AATTAP-AIIC to support its implementation. The ITCN is comprised of members from the 27 tribes in Nevada. The purpose of the Council is to promote opportunities for the tribes and to assist with the tribe’s partnerships with local and state organizations. AATTAP – AIIC staff will continue to collaborate with the ITCN council members and assist tribes in developing programs that protect children and support the work being done with missing and exploited children programs in their communities.

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Written by: Tyesha Wood, Project Coordinator, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program and ITCN Council Members

On March 11, 2020, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AATTAP-AIIC) team, in partnership with the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program, conducted a one-day AMBER Alert in Indian Country Implementation Meeting with the Wind River Inter-Tribal Council in Fort Washakie. The Wind River Inter-Tribal Council is comprised of members from the two tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, which combined have approximately 12,500 total enrolled members. Representatives from the Wind River Indian Community, Wind River Police Department, and surrounding state and county law enforcement agencies were also in attendance. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together representatives from Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, and the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program, to develop strategies for implementing AMBER Alert Plans for tribes in the aftermath of a child abduction.

During this meeting, staff from the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program provided a presentation on its missing persons programs and resources, specifically explaining the protocol for working collaboratively to request and issue an AMBER Alert. Presenters emphasized their continued commitment to cooperate and assist the Wind River Indian Reservation and the Wind River Chief of Police with continued AMBER Alert training. The Wind River Tribal Community representatives and State Representatives also met to discuss state resources and valuable information to ensure a cooperative effort to enhance response in the event of an abducted or endangered missing child. The meeting concluded with representatives in attendance discussing the role and duties of a possible AMBER Alert Coordinator within the Tribe to represent the Wind River Indian Community, and with concurrence to work with the Wyoming AMBER Alert Program on development of an AMBER Alert activation plan for the Tribe.

Janell Rasmussen, Associate, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program

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In This Issue:

The first 2020 issue of the AMBER Advocate features the Family Roundtable program and its important and lasting impacts in supporting families and survivors of abduction and exploitation, brings you to the front lines of a dramatic rescue in Idaho resulting from a successful AMBER Alert, and introduces you to the South Dakota AMBER Alert Coordinator who has served in law enforcement and child protection work for more than 30 years!

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Lawmakers in Wyoming are drafting legislation to address issues involving missing and murdered victims from Indian communities. On October 31, 2019, the Judiciary Committee voted for a bill that would: 1) gather and publish data on missing people with biographical data; 2) require law enforcement agency cooperation; 3) offer training on missing and murdered Indigenous people; and 4) assist the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes if they choose to implement and manage their own AMBER Alert system. Lawmakers are also considering a proposal allowing tribal police to arrest or cite non-Native American offenders.

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The Missouri Highway Patrol streamlined its process to issue AMBER Alerts for faster public notification. Authorities upgraded the system to allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System to deliver alerts directly to cellular carriers. Previously, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children distributed the messages to cellphones. Other features include: reducing the possibility of outdated information to continually be shared on social media, automatically updating Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the option to subscribe to alerts on its website at www.mo.gov/alerts/.

The Richmond, Virginia, Police Department purchased a fleet of drones to help in investigations, including cases involving AMBER Alerts. Twenty officers have been trained to fly the department’s four drones. The Federal Aviation Administration governs drones and state code requires a search warrant unless there is an immediate danger, such as in the case of an AMBER Alert. “They’re small. They’re portable. They’re easily deployed, and they are relatively inexpensive,” said Richmond Police Captain Michael Snawder. “This is a game changer for us.”

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The Lithuanian National Police officially joined AMBER Alert Europe and will now issue alerts in child abduction cases. On October 10, 2019, Lithuania joined 21 countries with 33 organizations using the tools and methods of the AMBER Alert program. “(This) enables us to spread information about these cases all over Europe, while learning about the latest technologies in the search for missing persons. All of the above, will highly contribute to finding missing children,” said Irena Ambrasaite, Chief Specialist at the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau.

All members of the European Union (EU) are officially recognizing the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons as the first and only law enforcement network for AMBER Alerts. At a meeting on October 18, 2019, a body of the Council of the EU identified the group as the single point of contact for missing person specialists for 21 EU countries. “Through the network, police officers across Europe know exactly who they should (contact) in another country at 3 a.m.,” said Frank Hoen, AMBER Alert Europe Chairman.

Some Canadian jurisdictions are not interested in creating a national Silver Alert program for persons with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The Alzheimer’s Society of Canada (ASC) also opposes the idea. “We aren’t endorsing them because there isn’t robust evidence that they actually work,” said Mary Schulz, ASC Director of Education. Silver Alert advocates say the system could be a lifesaver for missing seniors.

Bill VanGorder, spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Retired People (CARP) Nova Scotia said the alerts reinforce stereotypes. “We certainly don’t like the idea of suggesting that if you’re silver-haired, as I am, then somehow I’m going to automatically be prone to wander.” In 2017, Alberta and Manitoba amended their Missing Persons Act to allow for Silver Alerts. However, Alberta has yet to issue a Silver Alert.

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Bonnie Feller Hagan has been the South Dakota AMBER Alert Coordinator since 2016, and involved with the state’s child abduction alert program since it began in March 2003. She began her law enforcement career in 1985 as a patrol officer in Rapid City, South Dakota. A few years later, Feller Hagan became a school liaison officer, teaching programs and working with students. In 1990, she moved to Pierre, South Dakota, to join the Attorney General’s Office as a Criminal Intelligence Analyst with the Missing Person’s Clearinghouse. Feller Hagan helped South Dakota form a multi-jurisdictional Child Abduction Response Team (CART) in 2006 and an Endangered Missing Advisory program in 2008.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT/MISSING PERSONS PROGRAM, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES IT SUCCESSFUL? Most of the functions of the South Dakota AMBER Alert and Endangered Missing Advisory programs are performed by agencies within our state government as opposed to a third-party vendor.

Our AMBER Alert system was originally set up at the direction of the Governor’s Office and we continue to function through these state agency partnerships today. Our system allows us to adapt to changing technology and other needs while keeping the costs of the program low by utilizing existing state equipment and infrastructures, and the talents of state employees. Additionally, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, wireless associations, and broadcast/media partners send alerts to the public without charge.

We are a small, rural state and are fortunate not to issue many alerts. We do perform quarterly tests of our system and meet frequently to ensure our AMBER Alert system is functioning properly and available when we need it. When AMBER Alerts are issued, we hold a debrief to see if any areas can be improved.

HOW HAS THE TECHNOLOGY CHANGED FOR YOUR STATE’S AMBER ALERT SYSTEM? We do most things in-house. A couple of years ago we considered utilizing a third-party vendor, but decided against it. While we will continue to consider external help/ resources, we have a good system and currently do not have to do fundraising or seek additional appropriations.

I am concerned about reaching people the way they are using technology now. We need to address the prevalence and use of streaming data/content; my kids and their peers now get most things this way. And yet, we have many rural areas and nine Indian reservations in our state where people often rely heavily on satellite radio. We will activate alerts for the reservations, but we have many people living there who may not have cable or internet services to receive those alerts. The Endangered Missing Advisories do not reach their phones. As we expand technology on one hand, we must continue to think about how we bridge the gap for people who don’t have phones, internet services, or access to radio or TV.

HOW DO YOU TEST YOUR AMBER ALERT SYSTEM? We do a quarterly test of all systems and equipment with all of our partners, including emails to every state employee.

We may only issue an AMBER Alert every 2 or 3 years. We follow each quarterly test with a meeting, testing on a Wednesday and meeting the following Tuesday.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN? Once you meet with a family of a missing child, I think you naturally develop a passion for wanting to be part of the case’s resolution and the safe recovery of the child. The families have a lasting impact on me when they share their stories at conferences, meetings, or even through a phone call. If I can help recover a child or assist a family to find resolution to what happened to their missing loved one, it really is one of the most rewarding aspects of my law enforcement career; and for me as a person and mother.

I have a 27-year-old son who is an attorney and a 30-year-old son who is part of a team that travels around the state providing dental care to children who can’t afford it. Growing up they had a very protective mother, as I heard so many other parents share their stories.

PLEASE SHARE ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE. HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT SUPPORT THE OUTCOME? WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED? The most memorable AMBER Alert success story we worked was a 2011 request from Iowa for a 2-year-old boy who was abducted by his father in the middle of the night after he allegedly killed the child’s mother. Local, state and federal law enforcement began monitoring roadways in the area where the suspect was believed to be.

Officers saw the father’s vehicle and began pursuing him when he refused to stop. The suspect ran a sheriff’s car off the road, causing it to roll, injuring the sheriff. The abducting father stopped long enough to remove his son from his vehicle and place him on the side of the road, and then drove off.

The child was safely recovered and other officers continued to chase the suspect. He continued down the road until he intentionally drove head-on into another sheriff’s vehicle. The crash injured that sheriff, and caused the abducting father’s car to roll and become disabled. The father tried to escape on foot, but was captured, arrested and extradited back to his home state to face charges for his crimes.

The two injured sheriffs were honored, along with a federal officer who set aside his normal duties to actively search for, locate and follow the abducting father.

While this incident was tragic, this case was most memorable because of how AMBER Alert plans in two states coordinated; and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies pulled together across state lines to save a child. Everyone involved was willing to work together and do whatever it took to get this child to safety and protect him from the life-threatening situations into which he had been placed.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED, MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN? I have been in law enforcement for almost 35 years and it is a challenging career choice to sustain. However, the work I do with missing persons and the AMBER Alert program has been a positive and enriching experience filled with many dedicated people who really make a difference in families’ lives. I am proud to be an AMBER Alert coordinator and I appreciate the progress the programs have made in the last 20 years to strengthen public awareness and engagement on missing children’s issues.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM AND RELATED PROGRAMS IN THE FUTURE? I would like to have access to expanded technology and available funding to reach more people when we send alerts. We reach people through traditional methods such as broadcast media, email, billboards, websites, weather radios and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). I would like to see alerts go to smart watches, satellite radio and streaming services. I would also expand WEA for secondary alerting systems such as our Endangered Missing Advisory.

HOW HAS TRAINING HELPED YOU IN AMBER ALERT CASES? The training provided at the national AMBER Alert symposiums, missing children’s conferences and onsite technical assistance events has allowed us to bring AMBER Alert and missing and exploited persons training courses and programs to our state. This training has been invaluable to increasing knowledge and developing prevention and response techniques specific to missing children. I rely on and use resources such as the AMBER Alert Partners Portal, sample field training exercises and best practices documents.

Some of the most important aspects of training are the networking and collaborative learning I get when I meet on a regular basis with my counterparts from other states. These opportunities give us a chance to have discussions, exchange ideas and identify resources.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS? Learn from each other. Go to as many trainings as you can attend. Get out of your comfort zone when you go to a training event or symposium. Sit in a different part of the room each day. Introduce yourself to many different people from other states, as well as Indian Country and international partners. Find out how they run their plans, learn about their challenges and successes. Get their contact information and give them yours. Form regional partnerships with your surrounding states and meet regularly. This is important because when you need assistance or encounter a roadblock, a bridge to a wealth of resources and knowledge will have been built.

CAN YOU SHARE A TIME WHEN IT REALLY HELPED TO KNOW OTHER COORDINATORS FROM OTHER STATES? One collaborative group I work with is the I-Search group, a consortium of Midwestern state AMBER Alert and Missing Person Clearinghouse programs. Additionally, while at the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, I met and got to know my counterparts in Wyoming and Montana. This type of networking makes everything go smoother when the phone rings for assistance, because it’s someone you have had the opportunity to meet and talk with. It is easier to take things at face value because you have a relationship with that person.

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A 17-year-old girl was taking a break from her job at a Wendy’s restaurant in Jerome, Idaho, when she disappeared without any of her belongings. Earlier that day, the restaurant’s manager had ordered the employee’s ex-boyfriend to leave for making threats against the girl and her co-workers.

Eighteen-year-old Miguel Rodriguez-Perez had a protective order against him for multiple incidents of domestic violence and seriously injuring the girl. An FBI agent contacted the Idaho State Police about issuing an AMBER Alert at 3:13 p.m. on May 20, 2019.

Idaho AMBER Alert Coordinators Leila McNeill and Tanea Parmenter had to consider whether the situation met the criteria for an alert.

“With the suspect’s actions on the night of her disappearance and the possibility that he may hurt her again, we decided it was prudent to issue an AMBER Alert,” said Parmenter. “We were really concerned for her safety and felt he could potentially fatally harm her.”

The alert was issued at 4:37 p.m. for the suspect, including a description of his black Audi A4, and the victim was reported to be wearing her Wendy’s uniform.

All Idaho AMBER Alerts are sent statewide to broadcasters, highway road signs, 511 (traffic/roadway information) and lottery machines. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issued a Wireless Emergency Alert to notify all mobile devices in the state.

Detectives traced the suspect’s cellphone to Las Vegas, Nevada. Idaho State Police contacted Nevada authorities and a BOLO (Be On the Look Out) was issued to state law enforcement.

At the same time, the FBI received a tip about a Facebook post indicating Rodriguez Perez was on his way to Surprise, Arizona. Officers knew the suspect had ties in Arizona and Mexico and were concerned he would take the victim across the border.

Arizona AMBER Alert Coordinator Chrystal Moore with the Arizona Department of Public Safety received the request to issue an AMBER Alert in her state at 6:13 p.m. Moore issued the alert because she believed Idaho had credible evidence the suspect and victim were in Arizona.

“We were concerned for her safety, due to the history of violence,” said Moore. “We were also worried he may have already hurt her and she might not be with him by the time we would find him.”

The Arizona AMBER Alert was distributed to all law enforcement agencies, broadcasters, highway signs, the Child Abduction Response Team, U.S. Marshall’s Office, Border Patrol, Customs and Immigration–and Mexico’s Alerta AMBER coordinator in case the suspect and victim crossed the border.

A member of the public notified police about seeing the suspect’s car in Surprise, Arizona. Local officers initiated a pursuit that ended when the suspect ditched his car and fled with the victim.

Police body-camera video shows the officers approaching the car with guns drawn. They soon found the suspect hiding with the victim in the bushes near a bank.

“The person who flagged down the police was a hero,” said Moore. “This person directly assisted in the recovery of a victim of abduction.”

Moore has been involved with all 28 AMBER Alerts issued in Arizona. She said federal, state, tribal and local agencies worked flawlessly together to resolve this case. She believes Idaho deserves extra credit for looking out for the best interest of the victim.

“I was thankful she was found safe,” added Parmenter. “I was proud of the investigators, dispatchers, and everyone involved; [of] how hard they worked to locate the victim and suspect.”

Parmenter said it was helpful to have a protocol and criteria in place before the alert. Idaho issues a test alert each month to make sure everyone knows what steps to take.

This multistate alert included challenges and lessons. For example, this was the first time the FBI had asked Idaho to issue an AMBER Alert on its behalf.

“It was an eye opener to remember that more agencies need to be involved with training and practice,” said Parmenter. “This includes all federal, tribal, state and local agencies. It also means considering all law enforcement officers and investigators from the Forest Service, Probation, and Fish and Game.”

Training is also critical to the success of Arizona’s AMBER Alert program. The state has a monthly test for the federal Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) as well as a weekly test for the state alert system.

“Each alert is different and has its own inherent difficulties,” said Moore. “The only challenge was that the media was monitoring law enforcement channels and obtaining information shared at the scene about the cell phone being pinged by the FBI. This could have been detrimental to the case if law enforcement was not right on top of the vehicle at the time the media released this information.”

The case underscores the importance of careful strategies for interstate and cross-border collaboration, and when and how law enforcement shares information about cases through public alerts. Idaho and Arizona were well-trained and ready; despite the suspect taking the victim more than 700 miles away from her home, it was not far enough to evade these states’ finely tuned AMBER Alert programs and dedicated personnel.

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Written by AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program Administrator Jim Walters

2019 FAMILY ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS — (Back Row) Anna Green, Lesley Small, Yvonne Ambrose, Sarah Beck, Abby Potash, Edeanna Babiro
(Front Row) Byron Fassett, Gus Paidousis, Roger Day, Stephanie Dobson, Jodi Peterson, Diana Lambert, Hope Berg, James Jessee, Tammy Mata, Ladora Johnson, Pam Schmidt, Bonnie Ferenbach, Ron Laney, Theresa Lewis

For more than 15 years, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) has conducted family roundtable meetings with the specific purpose of providing a venue for communication and collaboration between victims, surviving family members and law enforcement. These gatherings facilitate interaction and dialogue where participants can discuss lessons learned and provide information on criminal justice system services, first responder actions and interactions, as well as feedback from life experiences associated with their families’ missing, abducted, endangered or murdered child investigation.

These roundtables are a collaborative effort between AATTAP and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), with both organizations providing input on families who participate, subject matter experts (SMEs) who facilitate discussions, and trauma specialists to assist participants through what can be a very emotionally challenging experience. Each year’s event is designed to bring together families who are new to the roundtable, partnering them with family members from past roundtables who serve to guide and support them through the process.

Past roundtables have included sessions specific to the experiences and needs of siblings of missing, abducted and murdered children, long-term missing cases, parental abductions and international parental kidnappings. Events have included family members from almost every state in the nation, with participants bringing diversity of geography, ethnicity and perspectives on these difficult, life-altering cases; as no group is immune from the tragedy of losing a child.

Every roundtable event follows a defined process, built from more than 15 years of evidence-based practices in working with survivors. The AATTAP has formalized its approach and best practices through “A Guide to Survivor Roundtables: Improving the Criminal Justice System through Survivor Input,” authored by former AATTAP Administrator Phil Keith and former OJJDP Program Manager and current AATTAP Associate Ron Laney.

“I have participated in several family roundtables over the years in our 27-year search for our son Jacob. It is amazing to experience the strength and encouragement shared between families. Many of them have suffered unimaginable pain and loneliness depending on individual responses from law enforcement or their own communities. It is heartening to be part of a support system that can offer light during the darkest times for these families. Hope lives in those who are searching for answers. Shared hope is even more powerful!”

Patty Wetterling
Mother of Jacob, abducted and murdered October 22, 1989, at age 11

This process ensures survivors are given a voice during the roundtable event, and results in information and recommendations from which training and technical assistance content can be developed. This method also promotes more effective responses to law enforcement and other child and family protection professionals tasked with the safe recovery and support of the abducted child.

Family roundtable events have provided incredible insights and knowledge, which benefit participants and criminal justice practitioners alike. Through invaluable input from family members on experiences in the aftermath of their child going missing, law enforcement, after-care providers and judicial personnel can vastly expand their important analyses of how these cases are handled. Moreover, the first-hand experiences so bravely provided by the families often span initial law enforcement response through the investigation and judicial proceedings, yielding important information on the effects each phase or aspect of the case has on the family.

Roundtable events have been instrumental in bringing the family’s perspective to the work of AATTAP and AMBER Alert programs across the nation. Roundtable findings have spurred important initiatives, such as efforts to eliminate waiting periods or other delays in entering the missing child into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and related missing persons records systems. Recommendations from participating families have provided the impetus for expansion of curriculum and the development of new training courses in the areas of advanced cold case and long-term missing investigations; digital evidence in child abduction cases; and canvass, search and recovery strategies.

In enduring the horror and trauma associated with the victimization of their family members, family roundtable participants are profoundly qualified to offer invaluable information through personal observations and experiences. They reveal what law enforcement, advocates and prosecutors do well–and what they could do better–during the initial response, investigation, prosecutorial and post-trial phases of the case. Their voices are critical to improving how we serve families in the time of their greatest need.

AATTAP works closely with survivors through the roundtable initiative and its continuous improvement processes to fully support them in both providing and receiving information. AATTAP and NCMEC maintain a strong focus on assisting families as they work through their own recoveries, providing them with resources and access to subject matter experts to address their questions and concerns.

Family members often need information on law enforcement policies, the latest child recovery strategies and resources, as well as help with improved practices for keeping their child’s case active with local law enforcement and media. These sessions provide the opportunity to meet one-on-one with AATTAP and NCMEC staff, gain knowledge and establish ongoing support that can assist them well beyond the roundtable event.

The relationships forged and work undertaken through the roundtable events continues even after participants return home. Each session concludes with a list of action items and suggestions for AATTAP and NCMEC to enhance and/or develop case studies, training, technical assistance and resource publications. An after-action report is provided to the roundtable participants in the weeks following the event.

Examining the survivor perspective, and more importantly using that insight to better serve survivors and improve investigative and prosecutorial practices, does not happen quickly or without significant effort and investment from all parties. Law enforcement leaders, prosecutors, judges, and child protection officials must be willing to listen and learn from surviving family members and victims. Their experiences are both unique and invaluable to the process of protecting our children. OJJDP’s Family Roundtable program is designed to give survivors a voice, and to help us bring missing children safely home.

If you know a family who would benefit from participating in the Family Roundtable, please email askamber@fvtc.edu and a specialist will contact you.

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Both New Hampshire and Vermont will now issue Blue Alerts when a law enforcement officers is injured, killed or missing. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed a bill on June 21, 2019, authorizing the Blue Alert program. The New Hampshire system will use the same channels as an AMBER Alert, including radio broadcasts and state highway signs. “We hope we never have to use it,” said Sununu. “But, unfortunately, we know that those days may come.”

The Vermont Attorney General and Department of Public introduced its Blue Alert program on August 13. The Vermont system will disseminate messages by email, text, phone, traditional and social media, roadside and lottery signs.

Minnesota became the first state to test the Blue Alert system, after sending a test message on August 14, 2019, to the media and subscribers to the state’s alert program. Minnesota has yet to issue an actual Blue Alert. Learn more about Blue Alerts across the nation by visiting the USDOJ COPS office website at https://cops.usdoj.gov/bluealert.

The Utah Department of Public Safety requested $2 million from state legislators this summer for a surveillance program that uses artificial intelligence to gather social media posts, traffic cameras and other resources. The company Banjo designed the program to be used in real-time emergencies. The Utah Attorney General’s Office used it for training in an AMBER Alert situation. Legislators expressed concern about overreach and privacy violations as they considered results of testing with the state’s Department of Transportation and consider expansion of the technology to other areas of state operations.

A family in Bedford County, Tennessee, held a birthday party for a 16-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy who have been missing for nearly seven years. An AMBER Alert was issued for Chloie Leverette and Gage Daniel when they disappeared after their grandparents were found dead in a home that caught fire. The family held a birthday party on June 30, 2019, to keep the case alive with the hope someone will see them and call police. “Every day you’re looking, you’re wondering, not knowing what happened where are they? It takes a part of you, a part of your soul,” said mother Cheryl Daniel.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol canceled an AMBER Alert for an infant boy after discovering the child’s mother had her 16-year-old son call in the false report. The alert was issued August 1, 2019, in Rolla, Missouri, was the first AMBER Alert ever initiated by the Maries County Sheriff’s Office. Officers say the woman was trying to buy time to take the infant to Arkansas while the child’s father was distracted. The woman was charged with making a false report and with prostitution for allegedly paying a man to have sex with her and help her pick up her son from a bus station.

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The Bahamas now has the MARCO Alert, a child abduction alert system patterned after the AMBER Alert. Government and law enforcement leaders gathered on August 21, 2019, for a signing ceremony for the new law. The alert is named for Marco Archer who went missing in 2011 and was later found dead. The MARCO Alert will notify law enforcement and the public through traditional and social media. Minister of National Security Marvin Dames noted that the following day, August 22, was Marco’s birthday and he would have turned 19-years-old. “He once indicated to his mother that he wanted to be a policeman to arrest the ‘bad guys’,” Minister Dames shared. “While Marco may never suit up in a uniform, Marco’s Law and Marco’s Alert, both named in his honor, will ensure that he will always play a critical role in assisting the police in arresting the bad guys.”

The Brisbane, Australia, City Council started a partnership with the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) to begin posting AMBER Alerts on outdoor signs. The digital signs will post the abducted child’s photo and other information within 30 minutes after an AMBER Alert is issued. “We hope the Brisbane Amber Alerts pilot program will inform how we can build a system to roll out Amber Alerts across Australia,” said Charmaine Moldrich, OMA CEO. The OMA is working with the Out of Home Advertising Association of America and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States on the pilot program.

More than 40 law enforcement officers from 16 countries gathered in Prague for the second European Expert Network on Missing Children Forum. The training held September 4-6, 2019, included real-life missing person cases to learn about the best practices for safely recovering missing and abducted children. “When a child goes missing and they need support from colleagues in another country, they will know exactly who to call at 3 a.m. in the morning,” said Frank Hoen, Chairman and Founder of AMBER Alert Europe. “This will highly contribute to saving more missing children, which of course is our ultimate goal.”

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Tanea Parmenter has been the Idaho AMBER Alert Co-Coordinator since July 2018. She has been the state’s Missing Person Clearinghouse Program Manager since 2012, just one year after she started with the Idaho State Police. Parmenter works closely with Co-Coordinator Leila McNeill on all calls and AMBER Alert requests.

Even before Parmenter began her career in law enforcement, she had always been interested in cases involving missing persons, child abductions and exploitation. Parmenter volunteered to help the clearinghouse manager and learned how to support law enforcement agencies with investigations. She goes on “ride alongs” with officers and attends roundtable events to discuss long-term missing cases.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert/missing persons program, and what do you think makes it successful?

This year we are making major strides by streamlining how we handle AMBER Alert requests. The agency entering a Missing Person record into the state system and NCIC can select a box to request an AMBER Alert. The alert request with photos and information goes to NCIC and to our 24/7 control center. The call center contacts me and I log in to review the request and contact the agency if needed. If approved, I click one button that triggers the distribution of the AMBER Alert to our alerting software, OnSolve’s CodeRed.

This improves the process because an agency doesn’t have to fill out a separate form and we don’t have to manually type in the message. The agency controls what information is disseminated, and it’s done instantly. In the past, most delays for AMBER Alerts involved waiting to receive the needed forms. This is speeding up the process from up to two hours to just 15 minutes.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?

I love my career with the Idaho State Police, and helping locate missing or abducted children is my passion. I see the need for local agencies to have more training, but they don’t always have the funding to send officers. I take the knowledge I gain at any training and bring it back to my state.

What emotional toll do you face during an AMBER Alert?

Any type of missing person case can be emotional, especially when dealing with the family. During an AMBER Alert call, no matter how many I have issued in the past, I continue to get that “gut check.” I have thoughts of “Is this a needed tool?” or “If I issue this alert, will the abductor respond negatively to the child?” as well as “If I don’t issue this alert, is there another way to help recover the missing person?”

Each call brings stress and adrenaline. I feel completely wiped out, but my mind won’t shut off. I still want to make sure I did everything correctly and asked the right questions. I don’t think I ever want to change how I feel because I think it helps us have a 100% return success rate. That passion and drive also is felt by everyone at the investigating agency. They know I am there for them 24/7 and I am willing to assist in whatever capacity they need. If I shut off my emotional response, I wouldn’t feel I was doing everything possible to recover a child safely.

What is one of your most memorable successes in working a missing child case?

Recently I had a request for an AMBER Alert for a mentally-challenged and physically handicapped 16-year-old female who had been the victim of online luring. This happened at 2 a.m. in a small town. The on-call officer worked in the narcotics unit and was not a part of the missing persons crime unit. He called my cell phone and said, “This is so new to me. I have never had a case like this and I don’t want to miss anything. Can you please help.” This type of situation is what motivates me to go to training, keep my policies updated and keep on-call 24/7.

We worked together to make sure we didn’t miss a step. The suspect wasn’t known, so I reached out to our cybercrimes unit to see if we could get any information from the victim’s digital tablet. Because the AMBER Alert had a credible tip on Facebook, we contacted the jurisdictions of the possible suspect. Our dispatchers did amazing research and found multiple addresses for the suspect in different states. I worked with the investigator to contact those jurisdictions to do welfare checks. It turned out great. We walked through our steps, stayed on target, worked across jurisdictions and located the child safely.

How have your career and life experiences strengthened your commitment to helping endangered, missing and abducted children?

Every call, every request, continues to strengthen my passion and commitment. Also, having the opportunity to meet with mothers, fathers and family members of those who are missing. My heart goes out to them. I put myself in their place and realize I would never want to feel that pain or loss.

How does being a parent make a difference in what you do at work?

As a single parent, one of my worst fears would be to have my child missing. I think the first time it truly hit me was during CEO training at NCMEC years ago. It was the first time I met Colleen Nick and heard her story. At the time, my daughter was the same age as when Morgan went missing. I couldn’t control the tears as Colleen relived her worst day. I imagined myself in that same desperation, loss and pain. I could truly feel the tightening in my chest. That was the day I dedicated my career to helping prevent these calls from happening. I have focused on training and prevention. I help the local agencies get the standard operating procedures in place and practice them before the actual call. I provide best practices, resources and training and I’m there for the agencies at any time.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert program and other programs in the future?

I would like to see our program grow. We have very little staff to handle the entire state. If we had additional staff members, we could provide community outreach to get information out to the parents and children. We would have enough time to offer more case analysis, make sure every missing person case has everything needed like fingerprints, DNA, dental, photos, investigator notes, etc. We could offer more training to the local agencies. My next goal is to have a multi-jurisdictional CART team in all six regions of Idaho.

How has training helped you in AMBER Alert cases?

You can’t ever stop training or practicing. No one call is the same. No one situation is like the other and no one circumstance will have the same outcome.

What advice would you give to other AMBER Alert partners?

If you are not working closely with your missing person clearinghouse partner, then you need to start doing it. This should be a great partnership that works hand in hand. Also, get to know the AMBER Alert Coordinators in other states. Go to an out-of-state training or conference and network. Eventually you will need them to issue an AMBER Alert in their state for your missing child. Finally, don’t stop growing, learning and studying these cases. Any information and tools you pick up now will help you in that next call.

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The sun was barely up when a man hiding in the backseat jumped up inside his ex-girlfriend’s van in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. At 6:34 a.m., June 7, 2019, Jeffrey Lo allegedly struck the woman in the head with his pistol. Police say Lo pushed her into the passenger seat and drove off with the woman and their two daughters, ages one and three.

After traveling a short distance, the woman was able to get out of the vehicle. Lo sped away with the two girls in the van.

A passerby saw the “extremely distraught” and bloodied woman leaping away from the van and screaming that her children had just been kidnapped. They attempted to follow the van and quickly called police.

“A Good Samaritan stopped to help the mother and immediately called 911,” said Janell Twardowski, Minnesota’s AMBER Alert Coordinator. “The local police department then called the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to activate the AMBER Alert.”

A request was made for an AMBER Alert at 7:25 a.m.

Early Threats

In May 2019, a judge had granted a protective order for the woman against Lo. According to court records, Lo was abusive to the woman after the birth of their first daughter and threatened to kill her.

A few months earlier she said Lo started pulling her hair and punching her arm for sleeping on the floor instead of with him. The judge also gave sole custody of the girls to their mother.

“Her immediate call to 911 was crucial in ensuring a fast and immediate response, “Cottage Grove Public Safety Chief Pete Koerner told a reporter. “It was a tragic incident. I really feel for those children.”

Koerner said officers had a lot of things running through their heads after learning the suspect had a handgun.

The AMBER Alert

After determining the case met the proper criteria, an AMBER Alert was issued at 8:27 a.m. The alert was sent to all partners throughout Minnesota, including notifications to a law enforcement helicopter and K9 officers.

The original alert was issued with the wrong vehicle model. An updated alert was quickly sent out with the correct information. Because the mother was taken immediately to the hospital to treat her injuries, authorities had to issue the alert with only the ages of the children--but not their names.

The limited information did not stop the public from calling in tips to help law enforcement agencies narrow their search. Officers found the missing van parked on a street a few miles from the original kidnapping location, but no one was inside.

The police helicopter spotted the suspect in heavy underbrush. Officers on foot found Lo lying on his back, clutching the girls next to his chest. Both children were recovered unharmed at 10:27 a.m., exactly two hours after the AMBER Alert was issued.

“It was a relief when the children were located safe,” said Twardowski. “It’s the exact outcome we all hope for in these instances.”

Preparation Is Essential

Minnesota has issued 36 AMBER Alerts, but this was the first alert for Twardowski. She said training and having solid procedures in place were critical in getting the AMBER Alert out so effectively.

“With every AMBER Alert, time is of the essence to disseminate the information out to the public,” she said. “Everyone in law enforcement makes sure they are ready, so children can be recovered as quickly as possible.”

This case included help from a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter, the Department of Natural Resources, three local K-9 units and ten other law enforcement agencies.

Good Samaritan Honors

The Cottage Grove Police Department presented Christina Kelley with the Citizen Commendation Award on August 21, 2019, for stopping to assist the mother and helping police recover her children.

“I feel like I was meant to be there to help her, save her and get those kids back,” Kelley said. “I don’t think I would change anything I did that day. I would still help, because that’s just who I am.”

The mother of the abducted children said five cars passed by as she screamed for help. Kelley was the first one to stop.

“She changed my life that day,” the mother told a reporter. “I could have died that day.”

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Through the nightmare of learning her daughter had been murdered, Pamela Foster knew she must start a movement for missing and abducted Native American children. On May 2, 2016, her 11-year-old daughter, Ashlynne Mike, was kidnapped and lured to accept a ride home from a stranger within the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

“It’s the day my world shattered in a million pieces,” said Foster. “I had to become a warrior mom. I had to be brave and fight for my daughter who is gone too soon.”

At the National AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, July 30-August 1, 2019, Foster shared the helplessness she felt after learning her daughter was missing–and police were not prepared to issue an AMBER Alert.

“My family, friends and community wanted to help but they didn’t know where to start,” said Foster. “Everyone was in a state of confusion and I learned others were facing the same problem. I promised to do all I could to fix the loopholes and fight for the AMBER Alert in Indian Country.”

More than 200 federal, state, local and tribal leaders attended the symposium to learn how to implement the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, a law providing funding and resources to integrate state and regional AMBER Alert Plans and resources with federally recognized tribes. The federal legislation was a direct response to the events surrounding Ashlynne’s death.

The symposium debuted a video describing Foster’s inspiration, through her incredible ordeal, to become an advocate for other children in Indian Country. The video concludes with Pam visiting a memorial site for her daughter. As she was praying and spreading corn pollen into the air, a large rainbow appeared in the sky, and then a second rainbow near the place Ashlynne’s body was found.

“When I saw the rainbow, that tells you Ashlynne was there,” said Jim Walters, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) administrator, “There is no greater strength than a parent who has been through a tragedy. Pamela is helping make sure every child in Indian Country has the same protection as a child living in the city.”

The symposium was made possible by the U.S. Department of Justice’s (US-DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and presented by AATTAP.

Brad Russ, National Criminal Justice Training Center Director at Fox Valley Technical College, of which AATTAP is a part, attended the symposium.

“I remember hearing about Ashlynne Mike when it first occurred and how upset we all were,” said Russ. “Jim Walters knew we couldn’t just be upset. He said we need to do something. He went to Shiprock to talk to elders, law enforcement leaders and others on Capitol Hill to make sure everyone knew we needed Indian Country legislation to stop a tragedy like this from happening again.”

The Ashlynne Mike AIIC Act In Action

The symposium provided an overview of what has been accomplished since the Ashlynne Mike Act was signed into law. Chyrl Jones, Deputy Administrator for the OJJDP, announced that all 23 tribes in New Mexico are fully participating in the AMBER Alert program.

“New Mexico is the first state to achieve 100 percent access,” said Jones. “Our goal is to develop a national network of AMBER Alert plans and ensure all communities benefit from this important tool.”

The symposium included representatives from 22 tribes located across 34 states. The Navajo Nation now has an AMBER Alert program up and running which spans 27,000 square miles in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.

Harlan Cleveland, Emergency Management Director for the Navajo Division of Public Safety, urged tribes to get more training to set up their own AMBER Alert program.

“Take a proactive approach, don’t be reactive,” said Cleveland, “Be committed when you get that call. It is going to happen. You will get that call.”

He recommended tribal leaders work with state AMBER Alert coordinators, other stakeholders and elected officials to “piggyback” on existing AMBER Alert programs. Cleveland recounted how the tribe resolved a case that didn’t meet the AMBER Alert criteria.

“We issued an Endangered Missing Person Advisory, which is a powerful tool,” said Cleveland. “The suspect called in and said, ‘Take my photo down.’ Getting the child back is your reward when you are done.”

Regina Chacon, Bureau New Mexico Department of Public Safety Bureau Chief, suggested tribal leaders should have the “heart of a servant” while working with other partners during AMBER Alerts.

“When a child is missing or abducted, there should be no borders,” said Chacon. “But we still need to be respectful of the sovereignty and borders of others.”

The FBI estimates more than 7,000 Native American children are missing in the U.S. OJJDP awarded $1.8 million last year to develop training and technical assistance for missing and exploited children in tribal communities, plus an additional $1 million specifically to support the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country law.

“We are fully aware that when it comes to the safety of our children in Indian Country, the task before us is substantial,” said John C. Anderson, U.S. Attorney, District of New Mexico. “Native Americans, including Native American children, experience violence at rates higher than any other ethnic group in the United States. The Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act is a positive step toward that goal.”

Funding from the Act supported a National Survey of Federally Recognized Tribes and State AMBER Alert Coordinators to assess the various needs, challenges and obstacles encountered by tribes in the integration of state or regional AMBER Alert communication plans.

Researchers attempted to contact 573 tribes and were able to collect data from 100 tribes–including the ten tribes involved with the 2007 AMBER Alert in Indian Country Pilot Project. At the time of the study, findings included the following:

86 tribes are authorized to take part in state AMBER Alert plans
76 tribes have an emergency plan for a child abduction
25 tribes use their own systems to disseminate an alert
50 tribes say more training is needed to implement alert plans

Participants at the symposium included representatives from these and other tribes, pueblos and nations (shown here in alphabetical order): Blackfeet, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Comanche, Crow, Fort Peck, Hoopa Valley, Hopi, Isleta, Muckleshoot, Nak NU WE Sha Yakama, Navajo, Oneida, Prairie Band of Potawatomi, Pueblo of Pojuaque, Santa Clara Pueblo, Tohono O’odham, Umatilla, Washoe, White Mountain Apache, Yurok, and Zuni.

Pamela Foster concluded her remarks with a challenge to everyone. “We need to make changes to make children safe,” she said. “The children in your community rely on you. Do it for your children and your grandchildren. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”

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Rae-Leigh Bradbury was eight-weeks-old when the first successful AMBER Alert was issued after she was taken by her babysitter in Arlington, Texas. She was found unharmed 13 hours later and her abductor served ten years in prison.

“That was the hardest 13 hours of my life ever,” said her mother Patricia A. Sokolowski. “The (detectives) came to me at about midnight and said ‘we’re going to activate an AMBER Alert. We haven’t used it, it’s the first time. We want it to work.’”

The emergency response system was put in place two years earlier after the disappearance of Amber Hagerman. Bradbury was given the Hope Award by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) on May 25. She says her experience inspired her to intern for NCMEC in Austin, Texas.

“There are kids right now not knowing where their parents are. I just can’t imagine wondering, ‘Where’s my mom? Where’s my dad?’” said Bradbury.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that allows law enforcement to issue alerts for missing adults believed to be abducted or endangered. The CALE (Civilian Abduction or Life Endangerment) Alerts will send information about Texans between ages 18 and 65 through text messages and roadside signs.

The bill was pushed by Allison Steele after her daughter Cayley Mandadi was killed in 2017. The state didn’t issue an AMBER Alert because the victim was 19 years old. Virginia also issues alerts for missing adults between 18 and 65.

Governor Abbott also signed a law creating the Camo Alert, an AMBER-style alert that would be issued for missing military members with a mental illness who may be a danger to themselves or others. The Camo Alert will be part of a five-year pilot program beginning in September 2019, and expiring in 2023.

Natalie Wilson and her sister-in-law Derrica Wilson have been working since 2008 to make sure efforts are being made to find missing people of color. The Black and Missing Foundation helps families work with police and the media to make sure the public hear about their loved ones.

The two women were inspired to start the non-profit foundation after learning about the struggles the family of Tamika Huston had of getting media coverage after the young African-American woman went missing in 2004. Her remains were found a year later and her ex-boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison.

“We’re finding that when people of color, men and women, are reported missing, they’re deemed to be involved with some type of criminal act, they’re stereotyped, and their cases aren’t taken seriously,” said Natalie Wilson.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosi released a report for National Missing Children’s Day, documenting 25,619 people who went missing in the state in 2018–including 19,879 children. The report noted that 96.1 percent—or 19,510 children—were recovered safely by the end of the year.

Ohio had 19 attempted child abductions in 2018 involving 14 girls and five boys. About one-third of the suspects were driving vehicles and half of the incidents occurred while the children were walking to or from school.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department in Phoenix, Arizona, offered all county personnel, patrol deputies, correction officers, probation officers and other key stakeholders detailed instruction on how identify, recover and respond to victims of sex trafficking and to ensure traffickers face justice.

Cindy McCain, co-chair of the Arizona Trafficking Council and wife of the late U.S. Senator John McCain, was the first speaker at the Sex Trafficking Symposium held June 17, 2019.

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program provided experts to present on topics related to helping vulnerable victims of sex trafficking, including:

Warning signs of trafficking;
Investigative techniques; and
Developing a county-level response, to include identifying and recovering victims, and connecting them with advocacy and services.

During the event, a survivor of trafficking shared her story and spoke about her interaction with law enforcement and others, explaining the impact those interactions had on her.

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The disappearance of 11-year-old Madeleine McCann in 2007 from Algarve, Portugal, garnered international attention and eventually became the catalyst for AMBER Alert programs and additional resources to find missing and abducted children in Europe.

The case is the subject of a new Netflix series “The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann.” The missing girl’s mother, Kate McCann, also wrote a book detailing her efforts to get better alert systems for missing children in Europe. “It was clear to Gerry and me that if such a procedure had been in use in Portugal, Madeleine might have been swiftly tracked down,” wrote McCann.

Canadian authorities tested the official emergency alert system on May 8, 2019, to make sure the loud notification tone and messages reached all cell phones. The emergency alerts are overseen by Alert Ready. Two earlier alerts went out at night, prompting a backlash from some Canadians who were wakened by the loud tones.

Ontario police are still asking the public to stop calling 911 to complain about receiving AMBER Alerts after an alert was issued in May and another one in July for two children believed to have been abducted.

One woman launched a campaign to fine people who call 911 to complain about AMBER Alerts. Dalia Monacelli is hoping her Change.org petition will convince the Ontario attorney general to levy fines against the complainers. “People have to understand that when they dial 911, they are taking time and personnel away from actual emergencies and that these actions could cost lives,” wrote Monacelli. More than 100,000 people signed the petition as of August 8, 2019.

Golden Casket, the company overseeing some of Australia’s lotteries, has pledged $300,000 to an organization working to keep children safe. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation supports the country’s AMBER Alert programs, provides assistance to crime victims and supports families of missing persons.

The foundation was created in 2005 by Bruce and Denise Morcombe after their 13-year-old son Daniel was abducted in 2003. Golden Casket also broadcasts information about missing and abducted children at 900 outlets in Queensland. The latest donation is funded by unclaimed lottery money.

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The Navajo Nation held a two-day symposium to address child sex trafficking in tribal communities. The training, entitled “Responding to Child Sex Trafficking & Exploitation in Tribal Communities,” was held May 30-31 in Shiprock, New Mexico.

Provided by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), the training emphasized group collaboration, planning and implementation of awareness projects to keep tribal communities and children safe. Participants discussed specific threats and warning signs of sex trafficking involving indigenous children.

The symposium was a homecoming for Tyesha Bahe-Wood, a presenter and then- associate with the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative. She’s a Navajo member from Window Rock, Arizona, and attended Navajo Preparatory School in Farmington, New Mexico, 30 minutes east of Shiprock.

“It is uplifting to know that tribal communities, and my community in particular, are taking initiative to become more aware of the threats of sex trafficking,” said Bahe-Wood. “We work together as a group because we are all part of a family protecting our children.”

Bahe-Wood and AATTAP Program Manager Byron Fassett were given protection beads made by an eight-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl. The beads are made from dried juniper and are also called “ghost beads.”

“As a non-tribal person, this not only allowed myself and Tyesha to provide our knowledge on the crime of sex trafficking, but also provided me with the opportunity to learn more about its impact on tribal communities,” said Fassett.

The class also presented Bahe-Wood with a three-pound bag of Cortez Bluebird flour, something she said is an “essential item in a Navajo household.” Bahe-Wood was recently promoted to a project coordinator with AATTAP.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock has signed legislation to create a Missing And Murdered Indigenous Person’s Task Force in that state. Under Senate Bill 312, the Looping in Native Communities (LINC) Act creates the task force which includes a representative from each tribal government on Montana’s seven reservations; other members represent the state’s AG’s Office, the DOJ and the Highway Patrol.

The task force’s primary duties include identifying jurisdictional barriers between federal, state, local and tribal Law enforcement and community agencies; and work on interagency collaboration, communication and cooperation to remove jurisdictional barriers and increase reporting and investigation of missing indigenous persons.

Eleven members of the task force have been appointed by Montana Attorney General Tim Fox. “I’m confident the members of the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force will make positive strides in determining the scope of this issue as well as bring forward good recommendations to increase cooperation among public safety agencies and tribal governments,” Fox said of the task force.

Training on missing indigenous persons and the crime of sex trafficking, such as one held in June in Helena, are aligned with the task force’s work, a joint effort of the Montana AG’s Office and DOJ, and include presenters from state and federal agencies.

Mark Pollock, a member of the Montana Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force and the Blackfeet Tribal Council, spoke with a reporter about the June training event in Helena. “To hear their stories, you can’t help but be affected by it,” he said. “My hope is that we don’t have to have those stories like that out there anymore.”

Pamela Foster, the mother of Ashlynne Mike, an 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in the Navajo Nation, challenged tribal, federal, state and local officials to do more to protect and find missing and abducted Native American Children. Foster was one of the featured speakers at the National AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, held July 30-August 1 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The symposium brought together more than 200 tribal leaders, public safety, and emergency management officers to focus on implementing the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, a law providing funding and resources to integrate state and regional AMBER Alert Plans with federally recognized tribes. A complete report on the Indian Country Symposium will be included in the next issue of The AMBER Advocate.

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Jenniffer Price oversees the Wisconsin AMBER Alert Program and serves as the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) commander. She has been in law enforcement since 1997 after starting as a patrol officer with the Wausau Police Department. Price worked briefly with the Madison Police Department at the University of Wisconsin before becoming a narcotics special agent for the Wisconsin Department of Justice in 2005. In 2008, she became a founding member of the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s CART and has been the commander since 2011.

Price was promoted to be the Director of Special Operations in 2013, overseeing several departments including the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Statewide Intelligence Center, Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children and Adults, and the AMBER Alert Program. In 2017, she led her team to become the only certified team in Wisconsin and the 22nd certified CART in the country.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert/missing persons program, and what do you think makes it successful?

The Wisconsin AMBER Alert Program is embedded in our fusion center along with the Clearinghouse and CART. This integration provides immediate access to criminal intelligence technologies, analytical support, CART resources, as well as family liaison support for any missing child case.

The program is a collaborative effort with our partners at the Wisconsin Broadcaster’s Association, Public Radio, Educational Communications Board, EAS Committee, Department of Transportation, Division of Lottery, and the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center. This collaborative effort makes the program successful by ensuring each and every AMBER Alert activation is as timely and accurate as possible.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?

On July 4, 1994, my 14-year-old cousin disappeared from his home and his body was located less than a week later. His killer – Joe Clark - wasn’t identified until 1995 when he attempted to kill another teenage boy. Clark was convicted by a jury of my cousin’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.

When my cousin went missing, I was attending the University of Wisconsin – Madison, studying apparel design. When his body was found, I changed my career path and began studying Behavioral Science and Law and Criminal Justice. I graduated with a BS in Behavioral Science and Law and a minor in Criminal Justice. It has been my drive and passion ever since to be involved in protecting missing and exploited children.

I often wonder if the AMBER Alert Program could have made a difference in my cousin’s disappearance and murder. Having seen the Wisconsin AMBER Alert Program result in the safe recovery of children also motivates me to continue this work.

What emotional toll do you face during an AMBER Alert?

I get so motivated because I have such a personal connection and that drives me to put everything I have into these AMBER Alerts. I never want it to end like it did for my family. That’s what’s driven me all these years. All but one Wisconsin AMBER Alert has resulted in a safe recovery.

Please share details about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case.

It’s hard to identify one story from all of the successful AMBER Alerts in Wisconsin because each one carries a unique memory. Whether it is the safe recovery of ten-month-old twins who were abducted during a car theft; the eight-year-old boy who was safety returned after his abductor saw the AMBER Alert and turned himself in; or Jayme Closs, where a citizen saw Jayme after escaping from her captor and recognized her from the AMBER Alert.

In each case, we learn valuable lessons about our AMBER Alert process, how to continually improve upon our AMBER Alert activations, and how our CART can enhance investigative efforts during an AMBER Alert.

How have your career and life experiences strengthened your commitment to helping endangered, missing and abducted children?

Having a child in the family go missing and never return shapes my commitment to missing and abducted children. My work in the ICAC task force, AMBER Alert program and CART has only strengthened my commitment through various child exploitation and missing child investigations I have worked throughout the years.

Does being a parent make a difference in what you do at work?

Being a parent really does impact me a lot. Even when I see an AMBER Alert in another state, I always worry and hope they find the child. I have a 17-year-old daughter and two stepsons, ages 10 and 12. Having a child of your own hits home, especially when the missing child is the same age and gender.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert program and other programs in the future?

The AMBER Alert program is robust, with a long history of success in finding missing children, both in Wisconsin and throughout the United States. I think continued funding is needed to support the AMBER Alert programs and Clearinghouses in each state.

How has training helped you in AMBER Alert cases?

AMBER Alert and CART training have helped me, as well as members of our AMBER Alert program and CART. The training has been integral to maintaining proficiencies and remaining abreast of current investigative trends and technologies.

AMBER Alerts and CART activations are low-frequency, high-risk events. Continual training is necessary for our teams to be the best of the best when looking for a missing child. Perhaps my cousin could have been found alive if an AMBER Alert program and trained CART personnel were available to provide the necessary investigative, analytical and family liaison support that we have in place today.

What advice would you give to other AMBER Alert partners?

Always evaluate each and every activation to learn from them and improve or enhance your efforts. Make sure your personnel are trained and receive continued training to evaluate and activate any AMBER Alert. Bringing your AMBER Alert and CART programs together is the most effective way to respond to a missing child. Those efforts are not only critical in the investigation, they are important and meaningful to the family of the missing child.

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The tragic connection between missing and abducted children and child sex trafficking was spotlighted at the 2019 National AMBER Alert Symposium held April 16–18 at the Wa-Ke-Po Resort & Conference Center near Scottsdale, Arizona. The theme for the symposium was “Child Sex Trafficking Along the Northern and Southern United States Border Regions.”

Matt Dummermuth, the former National AMBER Alert Coordinator for DOJ, said during the keynote address that his experience prosecuting child sex crimes makes him appreciate the value of the AMBER Alert program.

“Your work is really a matter of life and death,” said Dummermuth. “Our top priority should be to ensure there are no victims in the first place, and the AMBER Alert will be central to accomplishing this mission.”

The symposium included 125 AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers and Child Abduction Response Team (CART) members from 43 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) initiative, sponsored the training.

Best Practices

The second edition of the AMBER Alert Best Practices Guide was released at the symposium. AATTAP brought together experts from across the country, including representatives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), to develop an expanded and enhanced guide. It now provides examples of ‘what works’ for all professional and families involved with AMBER Alerts.

The guide is just one example of how AATTAP is applying part of the $104 million in funding provided by the DOJ for its child protection initiatives.

AATTAP also continues to support and expand its no-fee, on-demand eLearning and customizable classroom courses. “People in classes have solved cases as a direct result of participating in them,” said Jim Walters, AATTAP Program Administrator.

Child Sex Trafficking

Participants learned about tactics being used to lure, abduct, groom and exploit child sex trafficking victims and the need for an effective multidisciplinary response. Presentations and discussions around the scope, scale and nature of the problem in the U.S are highlighted in these 2018 statistics:

More than 23,500 endangered runaways were reported to NCMEC; one in seven was a victim of sex trafficking.
Of the 5,100 cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline; almost 1,400 involved minors.
NCMEC’s CyberTipline received 18.4 million reports; most involving child pornography, online enticement, child sex trafficking and child sexual molestation.

Participants indicated a need to ensure victims of trafficking, exploitation or who run away after being lured by a predator are included in the AMBER Alert process.

Indian Country

Elizabeth Strange, First Assistant U.S. Attorney in Arizona, said her state was a good choice for the symposium because Arizona borders Mexico and four states and is home to 23 federally recognized tribes. Her office works with tribal leaders to develop the best prevention and emergency response plans for each community.

Strange said she is seeing more victim-recovery success stories, including a 24-year-old Navajo woman who was taken from her family when she was nine months old. A nurse in Connecticut helped solve the case by using DNA to confirm her identity.

Harlan Cleveland, Emergency Management Director for the Navajo Division of Public Safety, spoke about creating his tribe’s AMBER Alert program. “We like our system.It works very well for us,” he said. “For example, we were recently able to recover an endangered child on the same day the child was reported missing.”

Significant progress is also being made in Indian Country with the following initiatives:

The Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act is providing funding and training to help tribes implement functional child protection alerts.
The National Survey of Federally Recognized Tribes and State AMBER Alert Coordinators, gleaning data from 100 tribes, found the majority of tribes do not have their own child abduction emergency response plans. More work is needed to promote collaboration between tribes and states to include tribes in their respective state AMBER Alert plans, or to support tribes’ development and enactment of their own plans.
The DOJ’s Tribal Access Program (TAP) provides access to national crime information systems for federally authorized criminal and non-criminal justice purposes; tribal participation is expanding from 47 to 72 tribes.
The AMBER Alert in Indian Country website has an array of information to support work related to trafficking, including investigation, intervention, and the prevention of victimization and exploitation.

More than 1,600 tribal officials and community members have been trained since DOJ initiated AMBER Alert in Indian Country in 2007.

Our partnership with tribes underscores one of the enduring challenges to the AMBER Alert network – that child abductors and child predators generally do not observe jurisdictional boundaries. Those challenges become even more imposing when the boundaries in question are our international borders.

Southern Border

The Southern Border Initiative (SBI) was created by DOJ in 2006 to extend the AMBER Alert Program into Mexico. So far, more than 700 state, local and federal child protection officials in the U.S. and Mexico have participated in joint training exercises, and have attended six regional meetings and a tri-national AMBER Alert conference.

AATTAP Program Administrator Jim Walters said Mexico is an important partner due to the high propensity for both U.S. and Mexican children to be abducted and/or trafficked across the border. “At the end of the day, it’s about developing relationships,” he said. “It’s about having resources at the ready when abductors and their victims cross border lines.”

Challenges

The symposium provided AMBER Alert partners with an opportunity to share prominent challenges they face, including:

Workload: Many are overwhelmed with handling numerous alerts and handling other duties unrelated to the AMBER Alert.
Support: Some incidents go unnoticed until there is a high-profile case.
Funding: Most do not have legislative funding in place, leaving little room for program enhancements, training or outreach.
Integration: Additional assistance and cultural training are needed to integrate tribes into state AMBER Alert systems.
Alert fatigue: Many are concerned the effectiveness of the AMBER Alert is diminishing because of numerous alerts (Blue, Silver and Ashanti), indicating most cases can already be handled with Endangered Missing Advisories.
Missing partners: Participants would like broadcaster association members and representatives from Mexico and Canada to take part in future trainings to keep alerts functioning effectively.

Even though participants were away from their offices during the symposium, Walters noted it didn’t stop them from actively working on cases. During the three-day symposium, at least five cases were handled, with four children safely recovered.

“It’s a reminder that our AMBER Alert Coordinators are on call every day, no matter where they are or what they are doing,” said Walters. “It was amazing to watch.”

A mother’s story

Pattie Bastian shared her nearly 32-year journey to bring her daughter’s killer to justice. Her 13-year-old daughter Jennifer took a bike to ride to a park near Tacoma, Washington, on August 4, 1986. Her body and bike were found in the park 28 days later.

“The murder was so shocking, so unusual,” she said. “The community mourned but we couldn’t comprehend anything like that ever could happen again.”

A few years after her daughter’s death, Bastian decided to have a children’s safety fair to help other children and their families. While the fair started small, 10 years later, more than 10,000 people attended at the Tacoma Dome.

Detectives investigated more than 2,300 tips, but fewer leads came in as time went on. In the spring of 2016, a detective utilized new DNA technology to create a composite of the killer’s physical attributes, including skin complexion, hair and eye color.

On May 10, 2018, Bastian received word the murderer had been found. Robert Dwane Washburn pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to nearly 27 years in prison on January 25, 2019.

Bastian told participants to keep in mind the deep impressions their work and interactions will have on families after a child abduction.

“Your display of humanity and concern will be remembered long after the case is solved, becomes cold, or never ends,” she said. “You are a special brand of humans. I’m proud to be here with you and, on behalf of the families you will contact, and, in whose lives you will make a significant difference, I say thank you.”

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President Trump signed the “Ashanti Alert” Act on December 31, 2018, that allows alerts for missing adults between the ages of 18 and 64. Police will be able to send the Ashanti Alert to notify broadcasters and activate electronic road signs. The alert instructs the U.S. Attorney General to appoint a national Ashanti Alert Coordinator to establish alert systems and develop voluntary guidelines. The alert is named after Ashanti Billie, who was 19 when she disappeared in December 2017. She was too old for an AMBER Alert and too young for a Silver Alert. Her body was found two weeks after she went missing.

The false missile alert in Hawaii in 2018 has prompted federal officials to take steps to make sure a similar mistake doesn’t happen again. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security is recommending two changes in the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS): 1) require state and local alerting authorities to implement new emergency alert software; and 2) mandate new training requirements for state, tribal and territorial alerting authorities. Both requirements are to be put in place by October 31, 2019.

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The 2019 National AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium will focus on the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act to support states and tribes in work to integrate AMBER Alert plans. The symposium, to be held July 30-August 1 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will include tribal public safety and emergency management leaders, state AMBER Alert coordinators and federal officials.

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) is responsible for implementing the 2018 legislation. The act requires AATTAP to provide resources and policies to develop AMBER Alert plans in tribal communities. At this year’s symposium, participants will:

Learn about the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018;
Discuss methods for improving the process of integration between state or regional AMBER Alert communication plans with federally recognized tribes from across the nation;
Examine current resources, tools, and technologies to enhance the AMBER Alert network within Indian Country; and
Increase collaboration with OJJDP, NCMEC, AATTAP, state AMBER Alert coordinators and other federal and state officials.

The U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would commission a study on missing and murdered indigenous people. The bill was initiated after a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on the epidemic of missing persons in Indian Country, including Ashley Loring Heavyrunner, a woman from the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana.

“In dealing with this tragedy of missing and murdered women, we must do better,” said Montana Senator Steve Daines, the bill’s cosponsor. “This legislation would hold federal agencies accountable and would help get the families and communities of these victims the answers they deserve.”

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The Argentina government started a child abduction alert program on March 22 called “Alerta Sofia.” The system uses Facebook to disseminate alerts on cellphones for children under the age of 18 who are believed to be in imminent danger. The alert is named after Sofia Herrera, who was last seen on September 28, 2008. “I’m excited the alert has my daughter’s name,” said Maria Elena Delgado, Sofia’s mother. “It is a very important tool for the country.” The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children provided support for developing Sofia Alerta. Argentinians can push one button to share the alert and another button to receive more information.

One AMBER Alert in Ottawa and another in Toronto prompted hundreds of 911 calls from residents angry about being disturbed by the alerts. Police in both cities urged citizens to stop tying up the emergency lines to make complaints. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even issued a statement supporting AMBER Alerts to protect the safety of children.

Police in Ottawa sent an AMBER Alert at 11:30 p.m. on February 14 for an 11-year-old girl who was later found murdered. Residents called 911 and posted on social media how upset they were because the alert disturbed their sleep. A citizen tip helped police to capture the suspect. Most of the complaints were deleted from social media after numerous residents said they should be ashamed of themselves. “Losing a few minutes of sleep is nothing compared to the hell this family and those trying to help had to go through,” wrote one person.

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What began as a runaway case changed after Ogdensburg, New York, police learned a missing 15-year-old girl may have been threatened and held captive by her boyfriend. The threat prompted officers to ask the New York State Police (NYSP) to issue an AMBER Alert for Olivia Roberts.

Roberts was reported missing on December 12, 2018, after meeting with her 27-yearold boyfriend, Kenneth Snyder. A month earlier, Snyder was charged with unlawful imprisonment for forcefully restraining her during a domestic violence incident. But Snyder fled from police as he was about to be transported from court to a secure facility.

On December 19, Roberts didn’t show up after she asked a friend to pick her up. The same friend was then blocked from Roberts’ Facebook account. He told police he was concerned Snyder may have taken control over Roberts’ Facebook account. That same day Ogdensburg police asked the public on social media to help them find Roberts. At 6:51 p.m. on December 20, a family member told police that Roberts made a call using Facebook and was screaming frantically for someone to come get her. The family member then heard a male voice asking what she was doing and the call suddenly went dead.

“There in fact was a particular incident and that’s what led to the criteria change that led to the AMBER Alert,” said Ogdensburg Police Detective Mark Kearns.

NYSP received the request for an AMBER Alert; agents first made sure the child and suspect had been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). They also started gathering information and photos of the child and suspect for the state’s web-based public notification system for AMBER Alerts.

“We always have concern for the victim in every case we receive,” said NYSP Investigator Michael O’Connell. “We felt this child was being held against her will and in danger of serious bodily harm or death, thus meeting our criteria.”

The AMBER Alert was disseminated at 8:16 p.m. through faxes, emails, text messages, phone calls, highway signs, lotto terminals, broadcasters and social media. New York residents can also sign up to get the alerts at https://alert.ny.gov/.

The NYSP Computer Crimes Unit contacted Facebook and learned the device Roberts used to make a call may have been in Massena, New York. Massena police officers arrived at an apartment and two adults claimed Roberts wasn’t there.

Both adults were arrested after police discovered they told Roberts to go out a window and hide on the roof. Snyder was later found and taken into custody. The AMBER Alert was canceled at 9:30 p.m., a little more than an hour after it was issued.

“We were relieved to learn the child was recovered safe and unharmed,” said O’Connell. “It was a challenge to have people helping the suspect and child avoid the police.”

New York has issued 89 AMBER Alerts since the program began in 2002. O’Connell has been involved with 20 alerts since 2016. He said lessons are learned with every alert.

“This case reiterates a need for continual communication with requesting agencies as new information develops,” he said. “We train often and try to prepare as best as we can.”

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Detective Sergeant Patrick Beumler is the Family Violence/ Missing Persons Supervisor for the Glendale, Arizona, Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division Special Victim’s Unit. He has served with the Glendale Police Department for more than 19 years. Beumler is an Arizona POST Domestic Violence Investigations Trainer and recipient of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Distinguished Service Award for his assistance implementing the Domestic Violence Strangulation Program in 2013. In 2014, he received the International Association of Chiefs of Police Leadership Award for First- Line Supervisor Training on Violence Against Women.

Sgt. Beumler was one of the original founding members of the Arizona Child Abduction Response Team (AZCART) in 2011. He has been deployed across the state of Arizona on various abduction and at-risk missing child investigations as an AZCART investigator. In 2018 he became the State Coordinator for AZCART where he currently serves until the end of his term on July 1, 2019.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR CART AND MISSING PERSONS PROGRAM, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE YOUR PROGRAMS SUCCESSFUL?

Having a single overarching state coordinating agency for AZCART, with one Southern Branch coordinating agency and hopefully soon a Northern Branch coordinating agency. They are all under the same certification, which helps ensure training, investigative practices, forms and other protocols are uniform and consistent. This also helps large-scale deployments succeed because any certified employee can be assigned to any role needed. Each member is familiar with the documents, investigative techniques, software and other best practices being utilized so we are able to efficiently assist the jurisdictional agency requesting our help. Having branches allows for a quick response of personnel and resources for critical investigations.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

I have three young children myself and that makes it easy for me to put myself into a parent’s shoes; I would want to know everything possible is being done to recover my child safely and quickly. I am also driven in abduction cases to see that offenders are held accountable. It is also key to ensure we are conducting lawful and efficient investigations that collect and preserve evidence.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR PROGRAMS?

Deployments rarely happen at an opportune time, so the location, time of day and the number of responders may be less than ideal for the investigation. Members belong to the team on a voluntary basis, so their primary duty can sometimes hinder the number of responders or the timing of the response.

We rotate the coordinating agency for the program on a yearly basis, so a new agency may find it challenging in getting organized internally for taking on the responsibility of preparing equipment and personnel. Another challenge can be maintaining an emphasis on training and skill building so current members remain ready for a deployment. It can also be difficult for the coordinating agency to balance its primary duties with the responsibility of growing the program and attracting new member agencies.

Turnover can also be a challenge as AZCART trained personnel transfer positions or promote out of a position. Trying to replace that knowledge base can be difficult at times.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR PROGRAMS IN THE FUTURE? WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE PROGRAMS?

I would like to see our Northern Branch get established and off the ground. We do have some interested agencies, so I see it as an attainable opportunity. My vision for the program is that eventually we will have a state or federal funding source to facilitate dedicated equipment, training and other resources for certified child abduction response teams and their members.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE. HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT AND OTHER OPERATIONS SUPPORT THE OUTCOME? WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED?

Every safe recovery of a child is a success story for us. Unfortunately, one of the most memorable missing child cases we had is one where there never was a recovery. The Jhessye Shockley investigation started as a reported abduction which resulted in an AMBER Alert being activated; however, it soon transitioned into a FACA (false allegation of child abduction) case to cover up the homicide of Jhessye.

AZCART, Team ADAM from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the FBI and other partners assisted with various aspects of the investigation that included a landfill search lasting several months. This investigation was a great accomplishment because of the team work between agencies and in the end a successful “no body” homicide investigation which resulted in a life sentence plus 20 years for Jhessye’s mother. Many lessons were learned which led to the formulation of timeline/checklists and standardizing the information we now use on any at-risk missing or abduction case.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED, MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

My commitment to helping endangered, missing and abducted children has been strengthened by the connections I have made with the people I met in this position. I have a strong network of people I can count on for assistance and information. I also know the people I have trained are ready to do the job when called upon.

HOW HAS TRAINING HELPED YOU IN AMBER ALERT CASES?

Uniform training has helped keep responders on the same page with protocols, practices and expectations for an AMBER Alert case all across the state.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS?

Ensure training and oversight committee meetings occur at least quarterly so you see each other’s faces, practice working through issues together and so that everyone stays up-to-date on what’s going on elsewhere in the state. This allows you to take that information back to your agency and improve your responses.

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Nona Best is the Director of the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons. She has been with the center under purview of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol since 2009. Her state career began in 2003 as a corrections officer, also serving as a processing assistant for the State Bureau of Investigation, and as a lottery supervisor for the Alcohol Law Enforcement branch. Best became interested in missing juvenile cases as her office while supervising the lottery was juxtaposed closely to the Center for Missing Persons. Astounded at the number of missing juvenile cases, she wanted to pursue work with the center. Best now trains law enforcement officers on how to handle missing persons, sex trafficking and international abduction cases. She also works as an advocate for abused and neglected children with the Guardian Ad Litem program.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR MISSING PERSONS PROGRAM, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE YOUR PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL?

I think what is unique about the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons is it is a one-stop shop. I handle all missing persons, adults and children for the state. All three of the state’s alert systems (AMBER, SILVER, EAS and BLUE) are housed and activated from the Center, which is manned 24/7 through our nationally known number, 800- 522-KIDS (5437). We are successful because we try to keep our training levels up. I get training and go out and train every chance I get. Once I receive training, I share it with my chain of command and through the communication line with troopers so we can grow strong together. Everyone understands why any request from the center is needed and why it is a priority.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

First and foremost I think it’s because I’m a mother and a foster parent. I can’t imagine not knowing where my child is. I worry about the children out there and their safety. I know the average person doesn’t understand how people can go missing without a clue or reason. It’s hard when you have a parent or grandparent on the phone crying, to not cry with them. I sometimes have to start praying and trying to keep the parent encouraged with hope. What I love about my job is helping left-behind parents and siblings at their most vulnerable time and being able to assist them in a way that gives them understanding about the process of finding their missing loved ones.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT AND MISSING PERSON PROGRAMS?

I work with a great group of people. For the most part I get to work the programs and make changes as I see fit. I have such great support from above that I’m able to get our needs met without delays.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT AND OTHER PROGRAMS IN THE FUTURE?

I would love to see all my alert programs automated with no paper trail. The Blue alert is the only alert that is automated in a way that law enforcement can go in and create their request online and we approve it online. We are working to get the Silver and AMBER Alert programs set up that way.

Also, I continue to advocate for stricter criteria for our Silver Alert program. The current language states the alert is for a person “believed to be” suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or a disability that requires them to be protected from abuse or harm.

I would like the criteria to say that the person is “diagnosed” rather than “believed to be” suffering. I would also like to have more annual statewide training sessions and a stronger relationship with our Indian Country partners.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE. HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT AND CENTER FOR MISSING PERSONS SUPPORT THE OUTCOME?

During the past 10 years there are many good ones, and sad ones, to remember. We were really blessed in one case from 2016 in New Hanover County. A six-year-old girl was abducted from her yard while playing with her siblings.

A convicted sex offender was riding by on a moped and just stopped, scooped her up and took off. Thankfully the kids ran in and told their parents immediately. The public also started calling 911 saying there was a small child on a moped without a helmet. Although it was 18 hours before the child was located, the suspect was identified fairly quickly. The victim was found the next day chained to a tree in the woods about eight miles from her home.

Sheriff McMahon said it best, “I think you can say we beat the odds today.” We are all amazed and grateful she was alive; but at the same time we were hurt that this child and her family had to experience this.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR AND/OR CLEARINGHOUSE MANAGER, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED, MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

The job and training really keep you on your toes. You think about it everywhere you go. If I’m in public and I see a child wandering or running around alone, I automatically go into alert mode. I start looking for parents, watching the child and sometimes getting upset that parents could be so careless.

My commitment to training and talking to youth has increased now more than ever due to sex trafficking. It is so prevalent and growing so fast but it’s like a shadow. No one is paying attention except law enforcement. Teens, even runaways, still don’t seem to be aware of or worry about sex trafficking.

State laws need to be tightened and changed to provide the left-behind parents with more protection and rights. An absent parent should be held accountable and not allowed to pick up and leave with a child. The trauma to the child and left-behind parent is tremendous. The left-behind parent also has to come up with money to start the proceedings to get the child back. I just feel that is so wrong.

HOW HAS TRAINING HELPED YOU IN AMBER ALERT CASES?

AMBER Alert trainings like the annual symposiums are priceless. The networking and classes open your mind to new ideas and always make me rededicate myself to do all I can. I always come home with a long to-do list. The training helps me be the state’s expert on missing and abducted persons and supports me in keeping all our programs running with progress.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS?

Get training, and always feel free to call on your AMBER Alert partners. Everyone I have ever called with a question, a request for assistance, a program information sheet or anything else has been more than happy to help. It is a wonderful world to be in when people doing the same work as you, have the same passion for the work as you are willing to offer assistance.

I love that you also get to go put faces with the names at the national level. I would also suggest they share their training opportunities with others who are interested in or work missing person’s cases.

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It seems like almost daily we hear stories about teens who go missing, found as victims of trafficking and exploitation or assaulted and even murdered by a predator. While those cases may generate headlines or brief flurries of media interest, what is sometimes missed is how their cases began and how we as first responders, call takers and investigators approached their case from the onset.

All too often those cases began as a report of a missing child who was either characterized by the family from the start as voluntarily missing or whose case was approached as a probable runaway by law enforcement. Sadly, many of those we “thought” were runaways or were voluntarily missing were actually abducted, lured away or were not allowed to return by a predator. Regardless of how they went missing, the bottom line is that their cases did not receive the same degree of attention or investigative resources that a reported abduction or endangered missing classification might have prompted.

CREATING A CULTURAL CHANGE

In order to properly address the issue of runaways and voluntary missing in terms of how we respond and investigate, we have to create a cultural change in law enforcement. It’s a fact that most officers respond to dozens or even hundreds of reports of runaways each year. In the vast majority of these cases the child is reunited with their family or comes home on his or her own. It is easy to see how we can become complacent to the fact that there are children in that group that will never come home without our help.

When I was a young police officer, I remember how we handled domestic disturbances. The police officer was called on to be both a protector and a counselor. I still remember my first “DV” call and watching my supervisor handle the situation by driving the husband (who was in my mind at least, clearly the aggressor) to a local motel and telling him that if he came back to the house that night, he was going to go to jail. Of course, he came back, of course he assaulted his wife and of course he went to jail. It took an outcry from the public and media, litigation in the courts and finally case law to make us rethink how we dealt with family violence.

Fortunately, it’s now second nature to young recruits to identify the primary aggressors, make arrests, seek protective orders and provide referrals to victim services. We had a cultural change and it was for the better. The same thing happened with seat belts, open containers and child safety seats.

It is time that we had the same cultural shift in regards to runaways. Instead of approaching the report of a voluntary missing young person as a delinquency matter, let’s teach recruits and veterans alike to approach these cases from the standpoint of protecting the child. The actions taken by first responders and call takers are the most important factors in protecting the missing child regardless of how they went missing. We know from over 100 case reviews conducted by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program that in cases where first responders failed to properly assess the circumstances, secure crime scenes, missed evidence or suspect information; the success rate in terms of successfully recovering the missing child plummeted.

An estimated 71 percent of runaways are thought to have been endangered during their runaway episode. Factors such as substance dependency, use of hard drugs, sexual or physical abuse, presence in a place where criminal activity was occurring, or because of their extremely young age (13 years old or younger) place even the voluntary runaway at risk.1

Every runaway case should be considered in terms of potential threats facing the child, not the acts of the child. First responders and call takers need to determine if there are elements present that suggest the child is running from abuse in the home, or if they have been lured away by a predator through use of technology or grooming. Were they abducted or are they voluntarily missing but at risk to the many dangers that threaten the runaway child? If we looked at it from the perspective of threats to the child, rather than delinquency by the child, we would see an improvement in how we approach these cases from the onset.

Some key takeaways have come forth from more than 15 roundtables and listening sessions conducted by the AATTAP with surviving family members of missing, abducted and murdered children. These mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and others are sharing what they learned when their child went missing.

Listen to the parents. They know their child and if they tell you the child is not a runaway, is at risk, or that their missing episode is out of character; listen to them and investigate, analyze and assess as though a crime has occurred; or until you know for a fact the child is safe.
Always dispatch an officer. This is especially relevant to a first responder’s mindset in cases where the family or child are known to law enforcement. It may seem like the report from a family member or other party can be taken over the phone, but this is a dangerous practice because it prevents the officer from putting eyes on the location where the child lives or was last seen. It is impossible to conduct a true assessment of the risk to the child without knowing what clues or warning signs you are missing if not there in person.
Always ask to search the home. Even if the reporting party indicates the child went missing from another location or didn’t return home on time, we always ask permission to search the home for clues that might show how or when the child left the home and under what circumstances.
- In one case, officers responding to a “routine” runaway report asked to search the missing teenager’s room and found information that showed she had left the home to meet an individual who was determined to be a registered sex offender. Officers were able to intercept the child and take the child predator into custody before she was harmed. Had they not searched her room, there is no telling what may have befallen that child.
Know how to access, analyze and utilize digital evidence and social networking. More and more we see cases where children are lured from home by an individual they meet on line. Often the true identity of this person is unknown by the child before they are in the grasp of a predator. Social networking, cell technology and other digital evidence techniques can often prove the difference between victimization and a safe recovery.
Err on the side of protecting the child. When in doubt about whether the child is endangered or is in the midst of a voluntary runaway episode, go with protecting the child first.

Yes, there will be cases where we put a lot of work into recovering a child who is simply angry with a parent, hanging with friends after hours or even engaged in delinquent behavior. All that extra work is nothing in comparison to the pain and trauma that comes with that one child we miss, that one time we don’t issue the alert, call out additional resources or put our best efforts into the investigation, only to find out later that we failed them by using old thinking and old approaches.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO IMPROVE RESPONSE TO REPORTS OF RUNAWAYS AND VOLUNTARY MISSING CHILDREN, DOWNLOAD RESOURCES AND ATTEND TRAINING.

AATTAP’s Investigative Checklists: https://www.amberadvocate.org/investigative-checklists/
Classroom and online training in investigative strategies provided free of charge by AATTAP and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention https://www.amberadvocate. org/training-resources/
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Investigative Guide: http://www. missingkids.com/content/dam/pdfs/publications/nc74.pdf

IT’S TIME TO RETHINK HOW WE HANDLE RUNAWAYS AND MISSING CHILDREN; IT STARTS WITH YOU.

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For five days in February 2018, Washington state detectives posed as underage boys and girls online and received more than 100 responses from persons soliciting sexual activity with them. The 15th “Net Nanny” operation conducted by the Missing and Exploited Children Task Force led to the arrests of 25 people.

“We always think no one will show up but they always do,” said Washington State Sergeant Carlos Rodriguez. “I‘m glad we can remove them from society but it is also hurtful to know people are showing up to have sex with children.”

The multi-agency task force has made more than 246 arrests and rescued more than 30 children since the operations began in 2015. The alleged perpetrators are arrested after they arrive at the location the task force arranged for meeting the child. Some arrive with child pornography on their mobile devices.

Washington AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit Program Manager Carri Gordon was also involved in the operation. “We feel this operation was very successful,” said Gordon. “We removed some really bad people who cannot victimize any more kids.”

Detectives say some of the recovered children have come from homes of the perpetrators or homes where they have access. Many of the people who were arrested are already on the sex offender registry. “What does a sex offender look like? They look like you, me and everyone else,” added Rodriguez.

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Those on the front lines helping vulnerable children in Ruston, Louisiana, knew human trafficking was a real problem in the area and wanted to address it. To accomplish this, they hosted the Community Response to High Risk Victims of Child Sex Trafficking training provided by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) February 5-7, 2019. The training’s focus is to teach community and system stakeholders how to detect human trafficking activities, work to respond and help trafficking victims, and expand their prevention efforts.

“It really is a specialized field,” said Byron Fassett, AATTAP Program Manager. “To understand human trafficking and peel the layers back takes a tremendous amount of training.”

Fassett said community members participated in the AMBER Alert Community Focus Group on Child Sex Trafficking the year prior and asked for additional help in identifying their needs and resources. “This shows our training is not ‘once and done’; rather, we invest in the success of each community, helping them to establish an effective response for their most vulnerable victims.”

Close to 150 police officers, child protective services agents, attorneys, mental health therapists and other community stakeholders participated in the training.

“It is a hidden crime as most of these victims don’t self-report,” said Cathy De La Paz, a detective with the Dallas Police Department who also serves as an AATTAP associate to coordinate child sex trafficking training with the program. “We know if you have prostitution, you have trafficking. If you have prostitution, you have kids being exploited and victimized.”

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Gina DeJesus had been locked away in a sealed off portion of her captor’s house since she was 14. During the nine years she was captive, she was confident she would one day be free.

“I would hear my parents on TV say they would never give up until someone can prove something happened to me,” she said. “My mom would say, ‘Until you bring me a body, then my daughter is still out there.’ It would give me hope and strength to keep fighting.”

On April 2, 2004, Gina was walking home from school in Cleveland, Ohio, when she was offered a ride from her friend’s father. Instead of taking her home, Ariel Castro made Gina a prisoner in his home with two other women he had abducted when they were teens, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry.

Police thought Gina was a runaway and did not issue an AMBER Alert. Gina’s family did not think she ran away and did everything they could to get the public to help find her. The family made numerous televised appeals for help, held vigils and handed out flyers.

Ariel Castro brought a flyer home with Gina’s picture and gave it to her. “He said ‘I talked to your mom today and she gave me this flyer,’” said Gina. “I wanted to have the flyer since it was the last thing my mom touched.”

Gina said her captivity seemed to last forever. “I definitely did pray and I drew a lot about whatever I was feeling. I would write down what I was thinking in a journal. I hoped I could one day share the journal with my mom and dad and brothers and sisters.”

On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry discovered Castro had failed to lock the door and she started screaming for help through a screen door. Neighbors called police and all three young women escaped. Castro was sentenced to life in prison, plus 1,000 years. He died a month later by hanging himself with a bed sheet.

A NEW CHAPTER

On October 26, 2018, Gina began using her experience as an abduction survivor to start The Cleveland Center for Missing, Abducted, and Exploited Children and Adults. She is partnering with her cousin Sylvia Colon who worked feverishly with other family members to find Gina. They are sharing their experiences and resources with families looking for a loved one.

“We want to help families when they are stressed,” said Gina. “I know what it is like to be sitting for years and not be found. I know what it is like to be missing.”

Gina said her parents encouraged her to start the center.

“It was a struggle for my mom to find me. She needed help handing out flyers, dealing with the media and keeping my story out in the public. She was also mad the police did not issue an AMBER Alert.”

The center’s mission statement has four goals:

Eradicate and deter the abduction, exploitation and trafficking of children and adults;
Establish a place for families and survivors to come for support and resources;
Provide prevention training to the community at large; and
Raise awareness to create a community of safety and security for all of our citizens.

Colleen Nick believes Gina offers invaluable advice for victims and their families.

Colleen has been a passionate advocate for missing children since her six-year-old daughter Morgan was kidnapped in 1995 while playing with friends in Alma, Arkansas. Morgan remains missing.

“Gina brings to the table all the misconceptions we have when we are trying to respond to a child abduction,” said Colleen. “Those assumptions that children didn’t survive or left willingly can hold a search back and cost a child valuable time in being recovered.”

“She brings life and her heart and she is making a tremendous difference for families and law enforcement.”

Colleen started the Morgan Nick Foundation in 1996 to support families of missing children. She is excited to collaborate with Gina and her new center.

“It is so powerful to hear firsthand perspective from a child who saw her parents fighting for her,” said Colleen. “It inspires me for what I am doing for my daughter. I want Morgan and others to be brave. Be courageous. We are coming to get you.”

Colleen fought back tears as she listened to Gina talk about seeing her mom on television while she was missing. She hopes Morgan has seen her on TV and learned about all of the efforts to find her.

“I always have hope for Morgan and I will always search for her,” she said. “When children are missing a long time there is a sense that parents should just go home and the child will probably never be found.”

AMBER ALERT EFFORTS

Gina is also a member of the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Committee (NOAAC). She has been training police departments and taking part in law enforcement conferences.

The committee created what is believed to be the first AMBER Alert Family Response Plan. The program gathers information from victims and their families after an AMBER Alert has been used.

Cleveland Center Board Member Christopher Minek said Gina has already made a huge difference to the Ohio AMBER Alert program.

“We didn’t have a good plan for families and she glued this program together. She is bringing exposure to an audience we were not able to reach,” said Christopher. “She gives life and motivation so that if a person is missing or abducted we will move mountains to bring that person home.”

Some committee members closely followed what happened to Gina when she went missing and when she was found.

“I will never forget when she was found. I will tell my grandchildren about it,” said one NOAAC member. “I used to pray for Gina and now it is such an amazing opportunity to work with her and know her as a friend.”

Gina said she is surprised by how people react when they see her and hear her speak. She considers herself “just a regular girl.” She said helping others has helped her become more confident when she writes and speaks. “I like that I can help find more children and bring them home.”

She also hopes her efforts will inspire those who are still missing. “Never give up and one day you will come back home.”

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The Chicago TV station WBBM could face a fine or penalty for using the Emergency Alert System (EAS) signal in a highlight segment about an AMBER Alert issued and canceled that day. The FCC forbids the “false, fraudulent or unauthorized use of the signal. WBBM’s president said using the signal was a mistake and steps have been taken to ensure it does not happen again. Viacom, NBC and ESPN were fined in $1.9 million in 2014 for using the EAS signal in a commercial; and a Bowling Green, Kentucky, TV station was fined $39,000 in 2013 for the same act. TBS was fined $25,000 that same year for using the signal in a promotional spot for Conan O’Brien’s talk show.

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The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) is now using a global platform that combines artificial intelligence (AI) and digital advertising to locate missing and abducted children. THE GMCNgine™ uses geo-targeting and dynamic ad technology to get missing children alerts to the right communities quickly. The system also uses AI to scan millions of images on the web to locate pictures that resemble missing children. “The GMCNgine™ sparks global change in missing child investigations,” said Maura Harty, President and Chief Executive Officer for ICMEC. The tool will be used in 29 countries.

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Thanksgiving weekend is usually the time for family reunions, but for one Houston family it involved a frantic search for a two-year-old child. During the evening of November 24, 2018, Jatavia Bookman called the Houston Police Department (HPD) to report Prentis Curtis had taken her son Jeremiah Lambert and the family’s blue Dodge Nitro without permission.

“Initially this case was treated as a missing persons case,” said HPD Homicide Lieutenant Zachary Becker.” Jeremiah’s mother did not initially consider him at risk because he was in the care of a trusted family member who was late returning home.”

That night the family started handing out fliers at the apartment to see if anyone had seen their child. The following day Jeremiah was still missing and the family called police at 12:36 pm. to request an AMBER Alert.

“The mother eventually told us the person was not an actual family member and she believed he was suicidal,” said Becker.

HPD contacted Beth Alberts, CEO of Texas Center for the Missing (TCM) and director of the Houston Regional AMBER Alert Program, at 4:36 p.m. with the request to issue an AMBER Alert. Alberts determined the case met the criteria for activation.

“The suspect was a felon out on parole and under ankle-monitoring supervision with a curfew,” said Alberts. “He violated curfew and was seen on a video in a drug-infested area after abducting the child.”

Alberts issued the alert at 4:54 p.m. by entering the information in the Houston Regional AMBER Alert online distribution system. The system sends emails to all regional media, law enforcement, transportation and individuals who sign up to receive the alert. She placed the information on Facebook and Twitter, and also contacted the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Endangered Child to send out a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA).

A citizen saw the alert on the local news and called 911 after recognizing the suspect and vehicle. Police found Curtis and the child at a local hotel at 6:03 p.m.

“I’m grateful the system worked so well and so quickly,” said Becker. “We had the child located and recovered unharmed within about one hour.”

The family was relieved Jeremiah was safe after hours of panic and worry. “I can breathe now. I felt like I was dead out here. I couldn’t breathe. I can breathe now,” the victim’s grandmother, Avis Knox, told the local KTRK news station.

The alert was canceled at 6:26 p.m. and TCM sent an after-action report to police at 7 p.m.

“I am relieved he is safe and happy to have been a part of his recovery,” added Alberts. “I am also grateful the suspect is in custody and has been charged with kidnapping.”

HPD says having a close relationship and getting training from TCM helped in the quick recovery of the victim. The supervisor involved in this case had taken part in an AMBER Alert training for 20 new officers on November 14, just 10 day s before the event.

“Having that pre-existing relationship, along with frequent training, reduces obstacles and makes our operation function quickly and smoothly when it’s critical,” said Becker.

Even though this AMBER Alert was successful, Becker said HPD learned some valuable lessons. In examining the patrol officer’s initial interview and operating from the mother’s initial position that the child was safe, they recognized more intensive interview is needed early on in these types of cases.

“This case highlighted for us the need to have a much more thorough interview with the reporting person from the start,” he said. “Having an investigator conduct a comprehensive interview in a formal environment would likely have led to learning pertinent facts sooner and probably a quicker resolution to the entire incident.”

Alberts said this incident shows the AMBER Alert is an effective tool for finding endangered children quickly and safely, but emphasized the importance of AMBER Alert program personnel collaborating closely with the law enforcement agency handling the investigation. “True cooperation can make the difference between life and death for some of these vulnerable children.”

The Houston Regional AMBER Alert program began on December 7, 2001, and has issued 188 alerts for 228 children with a 95 percent successful recovery rate. To date, 216 children have been recovered alive, eight were recovered deceased, but were discovered more quickly because of the alert. Four children remain missing.

Everyone involved in the safe recovery of Jeremiah says they will always be motivated to do everything possible to find missing children.

“One of my favorite parts about being an AMBER Alert Coordinator is that feeling of being a part of a team of people all working toward the same goal—quickly recovering a missing child,” said Alberts. “I am incredibly proud to be involved in the AMBER Alert program.”

“Children are the most vulnerable and innocent people in our society,” concluded Becker. “Knowing how quick action can potentially prevent terrible outcomes motivates me to try to work these cases as aggressively as possible.”

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William “Bill” Smith has been the Kansas AMBER Alert coordinator since 2013. He is the Special Agent in Charge at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), managing field investigations spanning 36 counties in Northeast Kansas. Smith has been with KBI since 2001, and also served with the Dallas Police Department. His KBI duties have included Special Operations, Cyber Crimes, and Field Investigations. Smith graduated from Kansas State University and is an alumnus of the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command. He holds a Lean Six Sigma certification in Performance and Process Improvement from the University of Kansas.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL?

The KBI started the Kansas AMBER Alert program in 2002 and the blueprint for success has steadily evolved. The Kansas program is unique in how it harnesses available technology. We focus on using a robust, flexible and mobile-friendly system for the AMBER Alert. The Kansas Information Consortium (KIC) developed a custom-built program that allows us to rapidly load important information and pictures from any internet capable device anywhere. This allows us to swiftly deliver the alert to the media and public. During a child abduction, minutes matter and we seek to save them by using technology, strong executive leadership, continuous process improvement and resilient partnerships. Leadership is the backbone in the collaborative success between law enforcement, media, technical partners, advocacy groups and citizens. KBI Director Kirk Thompson and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt spearhead an executive committee that facilitates the success of the Kansas AMBER Alert Program. We continually implement changes to improve each AMBER Alert activation and our training by measuring and mapping everything involved in the alert. Our formalized evaluation strategy increases speed, eliminates waste, reduces error and cultivates efficiency. Partnerships with all stakeholders are key to the program’s success. From the patrol officer to the IT professional, thoughtful engagements and training increases their response, participation and assistance. This approach leads to better outcomes when it counts.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

When the call comes in about an abducted child, I know KBI special agents and our AMBER Alert program can make the difference in saving a child’s life. It is very motivating, emotionally intense and yet empowering to feel the responsibility to act decisively and concretely during a chaotic event, to striving to achieve a positive outcome.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM?

The number one challenge facing all AMBER Alert programs is the rapid evolution of how the public is receiving media and messages. Looking back sixteen years to 2002, we were using flip phones and no one used text messages. Now we carry computers in our pockets with amazing capabilities. We need to prepare for where technology and communication are headed in the next 16 years and decide where to invest in order to move the program in a similar direction.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE? WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE PROGRAM?

I would like to see the Department of Justice AMBER Alert initiative evolve nationally in new ways to broaden and deepen support for the states. A properly-funded national initiative could build a “plug-and-play” infrastructure for all programs. A nationwide program could evolve far more rapidly than 50-plus separate programs.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE. HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT SUPPORT THE OUTCOME? WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED?

In 2016, a local Police Department contacted KBI and requested an AMBER Alert. They shared that two children were removed from school by their father. The children had been in the custody of their mother, and the father was reported to not have custody. Prior to that day, the father allegedly made a series of very threatening statements to the mother about harming the children. This combination of facts led KBI to approve and launch an AMBER Alert. KBI and other law enforcement agencies moved swiftly to locate the children. The alert was launched 31 minutes after the request, and 16 minutes later the father and children were located safely. This alert was memorable because of the speed of the request and subsequent speed of the AMBER Alert and investigative response.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

Everything I have seen and done in the last five years as an AMBER Alert Coordinator has strengthened my commitment to children. I know timely actions of law enforcement, media, technical partners, advocacy groups, coordinators and citizens can make the difference-–and the AMBER Alert leads from the front.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS?

Be introspective. Learn about everything that occurs within your realm of control as it relates to AMBER Alert. Understand how to continuously evolve. Be a statesperson, and build meaningful bridges with all partners because an AMBER Alert cannot succeed if the message does not proliferate through all technology and media allies.

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Joshua H. Kean is a senior investigator and has been a member of the New York State Police (NYSP) for 15 years. He is the supervisor of the Special Victims Unit and the NYS AMBER Alert Coordinator. Kean has assisted the NYSP Community Narcotics Enforcement Team with undercover operations involving drug sales and human trafficking. He is responsible for law enforcement training in the areas of child abuse and sexual offense investigations, elder abuse and the AMBER Alert. Kean also serves on the NYS Children’s Justice Task Force, Sex Assault Response Team, Committee for Coordination of Police Services to Elderly Persons, Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking, and other advisory groups related to special victims.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL?

New York State is unique because it is a very large state. We worked with our dedicated partners to split the state into 12 alert activation regions to ensure residents do not become desensitized. We want the people of New York to feel a sense of urgency with every activation. We attribute our success to team work. We work very closely with the NYS Broadcasters Association, Office of Emergency Management, Sheriffs Association, Association of the Chiefs of Police, Missing Persons Clearinghouse, Lottery, Department of Transportation, and Thruway Authority. After every AMBER Alert, we have a review of that case with the investigating agency and our partners to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our response and operations, and how we can do better. The NYS AMBER Alert program is shaped by and continues to improve because of these after-action reviews. We also have annual meetings with our partners to discuss past and current practices, as well as what we would like to see in the future. A major contributor to the success we’ve experienced in New York is that we have a strong partnership with surrounding states. We have an agreement in place that if AMBER Alerts have been activated in surrounding states and they request us to activate, we activate.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

My children are my motivation. I am a father of four; ages 18, 12, 11 and 9. I look at each case thinking, “If this was my child how would I want it handled?” I have always had a passion for helping and working with children. One of the first jobs I had as a teenager was a youth counselor. I strived to provide a safe and fun environment for the neighborhood children. I was a varsity high school baseball coach for a local high school and I am currently the head coach for my daughter’s traveling softball team. The children I have worked with know they can come to me with anything without any judgment. When I joined the NYSP I wanted to be the voice for those who didn’t have one. I started working child abuse and child sexual assault cases in 2008 and became a certified child forensic interviewer to better serve child victims.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM?

I have noticed in my short time as the AMBER Alert Coordinator that there is a need for training regarding the criteria for an AMBER Alert and how to utilize this tool.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE? WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE PROGRAM?

I would like to provide training around the state on New York’s AMBER Alert criteria and how to request an activation. In a child abduction, every second counts. I would like to see all of the state AMBER Alert systems connected. Although we have a great working relationship with each state, activating an alert in another state requires us to contact that AMBER Coordinator and provide information. Then the other coordinator has to import all of the data into their system and send out the alert. If our systems were connected, we could just send the information electronically so they can review it and send the alert. This would cut minutes off of the process, which is so important when every second counts.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE. HOW DID THE AMBER ALERT SUPPORT THE OUTCOME? WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED?

We had a case with 16- and 18-year-old suspects who took a 12-year-old child early in the morning, stole a gun, and a vehicle that contained another gun. We activated an AMBER Alert and recovered the child within a few hours. Because of the AMBER Alert, the suspects hid in a vacant house in the woods near one of their homes. When one suspect attempted to go home to get supplies, the police were contacted by his mother and subsequently located the child and suspects.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

I have more than 15 years of law enforcement experience and more than 11 years dealing directly with children who have been physically and sexually abused and/or neglected and maltreated. There is no greater feeling than being part of a case that brings a child home safe.

HOW HAS TRAINING HELPED YOU IN AMBER ALERT CASES?

Training has helped our unit prepare for cases involving abducted children. We regularly practice weekly by giving each other different scenarios and working through a mock activation. We do this so that in real cases, when the criteria to activate are present, we can execute the AMBER Alert process with ease and accuracy.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER AMBER ALERT PARTNERS?

Get to know your bordering states AMBER Alert Coordinators and Missing Person Clearinghouse Managers. One of the most valuable events since becoming the NYS AMBER Alert Coordinator was attending the National AMBER Alert Symposium. I could put names with faces, develop lasting relationships, and learn from their experiences. I look forward to the next one.

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The Navajo Nation brought a nine-month-old baby safely back to his mother after issuing its first Endangered Missing Person Advisory. The Department of Emergency Management issued the advisory for Nickolias Elias Tom on September 26 after his non-custodial father took him and authorities determined the baby was in danger. The advisory was issued at 7:13 a.m. and the baby was found safe by 5:14 p.m. The public and members of the media who signed up to receive the advisories were notified by text messages. Navajo officials said the new advisory is free, quick and worked flawlessly.

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The safe recovery of an abducted child after an AMBER Alert doesn’t mean the end of work that needs to be done to support the family and build greater capacity for effective response with future incidents. Recognizing this, the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Committee (NOAAC) developed an AMBER Alert Family Response Plan to seek advice and information from the victim’s family after the work of law enforcement investigators and the power of strategic public alerting has brought a child safely home.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) believes the plan is the first formalized program at the local level to determine how the family perceived the work of law enforcement and how they feel they were treated during the investigation and AMBER Alert issuance. The family can also learn more through this program about additional resources from law enforcement and the greater community that are needed when these incidents occur.

The recognition of the need by the NOAAC arose in the spring of 2018, during the early moments of an AMBER Alert in Ohio when officers had to break up a family fight outside the police station. Tensions were high and the family needed immediate attention, but officers were busy pursuing leads. It became clear at that time more needed to be done to help victims and their families in the midst of endangered missing and abducted child cases.

“Our committee was primarily focused on law enforcement,” said Christopher Minek, Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Coordinator. “We decided we needed to expand our knowledge for the victims of the AMBER Alert.”

Minek reached out to Gina DeJesus and her family to help with the plan. DeJesus was abducted in 2004 while walking to school and held in captivity for nine years with two other hostages in Cleveland, Ohio. Minek also gathered input from Jill Smialek of Cuyahoga County Witness Victims Services.

“Upon gaining her freedom, DeJesus has worked as a victim’s advocate,” said John T. Majoy, Newburgh Heights Police Chief and NOAAC Chair. “The concept of pairing her with a victim advocacy expert provides another dimension for law enforcement agencies.”

The Family Response Plan was implemented in June 2018 and includes a standardized protocol for law enforcement and victim services’ work with the family involved in an AMBER Alert. “The goal of the plan is to provide crisis stabilization and trauma informed communication by gathering information from families involved in an AMBER Alert,” said Minek.

Phase one of the plan provides step-by-step instructions on how a victim or witness service representative contacts family members to assess their willingness to participate in the plan. The family is given information on how their answers can help improve the AMBER Alert program and offer insights for law enforcement and victim services to more effectively work with families of an abducted child in the future.

If the family agrees, an interviewer asks specific questions about what was helpful and what could have been done differently during the incident. The family is also told the interviewer is not with law enforcement and that the information they provide will not be used for the investigation or prosecution of the suspect.

The interviewer then compiles a summary for the family to review. Once the family approves the information, it is shared with the AMBER Alert Committee, who considers how best to incorporate the input toward improvement in the AMBER Alert program and related training.

“The families need to have a voice,” said Majoy. “Families experience a number of challenges and questions during this time. It is important to instill hope and provide them a means of understanding what they are experiencing.”

Phase two of the Family Response Plan is titled “Deploying Hope.” One year after the alert, the interviewer contacts the survivor and family to assist in compiling a report to identify general themes of experiences following the incident, noting positive outcomes as well as places where gaps in support and recovery have been found.

The aim of the NOAAC plan shares important parallels with the work of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program’s (AATTAP) Family Roundtable initiative. Implemented in 2011, AATTAP’s six Family Roundtable events held to date have brought together more than 180 survivors and family members to share experiences, offer critically important insights and develop formalized recommendations for law enforcement’s interactions with the family during endangered missing and abducted child incidents.

Emphasizing the importance of incorporating families’ recommendations into training for law enforcement and victim advocacy professionals, AATTAP Administrator Jim Walters believes their insights have had a direct impact on resolving other child abduction cases. “There is probably no more important function we carry out than taking the time to listen to families about their individual cases. We learn so much from their tragedies and at the same time we allow them the opportunity to gather with other families who have been down the same terrible path they have travelled. By pre-planning we can cut down the time, stress and uncertainty that comes with not knowing what to do. Time is of the essence and having a plan in place saves time, it is as simple as that.”

NCMEC believes it is sound practice for each AMBER Alert program to have a formalized family response plan. NCMEC Vice President of the Missing Children Division, Bob Lowery, believes these plans should be used in a multidisciplinary manner during an alert to minimize the trauma of the situation.

“Families that have experienced an AMBER Alert are uniquely suited to provide insight, concerns, and recommendations for AMBER Alert partners,” said Lowery. “The recovery of the missing child is the beginning of what can be a lengthy reunification process as the child and family begin to come to terms with the crime and what this means moving forward.”

Walters also encourages other AMBER Alert programs to create their own family response plans. “Plans are so important because they put things into place so they can be acted upon, so everyone knows what they can do to ensure the safety of the child.”

Chief Majoy said the Family Response Plan will continue to be a work in progress. He said it is important to share the NOAAC plan with other AMBER Alert partners; and in return he hopes to learn from them as well. “We all have a common goal in the safe return of the victim.”

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Ecuador says it has become the first South American country to have an alert for children who have been abducted or are believed to be in immediate danger. The Alert Emilia is named after a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 2017 by human traffickers. “In Ecuador the AMBER Alert will be called Alert Emilia, in memory of Emilia Benavides, whose death marked a pattern to strengthen these actions with a state policy that involves the whole society,” said César Navas, Ecuador Minister of the Interior. The alert will send information and images of the missing child through television, email and social networks. The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) will include Ecuador as the 28th member country of its Global Network of Missing Children.

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The Ontario, Ohio, Police Department is using two drones to search in AMBER Alerts and other cases involving missing juveniles or older adults. The department used money from federally seized drugs to purchase the drones, which cost $14,000 each. The drones pro-vide live video feeds and have been used dozens of times, including when an AMBER Alert was activated. “Bottom line, this is irreplaceable technology,” said Ontario Police Chief Tommy Hill. “There is no value too great that we’d spare to save a life.”

Nebraska residents can now get Endangered Missing Advisories (EMA) through text messages. The EMA notifies the public about a missing endangered person who does not qualify for an AMBER Alert. The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) said thousands of people have already signed up to receive the EMA through email since the program was launched in January 2018. “We’ve already seen multiple times that the public can make the difference in locating a vulnerable missing person,” said Captain Jeromy McCoy, NSP AMBER Alert/EMA Coordinator. “The new text message option will help spread the EMA alerts faster and to more people.”

A Largo, Florida, mother accused of murdering her two-year-old has also been charged with lying to police after an AMBER Alert was issued. Clarissa Stinson claimed her son was abducted after they accepted a ride from a stranger on September 1, 2018. Police say the lies cost them critical time in finding the boy and resulted in $500,000 in law enforcement costs. Fifteen agencies, including 163 law enforcement officers and 28 staff members, took part in the search. “A price cannot be put on that,” said Largo Police spokesperson Randy Chaney. Stinson could face an additional five years in prison for giving the false story to police.

A Grand Rapids, Michigan, mother is facing prison after telling police her 18-month-old daughter had been stolen by a stranger on August 5, 2018. An AMBER Alert woke residents up after it its 3:21 a.m. issuance. Jennell Ross stuck by her story until the baby’s father told police the child was with him the entire time. “It kind of destroys the credibility of the AMBER Alert, which is really sad that one person did that, and she should be charged,” said Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Sara Krebs. “It’s very frustrating for us, but I will always err on the side of caution for that child.” Ross could face up to four years in prison and a $2,000 fine.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducted a nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) on October 3, 2018. The test was postponed from September 20 because of the severe weather on the East Coast.

The WEA system is used to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children, and other critical situations through alerts on cell phones. The national test uses the same special tone and vibration as with all WEA messages (i.e. Tornado Warning, AMBER Alert). Users cannot opt out of receiving the WEA test.

This first national WEA test message was sent to cell phones connected to wireless providers participating in WEA, with a header reading “Presidential Alert” and the text, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

Sonoma County in California tested its emergency alert on September 10 and 12 before the nationwide drill for WEA. The system is being tested because residents complained about inadequate warnings during firestorms last October. The Sonoma County’s former emergency manager didn’t use WEA during the fires because he was unsure whether or not it could be used in an area smaller than the entire county. The county is now confident that the alerts can go to targeted areas, but is requesting feedback from the public following the tests.

Denver conducted its first test of WEA on September 5 to make sure the system is working properly and to create public awareness. The test went to about one million people in the Denver area.

Friends and family members gathered and released balloons and ribbons at the same Sun-set, Utah, park where three-year-old Rachael Runyan was kidnapped and later murdered on August 26, 1982. “She was just so precious,” Elaine Runyan said of her slain daughter. “She just touched everybody’s heart.” Utah initially named its child abduction advisory the Rachael Alert in 2002. “There are children who are alive today because of Rachael,” Sunset Police Chief Ken Eborn said. The alert’s name was changed to the AMBER Alert after it was first used for the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. “I had no idea what the alert was at the time,” said Ed Smart, Elizabeth’s father, who spoke at the event on August 25, 2018.

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Six-year-old Brooklyn Vance was staying with her aunt in Ashtabula, Ohio, while her mother was out of town. Connie Nelson, the girl’s grandmother from Las Vegas, was also staying at the home and decided to take the child.

At 9:30 a.m. on June 12, 2018, the aunt woke up and discovered the girl and her grandmother were gone, as well as all of the child’s clothes. The aunt called the Ashtabula Police Department at 11:14 a.m. to report the girl missing.

Police learned Nelson had mental health issues and an “unhealthy infatuation” with her grandchild. Family members feared she was planning to take the child to Las Vegas and the only way she had to get there was by hitchhiking.

Officers asked the Cuyahoga Emergency Communications System (CECOMS) to issue an AMBER Alert at 2:08 p.m. after determining the case met all four criteria for the alert:

The child is under 18 years of age.
There is credible information the child was forcibly or intentionally removed or lured away from her location and remains missing.
The law enforcement agency believes the child is in danger of serious bodily injury or death.
The law enforcement agency has sufficient identifying information on the child, and/or alleged abductor(s), and/or alleged abductor’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will be beneficial in identification efforts.

CECOMS handles emergency communications in nine counties in Northeast Ohio. It is the only independent agency in the state authorized to issue AMBER Alerts. The agency has a goal to issue an AMBER Alert within 20 minutes; this alert was issued just two minutes later at 2:10 p.m.

Christopher Minek, CECOMS operations supervisor and Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert coordinator

Christopher Minek serves as the CECOMS operations supervisor and the AMBER Alert coordinator for Northeast Ohio. “We knew we needed to complete the AMBER Alert broadcast to our region as soon as possible,” said Minek. “We hoped the AMBER Alert would prevent the grandmother from taking her out of the region and possibly the state.”

The alert, along with photographs and additional information, was distributed to the National Weather Service, Ohio State Highway Patrol, local media outlets and LAMAR Advertising billboards. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) was also notified to disseminate the alert via the Wireless Emergency Alert system. Nearby airport, bus stations, train stations and cab companies were also contacted about the situation.

CECOMS also activated the new AMBER Alert Family Response Plan. The Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Committee recently created the plan to gather information from family members of the victim and help them after an alert has been activated.

“The goals of the Family Response Plan are to provide crisis stabilization, trauma informed communication and a sense of hope that reunification is possible,” said Minek.

9-1-1 telecommunicators received three accurate tips from the public within 15 minutes after issuance of the AMBER Alert. Nelson was found at 3 p.m. walking with the child, ten miles from where she was taken. The girl was unharmed and the grandmother was taken into custody for interference with custody, kidnapping and inducing panic.

“The citizens who called in the tips are the real heroes,” said Minek. “They took the time to remember the detailed suspect and child description and then assisted without hesitation in a stressful and active situation to bring the child home. There are no words that can describe the joy of watching a child be reunited with their family after such a traumatic incident.”

“We want to thank the public for assisting us; that’s how we were able to recover the girl so quickly,” added Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell. “We could not be more pleased with the outcome.”

The Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Committee reviewed the case following the incident, determining it indeed met all of the criteria for an AMBER Alert.

Minek said the key factors in the successful recovery were having an effective AMBER Alert plan, contacting all local transportation hubs, and training with law enforcement agencies. “The City of Ashtabula Police Department and CECOMS established early and effective communication during the AMBER Alert activation,” he said. “Through our communications we were able to relay information with extreme efficiency.”

Still, the Northeast AMBER Alert partners will continue to refine their AMBER Alert plan. “We learn something new every time we have an AMBER Alert activation,” concluded Minek. “Our plan is always evolving to keep up to date with the latest technology and procedures.”

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Tribal leaders, law enforcement, and child protection advocates came together September 25-26 in Fort McDowell, Arizona, to learn, dialogue and network at the inaugural session of what will be a series of collaborative training and technical assistance events under the new Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Law. The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) delivered the event under the direction and funding of the U.S. Department of Justice, and featured presentations by: Pamela Foster, mother of Ashlynne; the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC); the Arizona State AMBER Alert Coordinator; NCJTC Associates who serve as subject matter experts in Indian Country law and AMBER Alert implementation; and AATTAP Administrator Jim Walters.

Topics discussed included lessons learned from the 2008 - 2010 AMBER in Indian Country pilot project, Tribal access to the Arizona State AMBER Alert System, facilitated discussions on Tribal resources and AMBER Alert planning, as well as important next steps and recommended actions for implementing AMBER Alert and developing comprehensive child protection strategies.

The primary mission of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative is to design, develop and implement AMBER Alert programs in Indian Country; to foster relationships between tribes and their State and Regional AMBER Alert plans and partners; and to provide tribal communities with training and resources to quickly recover missing, abducted or exploited children.

AATTAP has developed a five-element process for implementing AMBER Alert in Indian Country under the new law. That process involves educating and informing, assessing needs, conducting meetings, developing tribal resolutions and partnership agreements with state AMBER Alert systems, and delivering training and technical assistance to ensure the support needed is provided every step of the way. Watch future issues of the Advocate for updates and progress as AATTAP works with tribes across the country to bring AMBER Alert into full realization in Indian Country.

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Sara Hennessey has been the New Hampshire AMBER Alert Coordinator since September 2012, and began her service with the New Hampshire State Police as a trooper in 1998. Hennessey is a sergeant in the agency’s Major Crime Unit and commands the Family Services Division. Her husband John is also a commander with the New Hampshire State Police.

WHAT PATH LED YOU TO THIS WORK?

As a New Hampshire state trooper our primary function when we first get assigned is highway patrol but that was never where my heart belonged. I did it because I had to do it, but I always wanted to be a detective and move in that direction. I spent some time as an advocate in domestic violence prior to becoming a trooper; that’s always where I wanted to go. In 2007, I became a detective at a troop and naturally started taking cases that were related to domestic violence, sexual assault and child protection. I was also able to work some interesting cases with the homicide unit. Unfortunately, in some of the cases we had, the children were recovered deceased. I always wanted to work hard to minimize this horrible outcome, and improve investigation of these cases so that we would not find ourselves at that point. I have done some work and training with the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). I continue to work hard to educate DCYF, law enforcement personnel, and anyone who will listen, in an effort to lessen the number of homicides and child abductions we see, along with lessening the maltreatment of children.

WHAT IS THE BEST PART, AND THE HARDEST PART, OF YOUR JOB?

The best part of my job is having the opportunity to help people and kids in crisis. The hardest part is knowing that sometimes the outcome isn’t always the best. I have been through some tough cases and it has taught me how bad it can get.

HOW DOES AMBER ALERT WORK IN NEW HAMPSHIRE?

We’re a really small state, so a lot of people have seen my face and know me through different entities and events I’ve been involved with. When incidents arise, sometimes the boss may look over and call my name out in the office; I’ll poke my head up from the cubicle and will make my way over to the front of the office and he will fill me in. Other times, a local agency will call looking for our K-9 services or to find out what other resources the New Hampshire State Police can provide. The head of the K-9 unit will give me a call and say, ‘We have this case going on, has anyone contacted you yet?’ There’s a lieutenant at the Manchester [New Hampshire] Police Department who runs their Juvenile Unit with whom I have an excellent relationship. She will call my cell phone and say, ‘This is what we have, this is what we need; are we good to go?’ Incidents seem to come in waves; but because we’re so small it is easy to get ahold of me. Other departments may call state police headquarters and they will contact me; I then make contact, have a conversation with them about what is going with their case, and offer advisement and support.

HAS NEW HAMPSHIRE ADDED ANY NEW INITIATIVES TO ITS PROGRAMS AND WORK TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

We now have the state lottery system as a partner. They are a welcome member to our team and they are already helping us reach more people with the AMBER Alert.

WHAT APPROACHES DO YOU TAKE TO PROVIDE TRAINING, EDUCATION AND AWARENESS ON AMBER ALERT?

I will talk to anyone who will listen. People see my face associated with a lot of platforms, so at those events, or as part of information being provided, I will include up-dates on mandatory reporting, the AMBER Alert program, and elder abuse laws, when I am training. I also utilize my work with the state police academy. In New Hampshire, all of the police recruits go through a single academy; this provides a great way to de-liver important program and training information in a consistent manner. The trooper who teaches child abuse at the academy covers the AMBER Alert program and procedures, and we both talk about it to reinforce the information. Anytime I have a chance to talk about the AMBER Alert, I will. We’ve had some tremendously high-profile missing cases in New Hampshire; some have ended successfully, and some have not. That has allowed an extraordinary relationship with some of the departments in our state, and with our federal partners. Again, it’s a small state and we all talk to each other; we all communicate, and people know where to call. In September 2018 at the annual New Hampshire Attorney General’s “Partnering for a Future without Violence,” I teamed up with the lieutenant from the Manchester Police Department to conduct a workshop on AMBER Alert, combined with a case review of the last alert we had in April 2017.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO FIND MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

When we have missing children needing to be found, and we work within and across our law enforcement agencies - and with the public - to help bring them home. Every instance of this motivates me to continue to the work and do all that we can to safely recover missing children.

WHAT WAS A CASE YOU WORKED ON THAT HAD A LASTING IMPACT?

There was a case that I worked in a very rural area in the Northern part of the state and it involved a missing young girl. For the first part of the case there were a lot of resources brought in. It was a case where we had federal partners working and it got to the point that they needed a place to put us because the town was so small. They opened up a school and people were coming in to serve us lunch. They cordoned off areas of the school we could use for interviews. The school was essentially our command post; with part of the school open, and part of it closed. It was during the summertime and there was a little boy walking down the hallway; I remember his shoes were untied. He was there with his mom who was helping with the volunteer effort. He knew I was a trooper and stopped me in the hall and said, “Have you found my friend yet? I really miss her.” I told him that we had not found his friend yet. We ended up finding the girl; she was not alive. This case, and that encounter with this little girl’s friend; it obviously had a lasting impact. I will never forget that little boy in the hallway. We have to keep searching, we have to keep looking. For every missing child, there is a little boy or girl in the hallway waiting for their friend to return.

WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED IN THIS POSITION?

Find your friends in your local states. In New England, we have fabulous coordinators in other states. Our states are small, so it doesn’t take much time for a suspect and child to be in and out of different states. When I was new, they pulled me in and said, ‘If you need anything call me. I will help you.’ So, with Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island we have a strong crew - and it’s an experienced crew. They have worked a lot of years over a lot of cases and had different things happen; they can share those experiences with you and help you through some of the issues, re-source problems - whatever it is that comes up in these cases. We are in constant contact with each other. I have also learned that when a child is missing, it is all hands-on deck, no questions asked. Everyone jumps in to help. We are tight-knit here; our program would not work if we were not.

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The Telecommunicator’s Role

Law enforcement’s response to a 9-1-1 call reporting a missing or abducted child begins with the telecommunicator who answers that emergency line. Whether referred to as dispatchers, telecommunicators or communications officers, the individuals who perform this bedrock first response to what may very likely be a critical incident truly hold the key to how well patrol officers and investigators are able to execute their work in the field.

Shift work, significant overtime hours, ridiculous levels of multi-tasking and incredible stress – these are just a few of the hallmarks of the life and work of a law enforcement telecommunicator. 9-1-1 call centers and law enforcement communications centers across the U.S. often experience high turnover and chronic staffing shortages due to the demanding nature of the work. Law enforcement telecommunicators do so much more than ‘just answer the phone’ – they are handling multiple phone lines, dispatching and monitoring the status and safety of multiple officers in the field, and simultaneously entering large amounts of incident and operations information into local and state data systems.

A critical component of this information management involves entering and querying data on criminal history record information through state systems which feed into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The speed and accuracy with which NCIC and other record information is entered, updated and queried can literally make the difference - in the case of crimes against persons - between life and death. It can mean the difference between identification of child victims, their abductors or perpetrators of trafficking and exploitation; or missed identifications - meaning children are not rescued and perpetrators of crimes against them remain at large.

In the midst of these realities, how can telecommunicators train and prepare for incidents of missing and abducted children? Telecommunications departments typically do not have robust training budgets, and often cannot afford to have personnel away from their shifts to attend classroom-style training outside the communication center. How can we ensure quality training is available to all telecommunicators, even in centers with tight training budgets and understaffed schedules?

“911 and other law enforcement telecommunicators and the patrol officers they team with to provide the very first response – they are the front-line heroes that families and children are depending on. The TELMAC class gives them the foundation to do exactly what needs to be done – to prepare so that missed steps do not occur that could cost a child’s life. These telecommunicators, from that very first moment of that very first call, through all the leads and tips they may intake and help to check – they are the very heart and soul of the missing child search.”

Colleen Nick, Mother of Morgan Nick, abducted June 9, 1995, at the age of six, from a little league ball park in Alma, Arkansas

In 2006, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and AATTAP partnered to form a steering committee to include the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED). The committee developed and jointly endorsed a set of national best practice standards for call-handing and information management in these case types.

In 2007, the APCO-ANS1.101 National Standard for Public Safety Telelcommunicators When Responding to Incidents of Missing, Abducted and Sexually Exploited Children was first published; and was updated in 2010 and 2015.

AATTAP launched the TELMAC online course in 2010, featuring the APCO ANS1.101 as a cornerstone of the training curriculum. The curriculum was borne out of key elements of classroom training NCMEC and AATTAP began offering to public safety telecommunications directors and their front-line supervisors and trainers in conjunction with the National Best Practice Standards project between 2006 and 2010.

Another innovation resulting from the steering committee’s work to develop the national best practice standard is NCMEC’s Missing Kids Readiness Project (MKRP), which works with law enforcement departments and their communications centers to support their development of comprehensive policy for missing child response, and to ensure all command, investigative and patrol officers are fully trained. As part of that effort, the TELMAC online course, developed and administered by AATTAP, meets the front-line training requirement for public safety telecommunicators in those departments.

AATTAP can deliver the TELMAC course as a full-day classroom training upon request for agencies or jurisdictions wishing to offer group training experiences. AATTAP also offers classroom and additional online courses for patrol, investigations and command personnel to support effective enforcement and investigative response to missing and abducted child incidents.

A Decade of Training: TELMAC’s Impact

The TELMAC online course has been completed by more than 20,000 public safety telecommunications personnel across the country, with scores of new registrants every month. Course updates have been made regularly to align with the 2010 and 2015 republications of the APCO ANS1.101, and to ensure other updates to research and available resources were incorporated into the training.

Year over year since its launch in 2010, telecommunicators and other law enforcement first responders who complete the TELMAC course – whether online or in the classroom – report a 98.5 percent overall course satisfaction rating, as measured through questions on how well the course met or exceeded their expectations; expanded their knowledge regarding the scope, scale and nature of the problem of missing and abducted children; provided relevant and useful information and operational resources they can apply in their first responder work; and increased their confidence in being ready to respond when these incidents occur.

In 2019, the TELMAC course and its companion course for patrol first responders, PATMAC, will launch fully updated versions featuring expanded video and interactive content. The classroom version of the TELMAC course has been enhanced also, and now features increased interactive exercises through the use of live polling technology, call audio analysis and a comprehensive tabletop exercise.

Accessing the TELMAC Course, and Other Online Training from AATTAP and the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC)

The NCJTC offers a one-time online learning community registration, which then allows approved users to access multiple online courses for instant self-enrollment through Fox Valley Technical College’s Blackboard Online learning platform. The TELMAC course is part of the NCJTC’s Criminal Justice Professionals online community, and requires registrants to be employed by a criminal justice agency. For others working in community safety and child protection roles but not employed by an authorized criminal justice agency, the NCJTC offers a Community Training option which includes other online courses and recorded webinars.

All of AMBER Alert’s online courses are self-directed, meaning participants can work on them anytime 24/7, at a pace or increments of time that best fit their schedules. Once all required course content is completed, certificates of completion are available for immediate download as a PDF file for use in training record documentation.

For more information on registering for access to TELMAC and other online courses offered by AATTAP and NCJTC, email us at askamber@fvtc.edu or call 877/712-6237.

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Do you have an upcoming event you’d like us to help you market?

The AMBER Advocate team will post your upcoming and/or active events to help you build awareness and increase participation!

If you would like to submit information on an event, email Bonnie Ferenbach at ferenbac@fvtc.edu, or use the ‘Contact Us’ form found at the bottom of every page on this website.

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The Bahamas started a pilot child abduction alert program in July 2018, similar to the U.S. AMBER Alert. The country is calling the notifications “Marco’s Alert,” after 11-year-old Marco Archer who disappeared and was later found dead in 2011. The public has to opt-in to receive the alert but police can decide if the situation is so critical that a message will be sent to everyone regardless of opting in. The alerts can be sent by phone, email, pager, fax, computer pop up screens and social media.

An Australian scholar is urging the government to create a public notification system similar to Silver Alerts used in the U.S. to help find lost people with dementia. Dr. Margie MacAndrew conducted a study about missing persons with dementia. “Wandering can result in potentially life-threatening outcomes such as malnutrition, increased risk of falls, injury, exhaustion, hypothermia, becoming lost, and death,” she said. “Rapid reporting within one hour of knowing a person is missing is also known to help search and rescue have a better chance of finding a person alive and well.

AMBER Alert Europe officials visited the French Judicial Police headquarters on June 25, 2018, to gain a better understanding of the development of France’s missing child system. The meeting was also used to enhance cooperation between AMBER Alert Europe and the French specialized missing persons police unit. France was the first country to have a missing child notification system that disseminates information to TV, radio, highway signs, railway stations, social media and websites. The ‘Alerte Enlèvement’ has been used 22 times in France and has resulted in the successfully recovery of all missing children for which the alerts were issued.

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The El Paso, Texas, Sheriff’s Office registered children with AMBER Alert cards on July 10, 2018. This information can be used if a child is reported missing or abducted, and includes a color photo, fingerprints and identifying information about the child.

Free child identification kits were also distributed on July 17 at a fair in Ionia, Michigan. The process creates a flash drive with a photo, video, digital fingerprints and other vital information.

A child ID event was also held that same week in Bridgman, Michigan. To date, more than 90,000 Michigan children have participated in the state’s Child Identification Program.

In Birmingham, Alabama, a Ford dealership decided to celebrate its 100th anniversary by holding a fingerprinting and child safety program through Operation Kidsafe. Adamson Ford held the event in February 2018 and ID cards were created for more than 150 children.

A 25-year-old mother was arrested after telling Saraland, Alabama, police that her car was stolen by an ex-boyfriend with her three-year-old son inside. Police issued an AMBER Alert and activated the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) to assist in the investigation. Police say the woman changed her story several times and they ultimately determined the child was with family members.

Police in Grand Prairie, Texas, charged a woman with making a false police report after an AMBER Alert was issued for her ten-month-old baby. Police say the woman wanted to speed up the recovery of her stolen car by claiming her child was in the back seat. Police determined the woman’s car was stolen but that she did not have a baby.

The FBI offered a live action drill in Frankfurt, Illinois, on August 9, 2018, to train Chicago area officers how to handle child abductions. The scenario involved a 10-year-old girl who was missing after she left to see her tutor. Local law enforcement officers, the FBI and reporters with camera crews took part in the exercise. Officers gathered information from interviews and surveillance video to determine the girl entered the car of man who claimed he needed help finding a lost dog. The drills are held to make sure law enforcement is ready during an actual abduction. “After 46 years, I’ve learned that you never stop learning; that learning new procedures, protocols and methods is what makes your agency able to handle an incident like this,” said Tim McCarthy, Orland Park Police.

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Emergency 9-1-1 telecommunicators in Saguache County, Colorado, received a call from a father who was concerned because his twelve-year-old son had been missing for three hours. It was Saturday, June 23, 2018, and the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office gathered information and sent a message about the boy to other local law enforcement officers in case he might be in the area.

The sheriff’s office asked for an AMBER Alert to be issued on Saturday night, but CBI had some concerns about the criteria.

“We declined the AMBER request based on the facts we had at the time,” said Jillian Ganley, Colorado AMBER Alert Coordinator. “We suggested an Endangered Missing Person Alert. We also offered investigative assistance and let the agency know we would be willing to issue the AMBER Alert if any new information was uncovered during the investigation.”

The sheriff’s office began to conduct additional interviews and collaborated with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the FBI to gather additional information. They discovered the missing boy was likely with a 60-year-old man who was known to have a dubious reputation.

“The suspect belonged to a group of individuals known to approach children in parks,” said Captain Ken Wilson, Saguache County Sheriff’s Office. “We’re a small community with more than 3,000 square miles and 10,000 people, so we all need each other and look out for each other.”

On Sunday, June 24, deputies determined the boy was in danger and they had enough information to meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert. CBI issued the alert at 8:26 p.m. through the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which sends the information to Colorado law enforcement, media outlets, highway signs and state lottery terminals.

CBI then sent the information through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA), a system which sends text alerts to all cell phones in the area. However, after issuing the WEA, they discovered some cell phone users received multiple notifications of the AMBER Alert, while delivery to other cell phone users was delayed. CBI contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for assistance with sending the alert through WEA to ensure complete distribution.

“In the end we learned several cell service providers were not able to accept the formatting of a dash included in the message,” said Ganley. “We now know to avoid special characters if at all possible, and to type the message directly into the software instead of copying it and pasting it in.”

The sheriff’s public information officer also posted the information on Facebook. “People started sharing it like crazy,” said Wilson.

Even though they were looking for a boy believed to be in danger, everyone involved in the search did their best not to get too emotional during the investigation. “We try as best as we can to be detached and analytical,” he said. “We need to make sure we have everything we need to find the child. It helped us all to know something is being done and people are looking.”

“After every AMBER alert we issue there is an uneasy feeling until the children are found,” added Ganley. “However, we must remain focused to ensure everything possible is being done to bring these children home safely.”

At 9:50 p.m. that same day, a tip came in on Facebook that the boy was seen that morning in Hanksville, Utah. At 11:30 p.m., the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office in Utah received a call from campers who said they were approached by two people without clothes asking for food and water. Deputies immediately responded to the call but did not find anyone.

On Monday, June 25, dispatchers received a call at 9:40 a.m. stating “a young boy and an older man were both naked at the Bear Paw Resort,” according to the law enforcement report. “This description matched the AMBER Alert that dispatch had received the night before.”

Upon immediate response, deputies found the suspect and victim and confirmed they were the subjects in the AMBER Alert. The man was taken into custody and the boy was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

“I always feel very relieved and thankful after every successful AMBER Alert,” said Ganley. “I am so glad we were able to reunite this young boy with his family. This is the ending we hope for after every alert we issue.”

“I’m happy for the family,” added Wilson. “I’m happy for the child.”

According to the law enforcement report, the victim said they had spent the night without clothing and slept under a tree. The suspect was charged with child kidnapping, lewdness involving a child and reckless endangerment. He may also face federal charges.

The Colorado AMBER Alert coordinator said it was helpful to have so many law enforcement officers, including CBI agents, sharing information from the scene. “Every AMBER Alert requires a unique mix of training, experience, instinct, quick thinking and a lot of teamwork; and this alert was no different,” said Ganley.

Looking back, Wilson said training helped in the search, but he credits his public information officer for getting the information out to so many people. He said the most important lesson he learned from this case is the need for getting enough information quickly to meet the AMBER Alert criteria.

“Make sure your focus is correct,” he said. “Make sure you meet the criteria before you jump the gun and do everything else. You can’t just say you need an AMBER Alert, you have to meet the criteria. Otherwise every missing child report would be an AMBER Alert and they wouldn’t be as valuable as they are.”

Ganley agrees that determining the facts for an AMBER Alert is critical. “My best advice would be to have as much communication as possible with those on scene,” she said. “All AMBER Alert incidents are very fluid situations, and this one was no different. By having an open line of communication, we were able to send the alert very quickly after new information was learned.”

Colorado has issued 91 AMBER Alerts since the program began in April 2002. The state’s first AMBER Alert was issued in August 2002.

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Jolene Hardesty: Michigan Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager

She fights to help missing and abducted children–and the fight is never over

Jolene Hardesty has been the Missing Persons Clearinghouse manager for Michigan since 2017. She has been involved in law enforcement for 18 years and started as a police dispatcher because she thought “it would be cool to be on the good guy’s team.” Seven years later she became a dispatcher for the Michigan State Police and was promoted to an analyst, working with the state’s Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN). Hardesty volunteered to help with the 2011 Missing in Michigan Day and developed a passion for missing children from that experience.

What is the best part of your job?

Getting babies back safe and getting them to someone who won’t hurt them and will care about them. I will use any resource possible to bring children home and make them safe. When I think of everything I’ve done in my career, I have had some great moments as a dispatcher. But nothing fills my cup like working with missing persons, working with law enforcement, and social workers to let children know someone cares. Each child is a human being who means something. I just love my job.

What is the hardest part of your job?

The cases where despite our best efforts it doesn’t seem to have that big of an impact. We recently had a 15-month-old boy who tested positive for cocaine at birth. Child protective services wanted to put the infant into protective care but the judge didn’t want to take the baby away from his biological mom and dad. The mom didn’t want to be in the child’s life. The dad was struggling with alcoholism. He just couldn’t provide safe care for the child. The child was allowed to live with his mother and father but he didn’t have a stable, consistent home environment. I just felt like the boy was being lost and we couldn’t do anything about it because the judge said we need to allow the parents to parent their child. You have to go forward and continue in your work, knowing you did your best, but that it likely will not change things.

What do you think is the value of the AMBER Alert?

I couldn’t put a value on AMBER Alert. To me it’s like asking ‘How much is my child worth?’ You can’t put a price tag on these babies. They’re precious and worth more than anything.

The AMBER Alert is an invaluable tool. I have seen it in action and it is really awesome. It creates a lot of work for officers, but at the same time gives them leads to follow up on that they would not have otherwise. Social media also provides lots of leads and we love our media partners because they are often the difference in making or breaking a case. We try to give as many stories as possible to the media to help find missing people.

Do you have an AMBER Alert that stands out for you?

Probably my first one. Our AMBER Alert Coordinator was on maternity leave; our unidentified remains analyst had gone home. I tried to figure out who gets what information and how to get it to them. Sarah still helped me even though she was on maternity leave. I was able to follow the process and effectively handle the alert, even though it was my second month on the job.

The best part of this AMBER Alert was when the police pinged the suspect’s cellphone and it came up in Ohio. I called Ohio and asked for an alert in their state. When they issued their AMBER Alert, the suspect, who was originally headed southbound on I-75 away from Michigan, must have received the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) because his phone started moving northbound back towards Michigan. Police saw his vehicle and apprehended him. It was a great feeling to get the Michigan and Ohio AMBER Alerts issued, and to catch the suspect and safely recover the child. It was a great day, and an awesome reward.

Michigan recently changed their criteria for the AMBER Alert - what impact has that made?

Educating the public about the differences between an AMBER Alert and the Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA) has been so important. We wanted to be more in line with the national AMBER Alert criteria. A few of our community partners, especially the autistic community, found it difficult to learn we were removing autism as a sole factor for issuing an AMBER Alert. It was negatively viewed initially, but in reality it has strengthened the effectiveness of both alerts, because we can issue the most appropriate alert based upon each case’s circumstances around the reasons for endangerment of the missing child. The EMA has become better understood as an effective alerting tool for endangered missing children who have gone missing for reasons other than an abduction; such as those who wander or go missing and have autism.

Reaching out to the public about the importance of more tightly defined criteria for AMBER Alert, and having an alternate alerting plan and tool in the EMA, has been key in our success. We used to issue an AMBER Alert for just about anything. We’ve tightened up that criteria, and are now more careful with the use of the alert, having issued just one AMBER Alert so far in 2018.

To understand the power of social media, just consider what we have done with sharing information through various platforms on missing persons cases. People share information about missing persons; and they know things and share that with others on the sites. If you share a post, you are helping because someone else will see it and say, ‘I saw that car at a gas station or that person at a grocery store.’ The word spreads like wildfire.

What other initiatives have you taken to help find missing and abducted children?

My first year I was involved with organizing the poster contest. I put the contest out on social media and contacted our media partners with a press release. I spoke to different TV and radio stations and we had the most participants ever that year. We had first, second and third prize winners in the contest. The first prize winner, whose parents are also Michigan State Police Troopers, also won the national contest. When I told her mom, she was so happy, she started crying. It was so great. It was fun to go with the winner to Washington, D.C., to see her honored.

We also try to do juvenile sweeps, where we go through a list of juveniles who are missing in a particular area—a city, county or tri-county area. We try to recover as many missing children as possible and talk with them carefully as part of the recovery process. We look for human trafficking elements or abuse at home to find out why the child is running away. Children don’t runaway for ‘no reason’ so we try to find out the ‘why’ behind their decision to run.

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?

Just knowing how important it is for every child to have a safe home, and to feel safe in his or her own bed every night. I’m a parent so I want my kids to feel safe and loved. I do my best, so that even if these children never know people care about them, we can do everything in our power to make sure they feel safe. We hope the children will see or sense the passion we have to make sure they have a safe home, and even a bed, toys and clothes all their own. They shouldn’t be scared to be where they live.

What advice would you give to other partners who work with the AMBER Alert program?

Networking has been one of the best things I have done for my career. I like to meet new people and see how their roles and work fit into the larger criminal justice system of which we’re both a part. It’s easier to call someone when you have a relationship. I can say ‘It’s Jolene in Michigan and I need your help.’

I had to call Alabama about a missing three-month-old girl whose mother had substance abuse issues. Trying to avoid drug testing, the mother fled the state in an attempt to avoid having her child taken away from her. I was able to track the mother to Huntington, Alabama. I contacted Alabama’s clearinghouse manager for help in rescuing the baby and getting her out of harm’s way. The field investigator went to Wal-Mart where the mom was shopping with her baby. The investigator got her license plate number as well as a lead that the car had been seen at a trailer park. A deputy located the mother sitting in her car in the driveway. The case workers recovered the baby and the mother returned to Michigan. She later died of a heroin overdose. I feel like we helped save that child, and it means so much to me that I had a helping hand in finding that baby and getting her to safety.

During another investigation we found out a baby was missing from state care and it was believed she was the product of sexual abuse between the 27-year-old mom and a 15-year-old male victim. I used the EMA to broadcast to the area where the baby lived in Michigan. Within hours after the advisory went out on social media, the sheriff’s office received and followed up on numerous tips. The baby was hidden, carted around in a laundry basket in the backseat of a family member’s vehicle as they fled authorities. We recovered the child and the suspect was later apprehended.

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Sarah Krebs: Michigan AMBER Alert Coordinator

She never gives up in making sure missing and abducted children are found

Sarah Krebs has been the Michigan AMBER Alert Coordinator since 2014. At that time, she also served as the Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager and the Unidentified Remains Manager, which have since been reorganized into three different positions. Krebs began as a Michigan State Police Trooper in 2000 and took on additional duties as a forensic artist in 2002. She later became an investigator before transferring to the Missing Persons Unit. Krebs still offers investigative training and assists with cold cases.

What is the best part of your job?

The AMBER Alert is special. It’s for those cases that really need it. I hold this position very dear to my heart because I know how harmful an abduction can be and the AMBER Alert is the nation’s most powerful tool to bring an abducted child home. I take this job very seriously because I am the one person responsible for the AMBER Alert in my state.

What is the hardest part of your job?

It is very difficult when you tell law enforcement and a family that their child will not get an AMBER Alert. There is a lot of pressure because they know this is such a powerful tool, but the situation doesn’t always fit our current criteria. The AMBER Alert notifies so many people and we have to protect it so we are not overusing it.

We do use our Endangered Missing Advisory for cases that don’t meet the AMBER Alert criteria. The advisories have been very helpful.

Michigan recently changed its criteria for the AMBER Alert - what impact has that made on the program?

When Michigan created our policy in 2001 we were the fourth state to have an AMBER Alert. Our criteria were extremely broad and included all endangered children. So many cases fit that we would put out 40 or more AMBER Alerts each year. However, no one complained about the high numbers because a lot of the alerts were regional. The public didn’t notice the high number of alerts, but they thought any child who was missing and endangered was eligible for an AMBER Alert.

The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) changed the AMBER Alert and made it a more powerful tool because you are waking up people with alerts on their cell phones. We wanted to change the criteria to meet the national standards. For instance, the alert would go out for child who is missing with a sex offender, even if the parent was the sex offender.

We couldn’t send out WEAs 40 times a year. So in 2017, we changed the criteria to be for child abductions only. We went from 15

AMBER Alerts in 2016 down to three in 2017. It was really eye-opening. Only legitimate abductions have AMBER Alerts issued for them now. There is still some public confusion because we previously issued alerts for endangered children. We just had a missing autistic child and people on social media were asking ‘Where’s the AMBER Alert?’ The community is starting to answer those questions and letting others know that the criteria doesn’t fit.

We never had a secondary alert and that’s why the AMBER Alert initially included everything - because it was our only option. We added the Endangered Missing Advisory; and that alerting tool still depends on public involvement and help. The advisory can be used for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, children with autism or children who are endangered for another reason not related to an abduction. The new program is really working flawlessly. We still have some pushback, but we can now offer another alerting option even when we do not issue an AMBER Alert. However, it doesn’t reach everyone’s cell phones.

Social media can also be used to help get the word out, and that approach is really working well. Social media is a great partner for the AMBER Alert and Endangered Missing Advisory. We recover more children from tips and leads generated by Facebook than anything. Social media is the ‘milk carton’ of the 21st century and utilizes the internet to reach large numbers of people rapidly. I do wish I had someone who could work full-time with a focus solely on maximizing and managing the use of social media with endangered missing and abducted person cases.

What other initiatives have you taken to help find missing and abducted children?

We created a movement with an event called Missing in Michigan Day that started in 2011. Based upon its growth, we started a non-profit to support it and handle all of the donations. It’s started a revolution across the country. We now have similar events across the country, such as ‘Missing in Arizona’ or ‘Missing in California.’ The public comes together to remember the people who are missing. We also continue to work year-round collecting DNA and making reports. It’s a proactive law enforcement event where people can meet each other to talk about their missing loved ones. We have gathered more than 100 missing unidentified cases since the event began in 2011.

We also just passed a law that makes Michigan the first state in the country to require all law enforcement to immediately enter missing person information into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS).

What motivates you to find missing and abducted children?

I think my work as a forensic artist and working with unidentified remains was the start. These cases are terrible. I’ve seen the agony families have gone through when a loved one is missing. I am a parent of a six-year-old girl, a one-year-old girl and a baby boy on the way. No one is more vulnerable than a missing child.

What advice would you give to others who work with the AMBER Alert program?

I think coordination between the states is essential. At the National

AMBER Alert Symposium, we had representatives from all 50 states. It was so important to be able to connect faces with names; and to meet and network with other AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Person Clearinghouse Mangers and CART program members from each state, especially when you have cross-state abductions. It’s important to know people and to trust them.

For instance, we had an AMBER Alert and an officer in Colorado ran a plate and saw the alert in Michigan. The AMBER Alert program is powerful and I’m proud to be a part of it.

What was your most memorable AMBER Alert?

Probably the multi-state alerts stand out the most for me because of the coordination between all of the states. The first AMBER Alert I did was for children who were abducted in Indiana and found in Detroit. An FBI agent told me the Indiana children were in Detroit. I called the Indiana AMBER Alert coordinator and we were able to issue an AMBER Alert swiftly and effectively; this was helped by us knowing one another and having that personal relationship. The alert ended with a car chase and both children were recovered safely. So, my first AMBER Alert involved multiple states, two children and a gunman taking the children during the middle of the night and asking for a ransom. It literally sounds like something that could have been made into a movie. But we work hard for the best possible outcome – safe recovery of the children.

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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 hope for solid protection of children living on tribal lands. The AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act was passed in April 2018, nearly two years after Ashlynne was kidnapped and killed May 2, 2016, near Shiprock on the Navajo Nation Reservation.

Tribal law enforcement officers did not have an AMBER Alert plan to notify the people living in the 27,000 square mile reservation that stretches from Arizona to Utah. As Ashlynne’s case progressed, it brought to light gaps in public safety preparedness and coordination in the area of response to missing and abducted children; heightening the awareness of legislators and others that this serious problem facing the Navajo Nation was also shared by tribes across the country.

The Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act offers help for tribes in the following ways:

Allows for integration of tribal AMBER Alert systems into state AMBER alert systems.
Makes Indian tribes eligible for AMBER Alert grants.
Permits the use of grant funds to integrate state or regional AMBER Alert communication plans with an Indian tribe.
Allows the waiver of the matching funds requirement for grants awarded to Indian tribes.

Jim Walters is the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Administrator and testified before Congress about the need for more resources for missing and abducted Native American children. He will now oversee efforts to put the legislation into action.

“The first order of business for the Act is an assessment of the status of tribes and the obstacles they face in implementing AMBER Alert for their communities,” said Walters. “This assessment applies to all tribes, large or small.”

Walters understands firsthand the unique obstacles within tribal lands. In 2006 he became the first AATTAP Liaison for the program’s ‘AMBER Alert in Indian Country’ initiative. He provided training and technical assistance to more than 200 tribes, with the goal of helping them respond swiftly and effectively to child protection issues including abductions, exploitation and human trafficking.

“Tribes face a number of challenges; ones most of us don’t consider on a day to day basis,” said Walters. “This includes a history of cultural intervention and generational trauma, jurisdictional complexities, issues with reporting, and lack of understanding of Indian Child Welfare Law outside tribal lands.”

He noted that long-term implications of victimization within the community are magnified by a close-knit societal structure, lack of resources and specialization, and limits to infrastructure and technology.

After Ashlynne’s death, her mother, Pamela Foster, began advocating to make sure children in Indian Country had the same protection as any other child.

“Pamela Foster was a powerful force,” said Walters. “She mobilized citizens, law makers and tribes across the country to support the effort to bring AMBER Alert to tribal communities. She was eloquent and heartfelt when talking to legislators, and they showed great support for her efforts.”

Foster got support from the late Senator John McCain and other legislators to bring the AMBER Alert system to all of America’s 567 federally recognized tribes.

“This bipartisan legislation addresses serious gaps in current law that have prevented tribes from quickly issuing AMBER Alerts and helping victims like Ashlynne escape tragedy,” said McCain.

The AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act expands the original PROTECT Act that started the National AMBER Alert program in 2003. That bill was passed after the so-called “summer of child kidnappings” that included the abduction of Elizabeth Smart and many other children across the U.S.

“The new bill places tribes in the same standing as states and regional plans,” said Walters. “It means tribes have the same ability to establish Memorandums of Understanding, or ‘MOU’s’, with their state AMBER Alert plan or to develop their own plan within tribal boundaries.”

Walters has a plan to put the new law into action.

Work closely with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to meet OJJDP’s goal of expanding, supporting, and further improving the capacity and development or enhancement of AMBER Alert programs in Indian Country.
Make sure AATTAP works in alignment with the direction of Congress as expressed in the new law.
Serve tribal communities and work with states and regional AMBER Alert plans to develop agreements that provide access for tribal communities.
Partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to provide resources and expertise to promote adoption of AMBER Alert programs across Indian Country.

All of this work has been inspired by of the love shown by Ashlynne’s family.

“Her family was willing to turn their personal tragedy into a cause to protect Native American and Alaskan Native children across the country,” said Walters. “As Pamela said on more than one occasion, ‘We want to do this so other families will be spared our pain.’”

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Peru has launched an AMBER Alert system to help find missing and abducted children immediately after police are notified of their disappearance. Under the previous law, police had to wait 24 hours before they began looking for a missing child. Peru Minister Board President César Villanueva said he will also increase the number of emergency centers from 50 to 225 to better assist victims of sexual or gender-crimes. He is also increasing the number of municipal departments for children and teenagers. “One of our government’s main priorities is the protection of women and children against all types of violence,” stated Villanueva. “We cannot accept that this type of violence is still being tolerated by our society and by our public organizations.”

Lithuania is the first Nordic country and the 19th member of the European Union to implement an AMBER Alert system. Lithuania began the abducted child alert system on March 14, 2018, to help recover missing and abducted children. The program alerts law enforcement and sends photos and information about the missing child to all Facebook users within 200 kilometers from where the child was last located. Belgium, Cyprus, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom already have a national child alert system in place. Bulgaria also launched its national AMBER Alert program earlier this year.

Canada tested its new emergency alert system on May 14, 2014. The system sends messages, including AMBER Alerts, to all cell phones in the country. The Alert Ready system is similar to the U.S. Wireless Emergency Alert system. Testing identified a glitch of sorts, as some people thought an actual AMBER Alert had been issued and some areas did not receive an alert sound. “The review ultimately determined there was a gap created during a recent server migration,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Staff Sgt. Annie Linetau. “The test allowed us to identify a few issues, correct them, as well as implement a back-up system.”

While holding a cell phone when driving is illegal in most parts of Canada, the law does recognize the new Alert Ready system, allowing drivers to use their cell phones when alerts are issued. Most provincial laws currently allow drivers to use their cell phones to contact emergency services or to learn about an emergency in the driver’s vicinity.

AMBER Alert Europe launched an educational campaign on Missing Children’s Day, May 25, 2018, to teach children how to protect themselves when they are lost or abducted. The campaign included a coloring book that helps children learn how to get from home to school and back safely. An animated video was also made available to instruct parents what to do if their child is missing. The prevention campaign was shared by police in Slovenia, France, Slovakia, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland and The Czech Republic.

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Former AATTAP Administrator Phil Keith has been asked to oversee the nation’s community oriented policing program. Keith has been named as the Director of the U.S. Department of Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Police Services, or COPS Program. Keith oversaw the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance program from 2004 until 2014. From 1988 until 2004, he served as the Chief of Police for Knoxville, Tennessee, and has served with the Tennessee Police Chiefs Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and other notable organizations. He has received numerous awards and commendations for his expertise and leadership in law enforcement, community safety and child protection work. “My first priority will be carrying out the mission of the Attorney General’s violent crime plan,” said Keith. “We’ll primarily be going back to basics, listening to law enforcement in the field, which has not been occurring for a while.”

The Iron County, Utah, Sheriff’s Office recently honored Joseph Paul for helping find four girls who were being held captive in two locations. Paul started looking after an AMBER Alert was issued December 4, 2017. He spotted a man matching the suspect’s description and called police. “Paul’s quick thinking and intuition that night ultimately saved the lives of the four girls who had been kidnapped,” said Iron County Sheriff Lieutenant Del Schosser. The Sheriff’s Office reported the girls were in extremely poor health and physical condition because they were being held without any source of heat or adequate clothing for the harsh elements.

A Joplin, Missouri, man is being remembered for his work in creating a local form of the AMBER Alert. John Cruzan passed away on May 8, 2018. Before local police in Missouri completed their work on that state’s AMBER Alert system, Cruzan created a website for local law enforcement to use in posting information and photos of missing children. While this local alerting system was decommissioned when other state and national alerting technologies were implemented, Cruzan’s efforts were recognized by Missouri law enforcement and citizens as important, and his generosity remembered in developing the local alerting system.

A Missouri man is facing charges after reportedly ramming a vehicle and firing at a driver he suspected was wanted in connection with an Iowa AMBER Alert. Matthew Golden was traveling on Interstate 80 when he heard the alert for two missing boys from Toronto, Iowa. The alert included information about a 2006 Hyundai Sonata with Illinois license plates. Police say Golden rammed a white panel van with Florida plates more than once and then fired two shots at the driver. The driver was not injured.

Michigan changed its criteria for issuing an AMBER Alert in 2017 so it would only be used for cases of child abductions for victims under the age of 18. At that same time, the state added an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory to notify law enforcement and the public about missing person cases that do not meet AMBER Alert criteria. After issuing 15 AMBER Alerts in 2016, Michigan issued just four alerts in 2017 and one in 2018. Michigan State Police said people are now paying more attention to AMBER Alerts and the Endangered Missing Advisory has become a great success in finding missing people of any age.

Michigan legislators are proposing a bill that would require law enforcement officers to enter all missing person cases into the U.S. Department of Justice NamUs database. Proponents say it will help solve more missing person cases. The legislation would also require details about unidentified bodies to be submitted to the database. Similar laws have been passed in Tennessee, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. While these other states have differing requirements regarding when the information must be entered, the Michigan law would require entries to be made as soon as the preliminary investigation is completed.

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Police take down suspect in Washington AMBER Alert activation

Washington AMBER Alert Coordinator Carri Gordon was in the middle of a Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training when she received an email requesting an AMBER Alert for a case involving a five-year-old boy and custodial interference. The email was sent by the Lake Forest Police Department at 12:03 p.m. on March 28, 2018.

Gordon stepped out of the training to get more information. She talked to Lake Forest Police Chief Stephen Sutton and other officers to determine if the case met the criteria for an AMBER Alert.

The police said Taraille Chesney took his non-custodial son. At 11 a.m., dispatchers received a 911 call and could hear arguing before the call ended abruptly. When police officers arrived, the suspect drove away recklessly at a high rate of speed. Officers chased Chesney, but he got away.

“We were working with the state patrol to identify the criteria,” said Chief Sutton. “We were hung up on one criteria, ‘Was the child in danger?’”

Washington AMBER Alert Coordinator Carri Gordon

Gordon works for the Washington State Patrol and knew the police chief, as they had worked together before. “I received clarification that the child had been taken by force from his custodial grandmother,” said Gordon. “The father was also known to law enforcement as being violent in the past and had outrun police earlier this same day.”

After determining the case met the criteria for an AMBER Alert, Gordon entered the alert at 1:24 p.m. through the state’s LEAP system, which sends emails and faxes to law enforcement, media, transportation and other stakeholders.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) also sent the alert to public cell phones through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. The Washington State Emergency Management Division activated the Emergency Alert System and the Department of Transportation activated highway signs.

“I knew once the vehicle information went out that the calls would begin immediately, and they did,” said Gordon. “Within minutes of the WEA activation the public began calling 911 with sightings of the vehicle within the city limits of Seattle,” said Gordon.

After a short chase, police say the suspect was involved in multiple car collisions and rammed a Seattle police car, ultimately being surrounded by law enforcement vehicles. As police had their guns drawn, Chesney got out of the car and was taken into custody.

Officers took the boy out of the car moments later. News helicopters captured the arrest and the victim was later seen sitting with an officer on the trunk of a police car clutching a stuffed animal. The child was recovered 45 minutes after the AMBER Alert went out.

“The AMBER Alert system worked flawlessly,” said Chief Sutton. “Our partners in law enforcement did a fantastic job getting the suspect into custody.”

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, custodial interference, assault, violating a protection order, eluding police and driving under the influence.

“The alert was so effective in that it safely and quickly recovered the child,” said Gordon. “I think this is a great example of how the system is intended to work and we would not have had such a quick and successful conclusion without the help of the public.”

Gordon says this case will also serve as a lesson in the future on the importance of finding out quickly whether a child is in danger.

“I just believe this alert is a great example of how all of the various aspects of the AMBER Alert system work together to get the word out to the public,” said Gordon. “We rely on them to help recover abducted children, which is our goal with AMBER Alerts. We can always do better and should continue to learn from each success.”

This was Washington’s 86th alert since the program began in 2004.

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Kathleen Piccione (left), Pamela Foster and John Clark with the painting “Never Forgotten”

Near the steps of the Great Hall of Justice in Washington D.C., a work of art was displayed for all who took part in the 2018 National Missing Children’s Day ceremony. The painting depicts a sorrowful Native American girl holding a single eagle feather. The painting by Santa Fe, New Mexico, artist Kathleen Piccione is titled “Never Forgotten” and is dedicated to the memory of Ashlynne Mike, a Navajo child abducted and murdered at the age of eleven in May of 2016.

Piccione said she was in the process of painting a Native American child when she learned of the abduction of Ashlynne. “I began sobbing as I saw her picture and heard the horrific story of her death. I couldn’t shake the sick feeling that came over me. Her face would not leave my mind. I walked into my studio and looked at the painting I had been working on for the past month. Her face was sweet and young like Ashlynne, yet it was deeply sad.”

“I knew at that moment I had somehow painted this for Ashlynne, not knowing the tragedy that was about to unfold. I painted an eagle feather in the young girl’s hand to represent Ashlynne and called the painting ‘Never Forgotten,’ dedicating it to her forever.”

Before the start of the Missing Children’s Day ceremony, Piccione and Pamela Foster, mother of Ashlynne, met with John Clark, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), presenting him with a framed print of “Never Forgotten.” The portrait will be displayed at NCMEC’s headquarters in memory of Ashlynne and all missing and abducted Native American and Alaskan Native children. Clark recognized Piccione for her generous donation and for the spirit of her work to bring awareness to the tragedy of child abductions in Indian Country.

“It’s a beautiful painting,” said Clark. “It’s also important that we not forget the families of missing children. When a child goes missing, the heartbreak and pain has a ripple effect. It’s not just the parents who suffer. It’s the brothers, the sisters, the grandmothers, the grandfathers. The aunts, the uncles, the cousins. Extended family and friends. We know caring people want to help, but they often don’t know what to do or what to say.”

Piccione is originally from Wisconsin and has a family with strong ties to law enforcement and public service. She has also worked with tribal youth and community members for years, using art as a way to teach and heal. Santa Fe Print and Images donated its services for the print to be displayed at NCMEC.

Piccione plans to continue collaborating with NCMEC and the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program to raise awareness regarding AMBER Alert in Indian Country and hopes her work will inspire others to do the same.

Friends and family gather to celebrate the signing of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER ALERT in Indian Country Act

President Donald Trump signed into law a bill on April 13, 2018, that expands the AMBER Alert system to tribal communities. The passage of this legislation comes nearly two years after eleven-year-old Ashlynne Mike was sexually assaulted and murdered on the Navajo Nation reservation in New Mexico. The Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act gives tribes direct access to federal grants to improve AMBER Alert systems and provide additional training and technical assistance.

“This new law makes critical resources available to protect American Indian children and, we hope, will spare others the loss and suffering endured by Ashlynne’s family,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio.

Friends and family of Ashlynne Mike gathered in Waterflow, New Mexico, the day after the act was signed. Hundreds of people participated in a 5k run, bike race and a visit to Ashlynne’s school for presentations on safety awareness. “It is wonderful to have this AMBER Alert available to all the native nations across the United States,” said Gary Mike, Ashlynne’s father. “But it is also bitter in knowing it had to come in our lives; to have something like this happen to our child to open the eyes of people.”

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John F. Clark, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)

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 of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio recognized the child protection and missing children awareness efforts of both law enforcement and civilians.

“The exceptional individuals we recognize remind us of our responsibility to be vigilant about the safety of our children and to hold accountable those who seek to harm them,” said Panuccio.” Because of their diligence, courageousness, selflessness and commitment to protect the most vulnerable among us, children all over the country are safer in their communities.”

President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Missing Children’s Day in 1985 to honor the memories of children still missing. Panuccio spoke about the importance of the AMBER Alert program in helping to find those children. “The AMBER Alert is a centerpiece of our child protection efforts and one of the most valuable public safety tools we have at our disposal.”

Missing Children’s Law Enforcement Award

This award was given to Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Department Detective John Witherspoon who worked tirelessly to investigate a case involving a 15-year-old female runaway that began in December 2016.

“He scoured Montgomery County and traveled to northern Virginia every day for eight weeks to search locations where the girl had been seen,” said Panuccio. “Sadly, in mid-February of last year, her remains were found and her death was ruled a homicide.”

Witherspoon continued to work with police officers at another agency to identify and arrest ten gang members for their roles in the murder. He relocated the victim’s mother after she received death threats from gang members. Witherspoon also investigated 166 missing children cases in 2017 in which he located every child.

Missing Children’s Citizen Award

This award was given to Colin Blevin, a Santa Clara, California, resident who responded to an AMBER Alert, helping police recover an abducted infant and capture the kidnapper.

On July 17, 2017, Blevin noticed a stolen car blocking the entrance to the construction site where he worked, also observing a baby inside the car. “I took the baby and I put him on my trailer, and I said, ‘I’m calling 911’,” Blevin told reporters. “The guy didn’t really seem to care. I think he realized he messed up. He was in for a stolen car and he stole a baby.”

The suspect then tried to steal another car to get away. “Blevin prevented the suspect from escaping with a one-year-old child in a stolen car and protected the baby until police arrived,” said Panuccio.

The offender was sentenced to more than five years in prison for felony child abuse and vehicle theft.

Attorney General’s Special Commendation

This award was given to the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force for investigating a sexual predator who had been victimizing children since the 1970s. The ICAC Task Force received a tip from a man who said he had been abused by the suspect in the 1990s.

“They searched the suspect’s home, and during an interview, they learned he was still having sexual relationships with boys he met on Craigslist,” said Panuccio. “He admitted to engaging in sexual acts and producing child pornography throughout his adult life.”

Prosecutors are still screening charges after Maryland investigators identified 26 additional victims.

Missing Children’s Child Protection Award

This award was given to Charles County, Maryland, Sheriff’s Office Detective George Higgs for investigating a case of a 16-year-old student athlete who was receiving sexually suggestive text messages from a school coach.

“A police lab analysis of the devices turned up videos of the suspect physically and sexually assaulting several children,” said Panuccio. “Based on screen captures, Detective Higgs determined the videos were produced in school buildings and in the suspect’s home.”

Detective Higgs was able to identify 42 victims between the ages of 13 and 17. The suspect, who was also confirmed to be HIV positive, was sentenced to 105 years in federal prison after being found guilty of 219 charges involving sexually abusing children and child pornography.

Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest Winner

More than 2,000 students from 37 states participated in the 2018 National Missing Children’s Day poster contest sponsored by OJJDP. The top honor was awarded to Eden Hoffman, a fifth-grader from Huron Elementary School in Clinton Township, Michigan.

“This poster symbolizes a family that has found their missing child,” said Panuccio. “The heart behind them shows the bonds between the family. The colors on the words express hope, joy, and love.”

Hoffman was honored with a plaque, a certificate of recognition and a trip to Washington, D.C., with her teacher Ameilia Vecchio.

Russell Barnes addresses 2018 National Missing Children’s Day participants

Father of murdered Maryland teen addresses 2018 National Missing Children’s Day participants

Despite his pain and heartache after his daughter was murdered, Russell Barnes is now giving back to other families through his work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and its Team HOPE. His address at the 2018 National Missing Children’s Day ceremony both encouraged and challenged law enforcement to be vigilant and never give up working to respond effectively to incidents of missing and abducted children.

Barne’s 16-year-old daughter Phylicia vanished while visiting her half-sister in Baltimore over the Christmas holidays in 2010. Her body was found in the Susquehanna River four months later. An ex-boyfriend of the victim’s half-sister was arrested in her murder but he was acquitted after three different trials.

“I stand before you today to convey this message–our vulnerable children are being targeted and snatched in front of our eyes,” said Barnes. “When that happens, we as parents, as their protectors, need the criminal justice system to do more to help us find them and bring their abductors to justice.”

“My message to law enforcement--train your first responders to treat a missing child as if it was their child or a family member. Every second, every minute, every hour, every day, counts.”

Barnes has dedicated his life to helping other families of missing and abducted children. He and his family founded the Phylicia Simone Barnes Foundation, which led the legislative effort to raise the age in Maryland from 14 to 17 for children who should be considered critically missing.

“Phylicia was my baby, and I knew she was going to be great,” said Barnes. “I would look at her as a father and be amazed at her character. Her happiness, her silliness and just her book smarts. Purple was her favorite color. Her path in life, I felt, was going to be awesome. She was graduating with honors and had already been accepted to a major university at 16.”

In closing, Barnes recognized the importance of the ongoing effort to protect children and support families. “This senseless murder has been devastating to everyone in our family. Our world has changed forever. I know how other parents feel when searching for their missing children, and no one is listening. In 20 years, we will be remembered for change, or we will not be remembered at all. Justice for Phylicia.”

More information about NCMEC’s Team HOPE can be found at

www.missingkids.com/TEAMHOPE.

Additional details about the Phylicia Barnes Foundation can be found at

www.facebook.com/thepsbfoundation/.

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Alan R. Hanson, Principle Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)

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 year’s event. Program partners from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) participated in this year’s event as well.

This year’s symposium focused on the impact technology has on child exploitation and abduction, as well as how law enforcement and public safety professionals can use the latest advances to prevent and respond to incidents.

U.S. Department of Justice welcoming remarks

“It’s hard to think of a cause more worthy than the safety of our children, and it’s hard to think of a group of people who’ve done more on behalf of that cause than all of you,” remarked Alan R. Hanson, Principle Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as he recognized and welcomed the participants of the 2018 National AMBER Alert Symposium. The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) was very honored to have him open the event. Hanson thanked Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), its National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) and NCMEC for their continued work and collaboration in the shared mission of supporting AMBER Alert programs across the nation and internationally.

Hanson recognized National Police Week, thanking law enforcement participants for their outstanding service on behalf of America’s communities. He also recognized Pamela Foster and Amy Bloxom, two surviving family members of abducted and murdered children, who spoke with participants during the event, expressing his appreciation and admiration for their willingness and bravery in sharing their experiences.

Reflecting on the amazing work of the AMBER Alert partners, Hanson spoke of accomplishments and improvements in response and safe recoveries over the last five years. He noted that last year, AMBER Alert programs across the U.S. responded to 200 AMBER Alerts involving 263 children in 38 states, with almost 60 percent of those children recovered in three hours. He noted the powerful role the secondary distribution network has played in these alerts, with 94 percent of AMBER Alert cases in 2017 ending in successful recoveries due all or in part to the distribution of the alerts over this network.

“It’s hard to imagine that there was a time, not terribly long ago, when this incredible resource wasn’t available,” said Hanson. “Of course, a positive outcome is never guaranteed, but the statistics show that when AMBER Alert is part of the response, the odds are very high that an abducted child will come home safely.”

In speaking about his work and responsibilities, Hanson emphasized, “My role as National AMBER Alert Coordinator is one of my most critical responsibilities – and one I take seriously. I take great pride in knowing that my agency, particularly our Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, plays such an important part in supporting the AMBER Alert network.”

Hanson recognized AATTAP’s significant training reach and impact through onsite and online learning events and offerings. He noted AATTAP’s website and publication accomplishments, along with its stewardship of the DOJ Child Abduction Response Training (CART) initiative, training more than 250 CARTs, with 23 of those teams completing the rigorous CART Certification Program.

Hanson discussed how AATTAP is working with tribal partners, noting that the May 2016 abduction and murder of Ashlynne Mike from the Navajo Nation made clear that although much progress has been made through AMBER Alerts, significant work is still needed to assist tribes across the nation.

Hanson praised the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act signed in April 2018 by President Trump, emphasizing the new law will “ensure that resources are available to help protect American Indian children and spare others the suffering that Pamela Foster and her family have endured.”

Hanson emphasized that AATTAP and OJJDP will continue to work with tribal partners, building upon the more than 1,500 tribal first responders and tribal child protection professionals who have been trained so far. He encouraged all participants to become familiar with the resources and integrated information provided through AATTAP’s Tribal Database website.

“In Indian Country–and across the country–AMBER Alert is making a difference,” said Hanson. He added that the strong and good work being done by the AMBER Alert partners in their states and communities is a principal force in stopping those who seek to abduct children.

“I would wager that the very existence of AMBER Alert has deterred criminals from carrying out their designs,” said Hanson. “There’s no question that AMBER Alert is a potent public safety weapon and an enormous asset in our fight to protect children.”

Hanson remarked on the amazing progress of AMBER Alert since its inception 22 years ago. “From the seed of an idea planted on a radio talk show, AMBER Alert has grown into something very powerful, and very special–a national force for good. What a way to honor the memory of a little girl who, today, might have had a child of her own to look out for.”

AATTAP Administrator Jim Walters presented Donna Uzzell, Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with an award honoring her many years of stewardship and significant contributions to the CART program. Also pictured are Alan R. Hanson, Principle Deputy Assistant Attorney General, USDOJ; and James Antal, Associate Administrator, OJJDP.

Florida AMBER Alert partner recognized for creating child abduction response teams

AATTAP Administrator Jim Walters presented Donna Uzzell, Special Agent in Charge, Statewide Investigative Services, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with an award honoring her many years of stewardship and significant contributions to the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) program initiative and training.

Walters shared how Uzzell championed the CART concept in Florida and in her work over the past decade, expanding the program with FVTC, OJJDP and AATTAP. He noted how Uzzell’s leadership contributed to the development of a comprehensive curriculum, and thanked her for the many hours of expert instruction she and other CART instructors have provided to hundreds of CART training participants across the nation. “We would not be doing what we are today without the help of Donna,” said Walters.

AWARN – Advanced alerting using next generation television

Fiona James, Deputy Director of the AWARN Alliance, offered details about the advanced alerting program known as ‘NextGen ATSC 3.0.’ The system was approved November 2017 by the FCC. She explained the technology is ideal for mobile devices and connected vehicles and discussed how it worked during 2017’s large-scale weather emergencies.

James acknowledged emergency managers’ concerns about over-alerting, which causes people to tune out or ignore alerts. She described how providing incomplete information can inadvertently drive people into harm’s way, noting how critically important it is to use targeted, geographic alerting with clear information and messaging.

James outlined AWARN’s advantages, including geo-targeting capabilities, rich media (photo, video, maps and routes), ability to support multilingual content, message accessibility, deep indoor and mobile reception, device-wakeup capability and integration with social media platforms (creating a hybrid backchannel for alerting). She also noted its scalability to an unlimited number of devices.

Efforts are underway to migrate to a ‘banner’ style of alert for screen messaging, which can include a photo of the child. James noted users will be able to exit or close the banner or click on it for more information. AWARN can also deliver additional information and instructions to help the public better understand important messages and reduce calls for more details that can overload 911 call centers, law enforcement agencies and two-way communication systems.

AWARN is working to develop the best possible user experience by gathering input from focus groups including public safety professionals. A primary goal is to create a consistent look and feel across states so the public recognizes the messages as ‘real’ alerts--and not just another version of ‘breaking news.’ The transfer to ATSC 3.0 will move from market to market beginning in late 2018 as part of a strategic testing and rollout process. More information is available at www.awarn.org.

Family abductions and cross-border cases: identifying and responding to high risk incidents and utilizing specialized resources

Maureen Heads, Program Manager with the Missing Children Division at NCMEC, spoke about the increase in frequency and level of endangerment in family abduction cases. She said the majority of abductions, 66 percent, involve a family member; noting an increase from 57 percent in 2013.

Heads explained NCMEC’s role in providing technical assistance and support to families, law enforcement and prosecutors. She noted that while those working in this area from NCMEC are not attorneys, they are well-positioned to assist both families and child protection professionals with process and resource needs.

Heads emphasized the important consideration that parental abduction cases may not involve taking a child through physical force or emotional persuasion, which is characteristic of stereotypical stranger abductions. Children in these cases may be completely unaware of a conflict or struggle between the parents and may go with the taking parent as a matter of normal behavior, and because they trust the parent.

Heads illustrated the complexity this element of willingness can bring to the case. “The person you are helping one day may be the person you’re looking for the next day.”

Heads shared an overview of the work of Sharon Cooper, a specialized researcher at NCMEC, who developed a report highlighting parental abductions. The report discusses both realities and myths around these cases. She also highlighted legal issues regarding family abductions, citing federal statutes and explaining how they define both the authority and support available to investigators when responding to parental or family abductions.

Heads said law enforcement should not be hesitant about taking enforcement action in parental or family abduction cases. She presented statistics surrounding family violence as it correlates to family abductions and the issuance of AMBER Alerts. She confirmed that in all situations and for all questions regarding family abduction cases, the best way to contact NCMEC for assistance is to call the main call center at 1-800-THE-LOST.

Cross-border cases were discussed, citing case report statistics and the importance of resource support and intervention to work toward ensuring these abducted children do not leave the country. The timelines and progression of cross-border parental abduction cases underscore how important it is to act quickly on potential travel or cross-border movement rather than waiting.

Heads discussed the Mexican National AMBER Alert System (Alerta AMBER México), noting the strength and coordination of the program with NCMEC and U.S. AMBER Alert programs. She recognized the Mexican system’s Coordinator for her leadership and expertise with the program.

Heads acknowledged that while it is daunting to consider all of the agencies, resources and people working in these cases, law enforcement and public safety professionals should not hesitate to take action in pursuing them. She encouraged participants to contact NCMEC as soon as possible in these cases, so they can assist with coordination and provide ongoing support and assistance from beginning to end.

A surviving family’s perspective: Amy Bloxom, mother of Justin Bloxom

Introducing Amy Bloxom, Jim Walters acknowledged the invaluable contribution she and other strong and courageous family members and survivors make to the

AATTAP mission through their sharing of experiences and ongoing efforts following their families’ ordeals.

Bloxom shared details about her late son Justin, who was 12-years-old when he was abducted from a friend’s home in Stonewall, Louisiana, in March 2010. The boy was taken by a convicted sex offender who used messaging and social networking to lure him out of the house under the belief that he was meeting a girl from the area.

Bloxom described the impact of the loss of her child, the role technology played in his disappearance and how digital evidence played a key part in the conviction of his murderer.

Justin’s murderer was able to lure him under false pretense through text messages. “Four hours of text messaging is what it took for him to get to Justin,” said Bloxom. She said killer Brian Horn knew he was texting a 12-year-old boy because her son shared his age in the messages.

Bloxom shared about the night Justin was abducted. She spoke of the tips and leads that came in once the AMBER Alert was issued, including the school teacher who was up late grading papers and spotted the ‘Action Taxi’ used by Horn.

She recalled how it felt in the hours during which she waited for any word during the search for Justin. “All I could do was just sit there and pray. All the things you start praying for, thinking about.”

She also shared the moment when she learned of Justin’s murder. “When I saw my big brother crying, who is this big, strong, fighting, high-adrenaline police officer…at that point, I knew I no longer had Justin.”

It took four years for Horn to be tried for the murder. Beginning on March 28, 2014, Bloxom and her brother were the first to testify. The next day jurors were taken to the site of the murder. On March 31, all of the text messages sent between Horn and her son were read to the jury. This was the first time Bloxom had heard those messages.

She said it was haunting to listen to the texts, and how she wished her son had not answered them. The prosecutor and her support team helped her remember that Justin was only twelve and Horn was an adult who knew exactly what to say to lure her son.

The prosecution rested on April 5, 2014. After 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Horn guilty of first degree capital murder. During the penalty phase deliberations, Bloxom explained that one of the most redeeming moments during those horrible years of waiting for justice was to finally see her son’s killer placed in handcuffs. “For four years I watched this man appear in street clothes and no handcuffs,” she said. “Justin didn’t have any rights.”

Following the trial, jurors did not want to go immediately home, but instead visited Justin’s memorial garden, which the community had built and maintained in the years following Justin’s death. Bloxom recalled how one of the jurors spontaneously began to speak the Lord’s Prayer, with all others joining in to offer up a prayer for Justin.

The same juror held a cross in his hands throughout the entire trial. As they prepared to leave the garden, he gave the cross to Bloxom.

The sentencing hearing was held 45 days later, on the day before what would have been Justin’s 17th birthday. When Horn asked to speak, the judge told him his words were hollow and denied his request. The judge then sentenced Horn to death. Bloxom said the best birthday gift that could be given to Justin was to see his killer spend his first night on death row in Angola prison.

Bloxom spoke of the power of the AMBER Alert and all the incredible work done by law enforcement, along with the amazing response and support of the community during the search and caring for the family. She shared examples of the community continuing to honor Justin during important milestones he would have experienced, such as his high school’s ‘Senior Night’ and graduation ceremonies.

The taxi used by Horn was put back into rotation after the investigation and forensics were completed, yet ironically another crime was committed in that same vehicle. After the taxi was once again seized and to be auctioned, a local civilian bought the car and another taxi cab company paid to have the vehicle shredded and demolished.

Bloxom discussed her work to develop and pass ‘Justin’s Law,’ which prohibits registered sex offenders from obtaining a taxi driving permit. Prior to its passage, a registered sex offender could obtain a license to drive a cab; background checks outside of the state of the permit were not required. Horn had been released from prison in Missouri in 2008.

In closing, Bloxom shared photos of her son’s life, and of the memorial garden and events honoring him. “We relive this every day. Every day we wake up, we relive it; it doesn’t just go away. But we keep talking about it, and keep sharing it, because what you do is so important to get these alerts out. What the FBI did with the cell phone was incredible, that work was a huge part of being able to make the case.”

A surviving family’s perspective: Pamela Foster, mother of Ashlynne Mike

“May 2018 marks the second year of living without my beautiful daughter, who will never make it home.”

Pamela Foster expressed how with each anniversary of Ashlynne’s murder, she relives the nightmare, experiencing again the feeling of being crushed to the core. Even now, she remarked, the feelings of helplessness are still very much alive. She never expected to face such a tragedy and did not expect to have to understand the crime of abduction. She said in the Navajo culture, they do not speak of or think about abductions, as they do not want to create or call forth such evil.

On May 2, 2016, Foster received news her daughter Ashlynne and brother Ian were abducted on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. She received a call from her older daughter that they were taken in a red van. Foster said she immediately called her local police department but was transferred from one department to another, all in different towns.

Foster was desperately trying get someone to understand that she was in great distress, worry, fear and anger about what happened to her children. “I seriously thought that a missing persons call would get law enforcement on their toes and into action,” she said. “That did not happen.”

She turned to social media to share information and ask for help. Foster was in California and could not just get in her car and start searching. Hours had now passed and the sun had begun to set. In late evening, she received word Ian was seen running in the desert by an elderly couple. Although reluctant to get into the couple’s vehicle, he did because he was desperate to help his sister. Foster said she is grateful that this family helped him.

Foster described the frustration she felt because outside agencies could not search until authorization was given from the Navajo Nation. An AMBER alert was finally issued the next day around 2:30 p.m. “I can’t even begin to describe the pain that I was in,” she said. “I was happy my son had been found, but my daughter was still missing.”

Overwhelmed with fear and emotion, Foster paced the floor waiting to be given information, wrestling with questions and searching for what to do. She prayed to God as the search for Ashlynne ensued.

The next day, May 3, Foster continued posting information on social media, begging the public to please help search for her daughter. She spoke about the calls she received that morning, none of which brought any good news. Around noon she received a call, and upon hearing muffled sounds of crying on the other end of the phone, she knew the news was not good. Foster said she was heartbroken when she learned her daughter was found but had been murdered.

“The best way I can describe the way I felt in that moment is to compare it to a near death experience, seeing flashes of Ashlynne’s life, from her birth through all the milestones of her precious life,” said Foster. “What I held to be so precious was taken from us.”

Foster spoke of how she wrestled with the evil of her daughter’s murderer. She said her faith helped her survive the torturous pain that was to follow.

“This monster abducted my children with the motive to rape and kill,” she said. ”Since the death of my daughter, I have come to know that evil is not some kind of supernatural force, but it walks among us. It breaks my heart that the last thing she saw was him.”

“I know she was probably calling for us and was frightened for her little brother Ian. Only God knows when my baby girl took her last breath; she was precious and she did not deserve to die this way. To this day we all struggle with the reality that our daughter, little sister and friend was taken from us. I have become her voice, because hers was taken from her. At her eulogy, I spoke for her.”

In the weeks and months following Ashlynne’s murder, Foster was determined to bring justice for her daughter, her family and her community. She organized a petition to bring the death penalty on the reservation, yet that effort did not succeed due to the tribe’s traditional values and beliefs.

She continued to find ways to advocate for what she felt needed to happen, spending hours writing to representatives in Congress, seeking help on a bill to ensure the Navajo Nation and all Indian tribes would have the ability to rapidly respond to reports of missing children and use AMBER Alert systems.

Foster recognized the diligent work of Senators John McCain and Heidi Heitkamp, and Congressman Andy Biggs, in bringing the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act into Congress in the spring of 2017. She shared how during this time, she felt her spirit had died. Foster said she had no quiet time and was constantly bombarded by the media.

In a struggle to carry on, Foster put her energy into working for justice for Ashlynne and for the passage of the Act and having it signed into law. With each visit to Washington D.C., and in meetings with lawmakers, Ashlynne’s story became better known to legislators. Although she was exhausted, Foster said she pushed through daily, for her daughter.

On October 20, 2017, Ashlynne’s murderer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for her abduction, rape and murder. On March 28, 2018, Navajo Nation leaders met with Congressman Biggs to commemorate the passage and renaming of the legislation to the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act during a press conference held at the Arizona State Capitol. On April 13, 2018, President Trump signed Ashlynne’s Act into law.

Foster said Ashlynne’s death has brought to light the broader issues of missing and murdered Native women and children, human trafficking and exploitation, and all of the evil and criminal actions surrounding what happened to Ashlynne and other victims like her. “I see changes happening, but they are happening very slowly. I believe if there was some kind of system in place at the time of the kidnapping, we may have had a greater chance of finding Ashlynne alive.”

Foster said she feels her daughter’s presence through her continued work to bring awareness to the issue of child protection, and the larger problem of missing and murdered women and children in Indian Country. “I hear Ashlynne saying, ‘Mommy please do something to help the children.’ This is my reason for advocating and standing strong to fight for protection and justice for Native women and children.”

Foster thanked and challenged the participants to do everything possible to ensure that when a child goes missing, time is spent actively searching for the child and investigating the case, rather than being held up by bureaucracy or searching for what to do. “If you have tribes in your state, what are you doing to help them?”

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Byron Fassett is a nationally recognized subject matter expert (SME) on the victimization of women and children through sex trafficking, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and has over 37 years law enforcement experience with the Dallas Police Department. For over 25 years, Byron specialized in conducting investigations involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in with Dallas Police Department supervising the department’s Child Exploitation Squad which handled approximately 1,100 cases a year, consisted of 17 detectives and was divided into three teams; the Investigations Team, the High Risk Victims and Trafficking Team, (HRVT) and the Internet Crimes Against Children Team (ICAC). These teams investigate child abductions, child pornography, victimization of children through sex trafficking, sexual assaults of children by non-family members/strangers, Internet facilitated sexual abuse of children, and other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

Byron developed and wrote the grant for the Sexual Offender Apprehension Program (SOAP) and started the SOAP team in the Dallas Police Department’s Child Exploitation Squad. He co-developed and wrote the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) grant for the Dallas Police Department and started the ICAC team in the Department’s Child Exploitation Squad.

In 2003, Byron Fassett co-developed the nationally recognized High Risk Victims and Trafficking Team (HRVT) within the Dallas Police Department. The HRVT Team specializes in investigations involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of high-risk/multiple runaways, child victims of trafficking, and repeat victims of sexual abuse. Additionally, the HRVT team proactively identifies cases with children who have repeat/multiple runaways and has enacted a mandatory interview policy to identify current or past victimization. Byron Fassett co-authored an article, “Juvenile Prostitution: An Overlooked Form of Child Sexual Abuse” in 1994 for the APSAC ADVISOR (American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children). Byron initiated and co-developed the Dallas County Child Sex Trafficking Care Coordination Team. This team provides a comprehensive response for all identified High Risk Victims and Child Sex Trafficking Victims.

Byron has provided training to over 10,000 law enforcement officers, child protection officials, first responders, and a wide range of child protection stakeholders, both nationally and Internationally, on the issue of sex trafficking with regards to dynamics, investigative, and intervention techniques in the United States, Canada, Thailand, and numerous other countries in Southeast Asia. Byron has been qualified as an expert in both federal and state court on the dynamics of child sex trafficking and investigative and intervention techniques. He has instructed for Fox Valley Technical College, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), FBI Academy, and various other agencies and conferences throughout the country and Internationally.

In his current position as a Deputy Administrator for the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC), AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance (AATTAP) and Missing and Exploited Child (MEC) Programs, Byron is responsible for overseeing the development and delivery of training and technical assistance to law enforcement, prosecutors, social services, child protection officials, on issues related to child protection, exploitation, sex trafficking, and youth at risk of victimization; as well as the onboarding and development of all associate employees working with AATTAP.

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Carri Gordon has worked for the Washington State Patrol since 1991. For 17 years she worked in the Communications Division, with the last five years as the Training Program Manager responsible for all dispatch/radio training for troopers and dispatchers. During this time Carri was also heavily involved with the implementation of the Washington State AMBER Alert Plan and developing procedure and training.

In June 2012, Carri became the Washington State AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager. Carri assists with AATTAP's first responder curriculum development and instructional delivery, both classroom and webinar events.

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Josefina “Josie” Sabori currently serves as the AATTAP Region 4 Liaison, supporting the AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Person Clearinghouse Managers, and Child Abduction Response Teams for her region. She represents the Southern Arizona region as a human trafficking subject matter expert and serves as a liaison and educator for international guests who seek assistance in law enforcement response to human trafficking.

Josie has a strong sense of civic duty and to her country. She is currently a Chaplain’s Assistant in the Air Force, Arizona Air National Guard, 162nd Wing, Tucson, where she provides support to the chaplains, airmen, and families in crisis. Josie is also the 162nd Wing Combatting Trafficking in Persons program manager, responsible for conducting training and developing tools for human trafficking awareness.

Josie assisted with the Southern Arizona Anti-Trafficking Unified Response Network and worked closely on committees with law enforcement, prosecution, at-risk juveniles, victim services, training, and outreach subcommittees.

Josie served 12 years as a dedicated detective with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. She was assigned to the Arizona Southern Children’s Advocacy Center, Crimes Against Children Unit, where she managed programs for runaways and investigated child exploitation cases, including luring of minors through technology. She worked closely with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board on training programs for first responders, identifying and investigating cases involving human trafficking. She also served on many task forces involving human trafficking. While she worked at the Advocacy Center she developed lesson plans for law enforcement to recognize and recover victims of human trafficking. She worked closely with forensic interviewers, doctors, therapists, victim advocates, as well as the Department of Child Safety for local and tribal communities, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and U.S. Customs & Border Protection.

Outreach and Volunteer Efforts and Accomplishments

While serving as a detective, Josie was the Vice President of the Fraternal Order of Police, Pima Lodge 20. She worked hard to improve the conditions for law enforcement officers and volunteered over 600 hours every year to her community. She managed Christmas events and fundraisers, to include Cops and Kids, where 100s of children shop for warm clothes and a toy. She also had the largest group of law enforcement officers and personnel in Arizona participating in the Special Olympics Torch Run for Law Enforcement.

Josie continues her community outreach with Camp Fury Tucson for Girl Scouts, to empower women. In addition, she is on the Arizona Women’s Initiative Network (AZWIN) committee to assist in the recruitment, promotion, and mentoring of female law enforcement officers, and to assure continued growth of their successful careers throughout Arizona. She continues to empower all women in the public through her certified instruction of the Rape Aggression Defense system.

Josie is a 162nd Wing Family Readiness volunteer, providing support to airmen, their families, and the community. Josefina does her own fundraising to pay for gifts and adopts civilian and military families in need every year during the holiday season. In her down time she mentors teenagers in foster care. She develops a positive relationship between law enforcement and teen fosters.

Josie has been recognized by her community for her police work and was nominated Guardsman of the Year 2014 for her outreach to the community by Major General Edward P. Maxwell and Brigadier General Howard Purcell. Tucson Model Magazine nominated her for Hero of the Year 2016. Cox Communication recognized her during Hispanic Heritage Month, creating a commercial featuring her dedication to and accomplishments in community outreach. Josie was also nominated for the 2016 Women of Influence award and recognized by U.S. Congresswoman Martha McSally, and was awarded the First Responder of Distinction.

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Los representantes de Estados Unidos, Canadá y México están trabajando para garantizar que los sistemas de Alerta AMBER en sus países y zonas fronterizas funcionen sin problemas cuando existen casos de sustracción transfronteriza de niños. El Simposio de Alerta AMBER 2017 incluyó una mesa redonda sobre lo que se está haciendo para devolver a los niños sustraídos que son llevados a través de una frontera nacional.

Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas es la directora del programa nacional de Alerta AMBER en México. Ella trabajó con la Iniciativa de la Frontera Sur de AATTAP para comenzar la alerta de sustracción de menores en México en el 2012. Dijo que las Alertas AMBER están salvando vidas en México porque todos cooperan.

“Tratamos de crear una cultura de Alerta AMBER por lo que es contagiosa y todos participan en la búsqueda de niños”, dijo Cárdenas. “Estamos comprometidos con las familias que sufren porque su hijo ha desaparecido”.

México emite Alertas AMBER locales, regionales y nacionales. La única diferencia notable en el programa de México es que las Alertas AMBER se emiten solo para niños menores de 16 años.

Desde el 2002, Canadá ha tenido programas de Alerta AMBER en todas sus provincias. En 2009, Canadá creó un grupo de trabajo nacional de Alerta AMBER para proporcionar más coordinación, capacitación y tecnología a todas las agencias. También se creó un protocolo para trabajar con todos los estados fronterizos de Estados Unidos.

Julie Morel, es cabo de la Policía Montada Real Canadiense de la División Nacional de Restos no Identificados de Personas Desaparecidas. A ella le gustaría simplificar el proceso cuando Canadá contacte a los Estados Unidos sobre un caso de sustracción de menores transfronterizo. “Estamos trabajando para tener un mejor sistema, por lo que tenemos un número que abarque todo servicios disponible para Canadá, para que estas agencias líderes puedan participar más de cerca”.

Maranda Everson, agente de la Patrulla Fronteriza del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional de los Estados Unidos, acordó que la cooperación con Canadá y México es clave para resolver rápidamente los casos de sustracción de menores. Dijo que sus homólogos mexicanos y canadienses han hecho un trabajo excelente inspeccionando vehículos que entran y salen del país.

Stacy Pearson, es la Gerente del Centro de Coordinación de Personas Desaparecidas de Luisiana y Coordinadora de Alerta AMBER. Aunque Luisiana no es un estado fronterizo, dijo que ha tenido numerosos casos de personas desaparecidas en Canadá, a pesar de que el estado está más cerca de México. “No prestamos atención a las fronteras”, dijo Pearson, enfatizando que todos los casos reciben atención inmediata. “Todos vamos a trabajar juntos y establecer nuestro propio sistema de recuperación para devolver a los niños a su hogar.”

SUSTRACCIONES INTERNACIONALES POR LOS PADRES

Según Anna McGahuey, funcionaria de la Oficina de Asuntos del Menor del Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos, más padres sustraen a sus hijos en los Estados Unidos que en cualquier otro país del mundo. El Departamento de Estado recibió informes de 446 sustracciones de padres que involucraron a 629 niños durante 2016; sin embargo, McGahuey cree que el número es mucho mayor.

“Son muchos niños, pero es probable que sean dos o tres veces más, porque los padres no saben que existimos”, dijo McGahuey.

Los Estados Unidos y otros 82 países siguen las normas de prácticas de la Conferencia de La Haya para casos de custodia. McGahuey habló sobre las características importantes de la Conferencia de La Haya, señalando reglas que reconocen la residencia habitual del niño en lugar de enfocarse únicamente en la ciudadanía.

“Si una persona no documentada llama a nuestra oficina, los ayudaremos”, dijo. “En esta oficina, la ciudadanía es ciega. Sea lo que sea que funcione para recuperar al niño es importante para mí”.

REACCIÓN DE LOS PARTICIPANTES INTERNACIONALES

Los socios de Alerta AMBER de Canadá y México dijeron que el simposio ofreció una experiencia invaluable. Darryl Ramkissoon, sargento del Servicio de Policía de Winnipeg, dijo que llevaría a su país valiosas lecciones. “Me gustaría establecer una mejor relación de trabajo con otras organizaciones en Canadá”, dijo. “Necesitamos romper las fronteras como lo ha hecho Estados Unidos en sus estados”.

Andrea Scott es detective y también trabaja para el servicio de policía de Winnipeg. “Es fabuloso saber que todos tenemos problemas similares, pero que todos estamos trabajando juntos con el mismo objetivo, que es llevar a los niños a su hogar y evitar que desaparezcan”.

Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas dijo que el simposio fue una manera muy importante de reunirse con sus homólogos de los otros países. “Mi objetivo es que tengamos un camino libre para comunicarnos con Estados Unidos y Canadá”, dijo Cárdenas. “Queremos trabajar como si no hubiera fronteras.”

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Fiscal de los Estados Unidos trabaja en México para ayudar a todos los países a utilizar con eficacia la Alerta AMBER

Janet Turnbull hace todo lo posible para asegurarse de que las fronteras nunca interfieran en la búsqueda de un niño sustraído. Desde el 2013 trabaja en la Ciudad de México, México, como asesora legal del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos, División Penal, Oficina de Desarrollo y Capacitación Fiscal en el Extranjero (OPDAT). Su enfoque está en la trata de personas, lo que le permite asegurarse de que las Alertas AMBER funcionen en todos los países.

“Cuando un niño desaparece al otro lado de la frontera, no queremos pensar que es el final del esfuerzo”, dijo Turnbull. “El desafío es que no hay mucha comunicación entre los coordinadores de Alerta AMBER de los Estados Unidos y de México.”

En mayo, Turnbull trabajó con el Programa de Capacitación y Apoyo Técnico de Alerta AMBER de los Estados Unidos y su Iniciativa de la Frontera Sur para organizar el Foro Tri-Nacional en la Ciudad de México. El foro de 2 días incluyó a los Coordinadores de Alerta AMBER de los Estados Unidos, México y Canadá. Turnbull también cuenta con el apoyo de la Oficina de Asuntos Internacionales de Narcóticos y Aplicación de la Ley del Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos, con financiación de la Iniciativa Mérida.

“Lo que estamos buscando, es lograr que los coordinadores de Alerta AMBER en México, Estados Unidos y Canadá se consideren a sí mismos como un solo grupo de coordinadores de Alerta AMBER de América del Norte. Sin fronteras “, dijo Turnbull.

Al momento del foro, 75 investigaciones permanecen abiertas de niños llevados de Estados Unidos a México, y 183 llevados de México a los Estados Unidos.

La Alerta AMBER comenzó en los en 1996 en los Estados Unidos, y más tarde se convirtió en una iniciativa nacional. La Alerta AMBER de México comenzó en 2012 cuando fue lanzada por el presidente y el procurador general de ese país. Hasta el momento, Alerta AMBER ha llevado a la recuperación segura de más de 350 niños en México.

“Ninguno de los programas es mejor que el otro, aunque son un poco diferentes”, dijo Turnbull. “Queremos que la capacitación sea consistente en los Estados Unidos y México y que conozca las diferencias entre cada sistema. La capacitación mantiene a todos informados sobre las mismas prácticas. También ayuda a las personas a establecer una conexión”.

Turnbull dijo que los coordinadores de México todavía dependen en gran medida del Centro Nacional para Menores Desaparecidos y Explotados (NCMEC) para confirmar las jurisdicciones correctas en las que se puede emitir una Alerta AMBER en el NCMEC de Estados Unidos, llamando al 800-THE-LOST (800-843-5678).

Dijo que es más fácil para las autoridades de Estados Unidos utilizar la alerta de sustracción de menores en México porque se puede hacer con un solo contacto, la Coordinadora Nacional de México de Alerta AMBER, Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas al 011-521-555-346-2510 o por correo electrónico a blanca.niebla@pgr.gob.mx. “Es una sola llamada para todo,” clarificó.

La carrera de Turnbull comenzó como agente especial para la Administración de Drogas de los Estados Unidos. Su investigación sobre el contrabando de drogas en Colombia incluso descubrió un submarino sin terminar en Bogotá. Luego obtuvo su título de abogada en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Virginia y comenzó procesando a traficantes de drogas y casos de corrupción que involucraban a funcionarios públicos y policías.

En la actualidad, Turnbull está inmersa en encontrar víctimas de la trata y niños sustraídos. Este año ha estado involucrada en la resolución de secuestros transfronterizos, incluyendo una niña de Florida encontrada en Cancún, un bebé llevado de San Diego, California, a Sinaloa, México, y una niña de Brownsville, Texas, que fue recuperada después de que México emitiera un Alerta AMBER a petición de las autoridades de los Estados Unidos. Los 3 casos ilustran que se puede lograr mucho cuando los países trabajan juntos.

“No te rindas solo porque el niño cruzó la frontera”, dijo Turnbull. “Hay cosas que se pueden hacer para regresar a un niño a su hogar.”

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Maureen Heads, Gerente del Programa de la División de Niños Desaparecidos en NCMEC, habló sobre el aumento en la frecuencia y el nivel de peligro en casos de sustracción por un familiar. Dijo que la mayoría de las sustracciones, 66 por ciento, involucran a un miembro de la familia; observando un aumento del 57 por ciento en 2013.

Heads explicó la función del NCMEC en la prestación de asistencia técnica y apoyo a las familias, las autoridades y los fiscales. Señaló que, si bien los que trabajan en esta área de NCMEC no son abogados, están bien postulados para ayudar a las familias y a los profesionales de protección infantil con las necesidades de procesos y recursos.

Heads enfatizó la importante consideración que los casos de sustracción parental no implican llevarse a un niño utilizando la fuerza física o la persuasión emocional, lo cual es característico de estereotipos de abusos por extraños. Los niños en estos casos, pueden estar totalmente ajenos a un conflicto o lucha entre los padres y pueden irse con el padre como si fuese un comportamiento normal, porque confían en los padres.

Ella ilustró la complejidad que este elemento de voluntad puede traer al caso. “La persona que estás ayudando un día, puede ser la persona que estás buscando al día siguiente”.

Heads compartió una visión general del trabajo de Sharon Cooper, investigadora especializada del NCMEC, quien desarrolló un informe que destaca las sustracciones por los padres. El informe analiza las realidades y los mitos en torno a estos casos. También destacó los problemas legales relacionados con las sustracciones por un miembro de la familia, citando los estatutos federales y explicando cómo definen la autoridad y el apoyo disponible para los investigadores cuando responden a sustracciones por los padres o de la familia.

Dijo que las autoridades no deben dudar en adoptar medidas coercitivas en casos de sustracción por un miembro de la familia o por los padres. Heads presentó estadísticas sobre violencia familiar, ya que se relaciona con las sustracciones familiares y la emisión de Alertas AMBER. Confirmó que en todas las situaciones y para todas las preguntas relacionadas con los casos de sustracción familiar, la mejor manera de ponerse en contacto con el NCMEC para obtener asistencia es llamando al centro de llamadas principal al 1-800-THE-LOST.

Al analizar los cronogramas y la progresión de los casos de secuestro parental transfronterizo, la Sra. Heads enfatizó la importancia de actuar sobre posibles desplazamientos o movimientos transfronterizos en lugar de esperar, ya que estos niños pueden ser trasladados rápidamente al otro lado de la frontera. Habló del Sistema de Alerta AMBER Nacional de México (Alerta AMBER México), señalando la fortaleza y coordinación del programa con NCMEC y los programas estatales de Alerta AMBER. Hizo mención honorífica al coordinador del sistema mexicano por su liderazgo y experiencia con el programa.

La Sra. Heads proporcionó dos estudios de casos detallados, el primero fue un caso de sustracción transfronterizo, NCMEC trabajó con México como un ejemplo de cómo se respondió a estos casos y se resolvieron con éxito mediante una coordinación y cooperación rápidas entre NCMEC, las autoridades de El Paso, Texas, Juárez, la policía de México y el programa Alerta AMBER México.

En el simposio, los participantes mexicanos proporcionaron información adicional sobre cómo los funcionarios mexicanos encontraron al niño y en qué condiciones estaba al ser recuperado. Explicaron que cuando hablaron con el consulado de los Estados Unidos, al principio no pudieron identificarlo ya que no había sido reportado como desaparecido en los Estados Unidos. El niño permaneció bajo custodia de México durante tres meses. Durante la reunión tri-nacional en la Ciudad de México, se les notificó acerca de este caso, y de inmediato contactaron a la Sra. Heads a través del coordinador de Alerta AMBER de México, porque no tenían idea de qué parte de los Estados Unidos venía el niño. En su trabajo con NCMEC, pudieron determinar la conexión de las autoridades locales de Texas. El estudio del caso y los aportes de los participantes mexicanos destacaron cómo los sistemas y mecanismos de Alerta AMBER y la coordinación internacional permitieron que México trabajara junto con NCMEC, las autoridades y socios de Alerta AMBER para resolver este caso.

El segundo estudio de caso presentado destacó la coordinación interinstitucional con ocho diferentes agencias federales y estatales de México y Estados Unidos para traer a una niña de 14 años a su hogar en los Estados Unidos y ayudar a resolver conflictos mediante la participación de servicios de defensa de víctimas y familias para estabilizar su regreso.

Como fin de la presentación, la Sra. Heads reconoció el trabajo monumental de considerar todas las agencias, recursos y personas que trabajan en estos casos, pero no debemos dudar en tomar medidas para lograr nuestro propósito. Así mismo, animó a los participantes a ponerse en contacto con NCMEC lo antes posible en estos casos, para que puedan ayudar con la coordinación y proporcionar apoyo y asistencia de principio a fin.

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El simposio nacional de Alerta AMBER de 2018, celebrado en Orlando, Florida, del 15 al 17 de mayo de 2018, contó con la asistencia de más de 100 socios, incluyendo coordinadores de Alerta AMBER, gerentes de Missing Persons Clearinghouse, coordinadores del Equipo de Respuesta de la Sustracción de Menores (CART) y otros funcionarios de protección infantil. Más de 40 estados, tribus reconocidas a nivel federal, Puerto Rico, Canadá y México estuvieron representados en el evento de este año. Los socios del programa del Centro Nacional para Menores Desaparecidos y Explotados (NCMEC) y el Centro Internacional para Menores Desaparecidos y Explotados (ICMEC) también participaron en este evento.

El simposio de este año se enfocó en el impacto que la tecnología tiene en la explotación y la sustracción de niños, y en cómo las autoridades y profesionales de la seguridad pública pueden utilizar los últimos avances para prevenir y responder a los incidentes.

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Dear fellow CART Partners:

Over the last several years, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has held an annual conference to bring together stakeholders involved in responding to and investigating crimes against children with one particular focus being the utilization of CART resources.

The 2018 conference will take place in Orlando, FL, for three days running from December 10-12, 2018. This year we wanted to reach out nationally and provide an opportunity to those of you on other teams outside the state of Florida to present at the 2018 conference.

If there is a case study from your jurisdiction or other unique topic that you believe would be interesting and beneficial, we would like to hear about it and potentially have someone come and present it to our Florida law enforcement community.

Thank you for consideration and, as always, let’s keep vigilant in our efforts to successfully bring the children home safely.

Please refer all questions or comments to:

FDLE Inspector Brett Lycett at brettlycett@fdle.state.fl.us

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2018 Family Roundtable Participants gathered for an outdoor group photo. — Pictured left to right: Back Row – Gus Paidousis, Jesus Serna, Janell Rasmussen, Beth Nathan, Jamil Zouaoui Middle Row – Karen Block, Ruth Ann Parker, Lesley Small, Nacole Svendgard, Susan Morrow, Pattie Bastian, Ron Laney, Nina Flores Seated – Pamela Foster, Vicki Kelly, Abby Potash, Jennifer Wycough

On June 21-22, 2018, the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) hosted the 2018 Family roundtable on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Plano, Texas. This year’s panel was made up of 13 family members of missing and abducted children from across the country. The cases ran the gamut from international parental kidnappings to long term missing cases. This year’s roundtable continued the trend of more cases that involved the use of technology by the perpetrator, children who went missing as a result of human trafficking, and long term missing children’s cases.

This annual event is designed to gain input of family members from their perspective in the aftermath of their child going missing. The first hand experiences of these families is used to improve training and technical assistance programs and to provide recommendations into how child protection officials and the judicial system respond to these types of cases. .

Family roundtables have been a part of the AATTAP since its inception and have been instrumental in bringing the family perspective to the program. These roundtables have resulted in important initiatives such as efforts to eliminate “waiting periods” or delays on entering the missing child into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).. Roundtables and requests from families have also lead to the development of successful training programs such as the AATTAP Advanced Cold Case and Long Term Missing course.

Among many topics, this year’s participants highlighted;

The perception of runaways and the need to train first responders to take these cases seriously and consider that the child may have been lured away by a predator
The reunification between the child(ren) and family, and long term recovery care for the abducted and exploited child
Additional training on parental and international parental abductions due to the complexities and challenges that law enforcement encounter, especially when there is no court order in place
Wellness training and emotional survival programs for law enforcement officers who work child abduction cases
The impact of turnover, transfers and retirement among investigators and how families and law enforcement can collaborate, keep the case alive and maintain the investigation
The need for improved access to family advocates and others to assist the family in those critical hours after the abduction

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Since 2007, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) has served as an international point-of-contact, providing technical assistant to countries for the development of Rapid Emergency Child Alert Systems. Since 2016, ICMEC has partnered with Facebook to assist in spreading AMBER Alerts on its social media platform.

As of May 2018, the following countries have joined the United States in providing an emergency child alert system for their citizens:

Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan (Province of China), and the United Kingdom

To assist countries in their development, ICMEC has created a Framework outlining the main components necessary for an alert.

View the Rapid Emergency Child Alert Framework

Learn more at: https://www.icmec.org/global-missing-childrens-center/

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SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, will honor Donna Uzzell for its highest practitioner award for 2018. The Special Agent in Charge for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been actively involved with promoting AMBER Alert, human trafficking and child safety training, and protecting vulnerable populations like the elderly and disabled. “It is enormously gratifying that the 2018 Hawkins Award will recognize and honor Donna’s fearless leadership, passionate devotion to duty and relentless pursuit of programs and policies that have measurably improved our justice and public safety systems nationwide,” said SEARCH Chair Bradley D. Truitt, Director of Information Systems, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Ms. Uzzell has worked with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program for more than a decade, and continues to contribute as an Associate with the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College. She will be presented with the award on July 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

Iowa State Trooper and longtime advocate for the AMBER Alert Todd Misel has retired after a 34-year career in law enforcement. Misel was part of a group that created Iowa’s AMBER Alert program in 2003. Iowa’s governor told the group he wanted the alert up and running soon. “He brought it up at the state fair and gave us 90 days to put it together and figure it out,” said Misel. “It was an extremely aggressive time line but we had something by early spring of the (following) year.” Misel has also worked with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Program for more than a decade.

Congressmen from Virginia, Texas, Maryland and Rhode Island have introduced a bill that would create a system to notify the public when an adult is abducted and believed to be in danger. The “Ashanti Alert Act” is named after Ashanti Billi. The 19-year-old woman was found murdered eleven days after she was reported missing and 300 miles from where she was last seen alive. The alerts would be for missing people between the ages of 18 and 65 and would utilize TV, radio and social media to send messages to the public. Virginia lawmakers have passed a bill that allows law enforcement officers in that state issue an Ashanti Alert.

The mayor of Godfrey Township, Missouri, heard about nearby Alton Police Department’s request to buy four license plate recognition cameras and handed over a $13,400 check to help pay for them. “As one community goes, the other community goes,” said Mayor Mike McCormik. “We need success in Alton just like Alton needs successful things in Godfrey.” The cameras will be placed on a bridge and will be used to capture any vehicle tagged for an AMBER Alert or vehicles suspected in connection with other crimes. The information is shared with 14 police and sheriff’s departments in Illinois and Missouri.

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AMBER Alert Europe launched a task force on January 29, 2018, with a mission for saving missing children. The task force includes experts from the Czech Republic, Malta, Poland and the Netherlands. The task force provides a way to share information and best practices, network with colleagues across Europe and learn how to enhance their AMBER Alert systems.

“When a child goes missing, an AMBER Alert system connects police with the public through technology,” said Frank Hoen, founder of AMBER Alert Europe. “Since technology evolves so quickly, it is crucial that police keep up with the latest technological developments.”

European law enforcement officials brought home 93 percent of the children safely after issuing AMBER Alerts in 2017. AMBER Alerts were issued 27 times for 31 children.

The success stories include the Netherlands’ recovery of a 15-year-old deaf and autistic boy after an AMBER Alert was issued. Police believed he was in imminent danger due to weather conditions. More than 12 million Dutch citizens responded to the alert. A crucial tip helped reunite the boy with his family.

The Czech Republic issued an AMBER Alert for a two-year-old girl who had been missing for two months. The girl’s mother abducted the child but turned herself into police after the alert was issued. The child was found in good health.

The Cayman Islands government is creating an emergency alert system that will include AMBER Alerts. The British territory is located in the western Caribbean Sea. The notification system would send messages to all smartphone users, radio, TV and cable television programs. The system is expected to cost $1 million to implement. The Cayman Islands initially tried a basic SMS text message system for sending emergency alerts, but that method proved to be ineffective during a tsunami-exercise last year.

The AMBER Alert Europe Police Network now has more than 50 law enforcement experts from 17 countries to help find missing and abducted children. The network was established in 2014 to assist law enforcement officers in quickly contacting and consulting with each other on missing child cases. These contacts are crucial, as 37.5 percent of Europeans live near bordering areas and a missing child can easily cross to a neighboring country. Because of the network, police experts can easily find and maintain information on a single point-of-contact for missing persons in another country.

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The Navajo Nation can now issue its own AMBER Alerts when a child is abducted on tribal lands. The AMBER Alert system is in effect for the eleven counties that cover the reservation in Arizona and Utah.

According to Harlan Cleveland, Emergency Coordinator and Acting Director for the Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management, the system has been live since the beginning of 2018.

“In the event we do need to issue an AMBER Alert, we can issue it on (the) Navajo Nation,” said Cleveland.

The Navajo Nation has not yet issued an AMBER Alert, but did issue an Endangered Missing Person Advisory on January 26, 2018. A man took his 15-month-old daughter despite not having legal custody. The suspect and the child were found the next morning and two people were arrested.

U.S. senators from New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota are sponsoring the ‘Savannah’s Law’ bill requiring the federal government to take a more active role in addressing and combating the needlessly high rates of violence experienced by Native America women.

The bill is named after 22-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a member of the Spirit Lake Tribe of North Dakota. On August 19, 2017, she was reported missing by her family. Five days later Savanna’s daughter was found in a neighbor’s apartment. A week later, police found Savanna’s body.

Savanna’s family feels things may have ended differently if police would have taken the missing person report more seriously and initiated a more thorough search.

‘Savanna’s Law’ includes the following actions:

Improving tribal access to certain federal criminal history record information databases.
Creating standardized protocols for responding to cases of missing and murdered Native Americans.
Producing an annual report to Congress with data on missing and murdered Native women.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined homicide is the third leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women between 10 and 24 years of age, and the fifth leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native women between 25 and 34 years of age.

The Government Accountability Office report in 2010 found U.S. Attorneys declined to prosecute nearly 52 percent of violent crimes that occur in Indian country.

Pamela Foster, the mother of 11-year-old Ashlynnne Mike

Pamela Foster, the mother of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, who was abducted and murdered on the Navajo Nation reservation in May 2016, attended President Trump’s first State of the Union address on January 30, 2017, in Washington, D.C. She was joined by Arizona lawmakers and law enforcement officials who successfully championed the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act which, if signed into law, will expand AMBER Alerts to Native American communities and support them in developing comprehensive child recovery strategies.

“It is such an honor to attend this historical event,” said Foster. “I hope to use my time in Washington advocating for passage of this legislation in the House so that President Trump can sign it into law.”

Foster was invited by Arizona Representative Andy Biggs. “I believe we are extremely close to passing this lifesaving law,” Biggs said. “No child – regardless of race, ethnicity, sex or birthplace – should be outside the protection and jurisdiction of the AMBER Alert system.”

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A booby-trapped home, a burning truck and an armed, suicidal father high on methamphetamines sparked Idaho to issue an AMBER Alert and initiate a massive search in Idaho and Nevada. Joshua Dundon picked up his six- and seven-year-old daughters from school on the morning of May 10, 2017 and then disappeared.

The following day hikers saw a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado rushing up a hill in Eureka County, Nevada. When they hiked back they called 911 after hearing a gunshot, discovering the truck was on fire and witnessing a man talking to a child hidden in the trees.

Boise Police Department notified the public about the missing father and two endangered daughters, Jaylynn and Madison, on May 13. Officers later received information Dundon had been in a methamphetamine-fueled state of paranoia. They also found a house filled with holes in the walls and that had been booby-trapped to start a fire by leaking natural gas.

That same day the Eureka Sheriff’s Department determined the truck belonged to Dundon. Seeing news coverage of the missing girls, they contacted the Boise Police Department.

On May 15, Idaho AMBER Alert Coordinator Dawn Peck of the Idaho State Police received a request from the Boise Police Department to issue an AMBER Alert. Peck determined the case met the criteria for an AMBER Alert.

“The taking of the children without notice, the evidence at his home and the burnt-out truck caused the investigating agency to request the AMBER Alert and I agreed to do so,” said Peck. “Although under the national guidelines the girls were missing for well over 12 hours, in Idaho we err on the side of the children and issued the alert because of the evidence in the case.”

Dawn Peck, Idaho State Police, Bureau of Identification Manager, Statewide AMBER Alert Coordinator

Peck authorized the AMBER Alert at 1:13 p.m. and it was issued at 1:43 p.m. The alert was sent to law enforcement, broadcasters, highway signs, Emergency Alert System, the state lottery system and to people who signed up to receive alerts by email.

Boise Detective Angie Munson had asked Nevada to also issue an AMBER Alert but the state said it did not meet its criteria because authorities were no longer looking for a vehicle.

“Our public information officer contacted the media in Nevada and Utah and sent them a news release requesting coverage of the missing girls,” said Munson.

That same day Eureka County Sheriff’s Office organized search and rescue teams including searchers on four-wheelers, horseback and in the air. They found survival gear, weapons and ammunition but not the father and two girls. Authorities became more concerned because temperatures were dropping and it was starting to rain.

“We were fearful for the safety of the children,” said Peck. “There had been witnesses to the truck being burnt and they heard a child, but we had no idea where they went from there or if the children were hurt.”

At 5:30 p.m. an adult male walked into a ranch wearing cutoff sweat pants and a hoodie. He told the owners he needed help. Vera Baumannn told KTVB her husband recognized the man as the suspect in an AMBER Alert and called the sheriff’s office.

“He was very cold, he was hungry, he was thirsty and he could hardly walk because he had walked in about two miles,” said Baumann. “He said he left (his daughters) behind. He knew they were not going to make it so he walked in for help.”

Searchers started searching the area around the ranch and found the girls 90 minutes later hiding under a tree. They were hungry, bruised and suffering from frostbite. Police had been yelling for the girls but the youngest daughter was so terrified she was afraid to speak. The older daughter finally called out for help.

Authorities learned Dundon told his daughters their house had been burned down, their dog had been poisoned and their mom and the police were trying to kill them.

“The girls were incredibly strong and showed great courage to survive in the conditions they faced,” said Eureka County Sheriff Keith Logan. “We would like to thank all of the agencies, personnel and citizens who were so instrumental in in helping locate and recover these young ladies.”

The suspect was treated at a hospital and booked into jail. The two girls were also hospitalized and received treatment for exposure, kidney failure and frostbite. The AMBER Alert was canceled at 10:02 p.m.

Detective Munson said this case showed her how AMBER Alerts can be a powerful tool to find abducted children. “It not only helps with the recovery of the children, but also–as in this case–identified the path traveled and provided additional leads for the investigation.”

Boise Police issued this statement from the victim’s family. “They say they are grateful to the community for sharing information while the girls were missing and for their thoughts and prayers. They also want to thank the Nevada law enforcement officials and community members who helped (in the) search.”

Peck said she is glad she made the call to issue the alert. “Authorities said the girls would not have been able to survive much longer in the conditions. Do not adhere to the national guidelines so closely that you pass an opportunity to save a child.”

She also urged AMBER Alert coordinators to know their counterparts in neighboring states and how to contact them. “The only challenge and lesson learned from this case has to do with keeping our list of coordinators and procedures for requesting a state to rebroadcast our alert up to date.”

Idaho has significant experience with issuing AMBER Alerts for other states. Since the state started its child abduction alert program in 2005, Idaho has issued 30 AMBER Alerts, including reissuing eight alerts from other states.

Dundon accepted a plea deal in September 2017 and admitted to felony custodial interference. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in November 2017, including eight years before being eligible for parole.

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Brent Currence is the Education Coordinator for the Ohio Missing Persons Unit and serves on the Ohio AMBER Alert Steering Committee. He is also an Associate for the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College. Currence retired as a Trooper and helped create the screen for dispatchers and local law enforcement officers to enter an AMBER Alert into the state’s system.

How does your local AMBER Alert program work?

Local law enforcement responds to investigate, and based on the circumstances of the investigation they determine if the case meets the AMBER Alert criteria. If they know right away it is going to meet the AMBER Alert criteria, they flag the NCIC entry using the AMBER Alert code, which notifies several different agencies of the requested AMBER Alert. The Ohio State Highway Patrol, who issues the alert in our state, would call the requesting agency and make sure the criteria are met; and if so would then issue the alert. Our agency is notified and our state Child Abduction Response Team offers support services and personnel to augment the investigation.

Who are your key AMBER Alert partners and who is on your advisory committee?

Our committee is made up of many different entities including local law enforcement, police chiefs, the sheriff’s association, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Ohio Broadcasters Association, Ohio Department of Transportation, emergency communications, the FBI and others.

We all work very well together. That is one of the nice things about our committee, we get along very well; nobody tries to dominate the conversation. We are all working towards the same goal and work well together in addressing issues.

What are the two biggest lessons you have learned that you would want to pass on to other AMBER Alert coordinators?

The biggest thing is training. So many people change positions, especially in law enforcement; you have people coming in new, others being promoted or transferred, and this all affects knowledge and effective operations when time is of the essence in these missing child cases. It is important that local agencies know how to activate the AMBER Alert; and if they do not, they know who to call to get the process started.

Too often time is wasted just trying to figure out who issues the alert or who has what responsibility in the process. Just knowing a simple thing like ‘How do I get started?’ or ‘Who do I call to get assistance?’ can make all the difference. Training, which should include making people aware of all the resources that are out there to help them, is the most important thing. AMBER Alerts are so time-sensitive, and there are people out there willing to help in a case with an abducted child. These resources can be at the handling agency’s fingertips if they just know who to contact.

What role does social media play in AMBER Alerts in Ohio?

Social media is awesome in reaching a tremendous amount of people very quickly. We obviously use Twitter and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children administers our Facebook page. I was recently looking at some of the people who follow us on Twitter and many of them are reporters for television and other media. One of the local reporters had 87,000 followers, so when he retweets something he is immediately reaching 87,000 people quickly. When I look at the system just around Central Ohio, with the number of reporters in that area who are retweeting an alert, they are reaching nearly 300,000 people very, very quickly.

In terms of concerns with social media, the main issue we have encountered is when an alert has been canceled yet is still being circulated on Facebook or Twitter. In those cases, we have been able to get them canceled, or to get others to stop sending the alerts fairly quickly.

What is your vision or primary goals for your AMBER Alert Program? What is next on your list?

Our primary focus of concern in issuing AMBER Alerts is technology and the software to issue them. It is expensive. It would be nice to be able to see the different systems talk to each other. When we do cross-state alerts, much of it is done by phone and we are taking time to email pictures, pass on information, etc. If there was a system that could be used by everybody that would be as simple as looking up and transferring information relating to the alert, it would save so much time, which is obviously essential in these types of cases.

The other issue is training and awareness. I worked in law enforcement for years and the agency I worked for was thankfully very big on training. I can see such huge differences in training when working with local law enforcement across the state, in terms of how agencies react to certain situations and how they do or do not prepare for these through training. Every year in Ohio our law enforcement officers are required to do various types of training, often twice a year - such as use of force training, firearms qualifications, and pursuit driving; yet AMBER Alert training is not required at least annually. I would like to see that happen.

Is there an AMBER Alert case that had a big impact on you and your Ohio AMBER Alert partners?

We had an AMBER Alert occur while we were at a conference. The alert was in Northern Ohio in a very rural community. The suspect abducted a 14-year-old girl and killed her younger brother, murdered her mother and the mother’s friend.

The agency initially requested an AMBER Alert but at the time we did not have a witnessed abduction. We require a witnessed abduction, so it took a several of us on the phone working together to be able to support the local sheriff the best we could. We ended up issuing an Endangered Missing Child Advisory and providing the sheriff with many resources. The sheriff was willing to accept the assistance and help because he had never experienced anything like this.

We were able to recover the girl safely; the suspect’s intention was to kill the child. We were able to find her alive in his basement before he was able to do that. Reflecting on that case, it was amazing how everybody worked so quickly and effectively together, because this incident spanned a large area and different entities from the county in which it occurred. The AMBER Alert helped generate a lot of tips and leads based on things the public saw. These tips led us to the suspect, allowing us to arrest him and safely recover the female child involved.

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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 still driven to learn and do more to help endangered, missing and abducted children.

Walters remembers working as an investigator on an abduction case involving three children taken by a known sexual predator. The case occurred before the creation of the AMBER Alert system and before training was available through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

“Mistakes were made in that case that allowed the perpetrator to slip through our fingers in the early hours of the investigation,” said Walters. “It took 56 days to track down that man and recover the three children. Those were 56 of the longest days ever.”

“I want to make sure investigators today have the tools they need so they don’t make the mistakes we did back then. And so those children can be recovered and brought home safely.”

Under Jim Walters’ leadership, and through the efforts of his AATTAP team, many important accomplishments have been realized.

The Program is reaching increased numbers of training participants at a lower cost by partnering with local law enforcement agencies to host and market training brought to their local areas by AATTAP.
A Tribal Database website provides both publicly-available and secure/credentialed information and resources to tribal communities and law enforcement to support development of comprehensive child protection and recovery strategies.
The AMBER Advocate website provides a vast array of public information and resources, as well as a secure/credentialed Partners Portal for collaboration amongst state AMBER Alert Coordinators, Missing Person Clearinghouse Managers and Child Abduction Response Team (CART) members (AMBERAdvocate.org).
More than 45 new families of missing, exploited and abducted children have joined with AATTAP to participate in a series of Family and Survivor Roundtable events, giving them a voice to share critically important information on their experiences, lessons learned and needed training for first responders, investigators and prosecutors about working with families in the aftermath of an abduction.
New 1-2 day workshops have been developed, providing participants with the targeted and specific skills they need in an efficient yet thorough manner.

Never tiring in these pursuits, Walters is committed to continuing work in these areas, and has set new goals and priorities with his team for the future.

Evidence-based training

Walters plans to develop and deliver onsite evidence-based training to improve the speed and effectiveness of law enforcement’s response in the following case types.

Missing, abducted and endangered children
Child trafficking
Endangered high-risk youth
Special populations of children at-risk, including at-risk children in tribal communities

“The key here is evidence-based training,” said Walters. “We want to be sure that what we are teaching represents the best practices, best tactics and techniques for responding to these threats against children.”

“We have over a decade of delivering training and technical assistance on these topics and work with some of the greatest investigators and service providers in the world.”

Walters hopes to combine that past experience with the latest technology and input from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the FBI and other child protection partners. He is also committed to ensuring critical information from surviving family members of missing and abducted children and the investigators who worked those cases is carefully integrated into evidence-based training.

More training access

An important focus of AATTAP’s work is to afford everyone equitable access to quality training; regardless of geographic location and work schedule. Walters and his team want to ensure all those working in child protection and everyone concerned with family and child safety can get the same level of information and resources. This is accomplished by offering eLearning –through both self-directed/anytime online training as well as scheduled live webinar events – and through onsite technical assistance that can be requested by agencies and/or jurisdictions and brought to their areas through collaboration with AATTAP and the requestor’s local/partner agencies.

“We specifically want to target those communities with at-risk populations and those who have a hard time getting to training or accessing resources, whether it is tribal communities, rural agencies or immigrant communities that need our training,” said Walters.

This goal includes two major initiatives. The first is developing “Train the Trainer” programs for AATTAP’s investigative courses. This involves partnering with agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police Academy, state and regional Child Abduction Response Team (CART) programs and others, so that more certified instructors can be trained and thus available to deliver training at the local level.

The second initiative involves a comprehensive review of more than 300 CART programs trained since 2005. Each team will be evaluated to see if additional training is needed. Each team will also be encouraged to prepare for and complete the US-DOJ CART Certification process administered by AATTAP.

“I believe strongly we have the ability to make major improvements in how we prepare first responders, investigators and service providers for the critical call of an endangered missing or abducted child,” said Walters. “These projects, along with our traditional training offerings, can make the difference when time is critical and training and skills are put to the test.”

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The following press release was originally posted on: https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D8F87771-66A8-47F5-9F83-E598051004BE

Washington, D.C. – Last night, the House of Representatives passed the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act, legislation introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) in the Senate that would expand the AMBER Alert child abduction warning system on Native American reservations. Specifically, the legislation would clarify that Indian tribes are eligible for Department of Justice (DOJ) grants that help assemble AMBER Alert systems for law enforcement agencies. The amended legislation now moves back to the Senate for final passage.

The DOJ currently operates a pilot program that offers AMBER Alert training services to Native American tribes, but the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act would make that initiative permanent and enhance DOJ oversight of how the grants are used. The legislation would also reauthorize the DOJ grant program that assists state and local governments in developing and implementing AMBER Alert communication plans. These communication plans are used by law enforcement agencies to expedite child abduction alerts to the public. The bill would also require the DOJ to perform a needs assessment of AMBER Alert capabilities on Indian reservations.

“In 2016, the Navajo community was devastated by the abduction and murder of 11-year old Ashlynne Mike,” said Senator McCain. “In that high profile case, authorities did not issue an AMBER Alert for Ashlynne until the day after family members reported her abduction. We must do more to ensure Native American tribes have the resources they need to quickly issue AMBER Alerts and give abduction victims the best possible chance to survive. It’s critical the Senate quickly takes up this much-needed legislation and sends it to the president’s desk.”

“Tribal lands should not be a safe haven for criminals or a weak link in our ability to find and protect children who have been abducted or run away,” said Senator Heitkamp. “Making AMBER Alerts more accessible to Indian Country is critical to improving safety on tribal lands in North Dakota and across the country. Indian Country can often be remote and vast – and the lack of a consistent AMBER Alert system results in major delays in alerting law enforcement and community members in and around Indian Country when a child has been abducted or is missing. Every minute counts in these situations, and AMBER Alerts are a valuable tool in the critical first moments after someone goes missing. We must continue the fight to give law enforcement agencies at all levels the tools they need to prevent crimes in Indian Country and bring criminals to justice, which is why I also introduced Savanna’s Act and fight every day to keep communities in North Dakota strong and safe.”

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This article originally appeared at http://semperk9.org/dogs/laney/

Semper K9 is proud to announce the acceptance of service dog in training Laney into our Service Dogs for Veterans program. Laney is named in honor of USMC Vietnam Veteran Ron Laney and comes to us from our rescue partner Operation Paws for Homes.

Ron “Papa Six” Laney was the Associate Administrator of the Child Protection Division within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Department of Justice (OJJDP). His professional experience includes being a Probation Officer in St. Petersburg, Florida and service in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1964 to 1970 before being critically wounded during his second tour in Vietnam. He holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of South Florida and a bachelor’s degree in Criminology from the University of Tampa. His lifelong passions are ‘service to others’ and protecting America’s children.

Ron Laney speaks at the 2010 National AMBER Alert Symposium

In his position as the Associate Administrator of the Child Protection Division from February 2000 until 2010 with the Department of Justice he administered projects, programs, and initiatives related to crimes against children and children exposed to violence. Prior to that assignment, Mr. Laney served within OJJDP as the Director of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Program and as the Law Enforcement Program Manager where he developed a series of National Law Enforcement Training Programs that are still offered throughout the country today with more than 50,000 prosecutors, law enforcement, and child protective and medical officials participating in the program since 1982. From making schools safer from crisis to preventing child abductions, Mr. Laney has dedicated his professional career to the juvenile justice system. Although the law enforcement response to missing and exploited children has progressed considerably over the past two and half decades, Mr. Laney persistently stresses the importance of continued commitment to missing and exploited children. While at the Department of Justice, he played an instrumental role in the development and institutionalization of the National Amber Alert Initiative. Since DOJ made AMBER an official initiative, 90% of all AMBER Alert recoveries of abducted children have occurred since the program was adopted by the Department of Justice. Mr. Laney reiterates his constant message about child protection at every public appearance or conference by saying, “Kids are our nation’s most important and vulnerable resource and, as a nation, we can’t afford to do anything less. But to protect them.”

Mr. Laney has received numerous awards from local and State law enforcement organizations for his efforts in child protection and juvenile accountability. Additionally, in August 2005 Ron was officially commended in the Congressional Record for his forward-looking leadership and commitment to child protection during the Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas, Texas. In 2007, he was the first recipient of the “Ronald C. Laney Distinguished Service Award’, a periodic lifetime service award named in his honor and presented by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. In March 2008, the National Child’s Advocacy Center awarded him the Outstanding Service Award, recognizing his more than 31 years of service and contribution in the field. This award was the first of its kind to be given to an individual who has made a significant impact in the child protection field.

In our local community, Ron is a four-time Post Commander of Dale City’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1503, the former State Commander and current Chapter Commander of the Dale City Semper Fi Chapter #1775 Military Order of the Purple Heart, and a continuous active member and supporter of the American Legion, the Potomac Regional Veterans Council, and the Dale City Civic Association Independence Day Parade Committee. Ronald C. “Papa Six” Laney was the Grand Marshall for the 2009 Dale City Annual 4^th of July Parade.

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"Never Forgotten" by Kathleen Piccione (Chippewa)

Over the holidays I received a package in the mail which contained a framed print of a Native American child. When I looked closely I saw that the print was signed by the artist and included the inscription; “Never Forgotten, In Memory of Ashlynne”. While the artwork itself is remarkable, depicting a young Native child holding an eagle feather, it was the inscription that caught my attention. I looked on the reverse of the print and found a note from the artist, Kathleen Piccione, that explained how she had been working on the painting when she heard the terrible news about the abduction of 11 year old Ashlynne Mike on the Navajo Nation in May, 2016. She realized that this work of art was destined to represent Ashlynne and her memory.

“When I began this painting in April of 2016, I wasn’t’ sure why I was prompted to paint the sad faced Caddo child that was photographed by a friend of mine a year earlier. Then one morning in May as I as watching the morning news they announced the abduction and murder of Ashlynne Mike. I began sobbing as I saw her picture and heard the horrific story of her death. I couldn’t shake the sick feeling that came over me. Her face would not leave my mind. I walked into my studio and looked at the painting I had been working on for the past month. Her face was sweet and young like Ashlynne’s yet it was deeply sad. I knew at that moment I had somehow painted this for Ashlynne, not knowing the tragedy that was about to unfold. I painted an eagle feather in the young girl’s hand to represent Ashlynne and called the painting “Never Forgotten” dedicating it to her forever.”

Sadly, Ashlynne’s story is all too familiar to those of us who have worked in the field of missing children. To quote the joint letter written by surviving family members who participated in the 2017 Family Roundtable; “We know the pain and agony of the search. Some of us had all of the media help we could get, while others couldn’t get anyone in the media to cover their story and tackle the challenges of their missing case. We have experienced the political challenges and jurisdictional challenges. While we know that the criminals don’t care which city, which county or which state that they happen to be in, it matters in terms of the investigation. When it comes to missing children, we earnestly wish that we could all forget about jurisdictional boundaries and just find our kids.”

Kathleen Piccione (Chippewa), in this beautiful work, has eloquently captured a powerful message, and one that is so important to all of us; never forget. We can never forget Ashlynne or the other children across our country who are taken from their families, whose lives are changed or even cut short by those who would prey upon them.

Each of us in our own way is working to keep the memory of Ashlynne alive and to bring about improvements in how we serve our nation’s most vulnerable. From the work of state, local, federal and tribal officials across the country to implement comprehensive child recovery strategies to the pending legislation in congress to implement the AMBER in Indian Country Act of 2017, we are all doing our part to make sure our missing children are never forgotten.

Jim Walters
Program Administrator, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program
National Criminal Justice Training Center at Fox Valley Technical College

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It took only a few minutes for 10-year old Ashton Fish to express for everyone at the 2017 AMBER Alert Symposium, through both word and dance, why everything possible must be done to protect missing and abducted children in Indian Country.

“I want to be the voice for all the Indian children,” said Fish. “I want the AMBER Alert to be on the reservation so none of our children can go missing, no one can steal our children and we won’t be afraid to walk in the dark.”

The young man then performed a traditional dance for all missing children. Fish first became aware of the issue of for Native American children when he heard about the abduction and murder of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike on the Navajo Reservation in May 2016. Fish created a YouTube video to perform a dance in honor of Ashlynne Mike and to plead for all parents to watch over their children.

“I have been called by the Spirits to come around here and dance for Ashlynne Mike and all the other stolen kids,” said Fish on the video. “I dedicate this song for all the children, the aunts who are sad. Aho!”

Fish is a member of the Assiniboine Nation and traveled from Blackfoot, Idaho, to speak and dance at the symposium. His grandmother, Kristen Lowdog, said her son’s dancing is a good way for Native Americans to combat this problem because it involves their own culture and ways.

“He is very spiritually mature and voices his opinion out,” said Lowdog. “He has a big heart and he wants to do what he can to help.”

The artistry of Ashton’s expression of dance, combined with the wisdom of his words and vision for AMBER Alert’s protection of children on tribal lands, left symposium participants eager to meet this young man and shake his hand following the presentation.

Ashton and his grandmother presented AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program Administrator Jim Walters with a handmade ceremonial quilt in honor of his work with AMBER Alert and Child Protection in Indian Country.

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Content courtesy: Amber Alert Network Brazos Valley | www.aanbv.org

On Tuesday December 5, 2017 Officers with the Navasota Police Department responded to a report of an abducted child as part of a planned field exercise in conjunction with the Brazos Valley Child Abduction Response Team (BVCART).

Throughout the day over 70 responders from 26 different agencies participated in the drill to work on improving the skills necessary in these extremely important cases as well as building partnerships throughout the Brazos Valley.

The exercise included professionals from a variety of disciplines including Police (Local, State and Federal agencies), Fire, Emergency Management, Search & Rescue, Information Technology, Public Safety Telecommunications, Volunteer Groups, EMS and many more. The following agencies had representatives participate in the all-day exercise:

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By Denise Gee Peacock

WINDOW ROCK — On December 12, 2017, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye signed a contract to purchase a mass notification software to implement an emergency alert system for road closures, weather notifications, hazardous waste spills, wildfires, and AMBER Alerts.

“We always pray that we will never have another abduction, but we need this in place so that the whole Nation can be alert and help make sure that a child is recovered safely and quickly,” President Begaye said. “I appreciate the work of everyone that made this possible. This is will make life safer here on the Navajo Nation.”

The Navajo Nation had previously negotiated the use of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah’s AMBER Alert system. However, the extra steps to run through all three states delayed notifications.

“We appreciate the assistance the Navajo Nation received to issue alerts, but with this purchase, the Navajo Nation will have the ability to issue our own notifications immediately,” Vice President Jonathan Nez said. “We are proud to be the first tribe to have our own alert system now in place for the safety of our people.”

Once installed, the emergency alert system will officially be under the Navajo Division of Public Safety (NDPS) and managed by the Navajo Department of Emergency Management (NDEM). NDEM expects to have the software deployed for use by the end of the year.

“We’re very interested in improving the efficiency of services to the Navajo people,” Jesse Delmar, director of DPS said. “We’re glad to be a part of this and what we’re so proud of is never before has an independent tribe had this system to themselves.”

With the mass notification software, the department is able to issue alerts for a variety of emergencies – not only for AMBER Alerts, which was the only emergency alert situation covered in the agreement between the tribe and states.

In May 2016, President Russell Begaye gave the directive for the Navajo Nation to secure an AMBER Alert system. Before the end of the year, the Navajo Nation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to allow Navajo public safety officials the authority to access the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

With training and certification to use IPAWS, the next step in the process was to go through the procurement process and internal checks-and-balances of the Navajo Nation to purchase the software. Everbridge was the company ultimately chosen.

“In an emergency situation, time is of the essence to get information out to community members,” Harland Cleveland, acting NDEM director said. “Especially, in the instance of a child abduction, the public is our eyes and ears.”

According to Cleveland, with the President’s signing, the Navajo Nation will have the capability to push alerts over radio, television and text messaging to all 11 counties that fall within the Nation’s borders. In the future, efforts will be made to add a Blue Alert and Silver Alert to the system.

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North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp and representatives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) spoke at a panel on child trafficking October 20, 2017, in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

“I think it is critically important that this not just be a social worker’s problem, a cop’s problem, a legislator’s problem; that this be all of our problem because these are all of our kids,” said Heitkamp.

NCMEC received reports of 113 children missing in North Dakota during the last three years. NCMEC said the average of a trafficking victim is 15 and there has been an increase in the number of male trafficking victims.

The panel suggested more training for social workers and nurses and more legislation to stop websites known for sex trafficking.

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This one-hour self-directed course is designed provide child protection personnel working in or with Native American and Alaskan Native communities with an understanding of both historical and ongoing problems of child sex trafficking and exploitation in Indian Country, and to offer careful consideration of important strategies to build awareness of the problem, and support tribal communities in identifying and reporting suspected or known trafficking and exploitation. The course provides important considerations for law enforcement in working with the community on these awareness and identification efforts, as well as for preparing for effective response to safely recover victims, interdict these crimes, and prosecute offenders.

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Members of AMBER Alert Europe are asking the European Parliament to list all missing children on the continent’s notification system. Currently the notices only go out if the person has been placed under protection or to prevent threats. The Schengen Information System (SIS) is used to send messages in 29 countries throughout Europe. “At least 250,000 children are reported missing every year in the European Union,” said Frank Hoen, President of AMBER Alert Europe. “We urge MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) to adopt a position that ensures that all missing children at risk may be entered in SIS at the request of the competent authorities.”

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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 of Puerto Rico. The event included presentations from a family member of an abducted child, lessons on how to interview high-risk victims and how to handle long-term missing person cases.

”The participants were engaged and they were eager to learn,” said Jesi Leon-Baron, regional liaison and project coordinator with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program. ”They were asking lots of questions. They wanted to know about the different scenarios and different tools to help them with their investigations, especially with high risk victims.”

This was the first AMBER Alert training in Puerto Rico in more than a decade. Participants discussed how to organize their resources and find funding to strengthen the territory’s AMBER Alert program and how to develop a Child Abduction Response Team.

“They really want to mimic the same systems we have here in the continental U.S. to find abducted children,” added Leon- Baron. “They know the need is there.”

Kay Vazquez, a criminal analyst for the Special Investigations Bureau and Clearinghouse for Missing Children for Puerto Rico said the training was highly useful.

“I especially enjoyed the presentations regarding long-term missing children cases and hope to implement some of the ideas in our investigations,” said Vazquez. “The presentations on high risk victims and trafficking also changed my perception of runaways and how our jurisdiction deals with this type of investigation. It was very gratifying to see other individuals who are committed in fighting child related crimes.”

Law enforcement representatives from the U.S. and Mexico participated in a Cross-Border Abduction Response training July 20-21, 2017, in Tucson, Arizona. The presentation was part of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program’s Southern Border Initiative (SBI), and focused on the southern border state AMBER Alert programs and how those states can work cooperatively with the Alerta AMBER in Mexico system. Participants engaged in challenging cross-border abduction scenario tabletop exercises to work through the process of identifying and understanding these resources and critically important coordination points.

Community members, law enforcement and others working in prevention and response to the problems of sex trafficking came together for a community workshop offered by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) September 14, 2017. Throughout the event, participants listened and learned from a panel of survivors of sex trafficking, discussing important questions and dynamics which must be understood in order to carry out effective prevention and recovery work. Cindy McCain of the McCain Institute’s Human Trafficking Program also addressed law enforcement officers through a video conference during the workshop.

“It was an honor to have Cindy McCain join us,” said Jason Sterling, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program Manager. “Her program educates, raises awareness and implements innovative, action-based solutions to end modern slavery.”

Otto is Ohio’s first state-certified courthouse dog which allows him to sit in the witness box when a child or victim of crime is called to testify in court.

“He will give that unconditional love that kids sometimes never get,” added Romans. “It helps for better testimony or an interview. He will help kids who don’t want to be interviewed or do not feel comfortable enough to be interviewed.”

She remembers one child who did not want to be interviewed until Otto jumped on his lap. “He just started crying and then let go and told us what happened,” she said. “[Otto] works his magic.”

Romans urges more organizations to get a facilities dog, especially if they work with abduction, human trafficking and other abuse victims.

His full name is Ottimo, but this lab and retriever mix canine is often called “Awesome Otto.” He is a professionally trained companion that assists crime victims, witnesses and others in need during child forensic interviews, forensic medical exams and legal proceedings.

Otto was also a star guest at the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program’s June 2017 Multi-Disciplinary Response to High Risk Victims training in Columbus, Ohio.

Laura Romans is the Crime Victims Service Manager for the Harcum House Child Advocacy Center in Lancaster, Ohio. She takes Otto to trainings and when she works as a forensic interviewer of child abuse victims.

“Everyone loves him,” said Romans. “He is an emotional support for the children. When he is calm then the children are calm. They think it is amazing he will curl up with him.”

The dog was specifically bred and trained for two years by Canine Companions for Independence, an accredited organization of Assistance Dogs International. He has been present during more than 500 child interviews.

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In the early morning hours of September 3, 2017, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida received a call about an abduction. A convicted felon kidnapped an 11-year-old female relative and then dragged her into the woods.

The child’s grandmother woke in the middle of the night and discovered the girl’s room was locked. She picked the lock and discovered a 50-year-old man sexually abusing the girl. The man grabbed the child, who was screaming hysterically and naked from the waist down. He ran into the woods, continuing to sexually assault her.

The suspect had been incarcerated at least eight times since 1989 and was released from prison in 2014. He then married a relative of the victim.

Deputies arrived at the home in Apopka, Florida, within minutes after the 911 call was placed. Search dogs were brought in and a command post was set up. A BOLO (Be on the Lookout) message was sent to all law enforcement in the area.

When the suspect and the child could not be found, Orange County Corporal Benjamin Thorpe decided an AMBER Alert was needed to give the child the best chance of survival.

“The decision to move forward with an AMBER Alert was based off the manner in which the suspect abducted the victim into the woods and his past history of sex abuse,” said Thorpe. “I was concerned, based on training and statistics, that the victim may have been deceased.”

Detectives gathered information about the child, suspect and significant events surrounding the investigation to support the alert. At approximately 7:00 a.m., the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had a

conference call with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Assistant Special Agent in Charge, the Regional Special Agent Supervisor and the AMBER Alert Coordinator to discuss issuing the alert.

“The case clearly met the AMBER Alert criteria,” said Florida AMBER Alert Coordinator Lyndsey Pitts. “We believed the child was at risk of great bodily harm or death and there was a clear indication of an abduction.”

The AMBER Alert was issued by the FDLE at 7:23 a.m. and notifications were sent to the Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Lottery and all law enforcement agencies in the state. The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system deployed an alert text message to all cell phones in Florida.

The AMBER Alert was broadcast on television and radio, posted on social media and sent to everyone in Florida who signed up to receive AMBER Alerts by email.

The FDLE Child Abduction Response Team (CART) was also activated to assist the Orange County Sheriff’s Office with a door-to-door search. More than 100 law enforcement officers from several agencies took part in searching for the child.

About three hours after the alert was issued, a member of the public who saw the alert on TV discovered the victim. “The victim was banging on the windshield of an abandoned vehicle,” said Thorpe. “I am very thankful and proud that a member of the community intervened and notified law enforcement.”

“Everyone at FDLE and all law enforcement involved were pleased with the child’s safe return,” added Pitts.

Florida AMBER Alert Coordinator Lyndsey Pitts

Florida has issued 217 AMBER Alerts since 2000. Thorpe has investigated several missing child cases, but this was his first AMBER Alert request. He said the investigation did have some challenges, which included tracking all of the law enforcement officers from different agencies needed for the investigation and managing the numerous tips received to protect against duplication or loss of important leads.

Thorpe offered this advice for other AMBER Alert partners. “Use resources effectively. Manage the information as it comes in and delegate responsibilities to trustworthy sources. Do not be afraid to push forward with the AMBER Alert once you have the appropriate information and meet the criteria.”

The father of the victim posted his thanks on Facebook for everyone who helped find his daughter. “I want to thank the community for [coming] together to help find her but most of all I want to thank the police officer[s] who [were] out there helping to find my baby.”

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Jennifer Viets has been the Montana AMBER Alert Coordinator since 2012. She has been the state’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager since 2009. Viets started as a training officer for Montana’s Criminal Justice Information Network in 1994. She also worked as a 911 public safety dispatcher and supervisor for five years.

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT YOUR AMBER ALERT AND CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAM, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE YOUR PROGRAMS SUCCESSFUL?

I am not sure I would use the word unique, but I think there are two keys to our successful programs: 1) the relationships we have built with Montana’s law enforcement agencies and Montana’s AMBER Alert partners; and 2) the passion and dedication of our staff.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT AND CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAMS?

No budget, very small staff, duties and “other duties as assigned” affect our ability to have the time to practice and stay as sharp and current as we would like. Also managing contact lists for media, high turnover, getting timely information when we have an alert, and delay in reporting parties contacting us; these are all challenges we face and work to improve.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT AND CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAMS IN THE FUTURE?

It would be great to use a national AMBER Alert program so states could more quickly share alerts.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE.

It was amazing to be a part of the February 2016 AMBER Alert for four-year-old Maci Lilley. She was abducted from a playground by John Lieba. The whole community responded to the AMBER Alert. A citizen, aware of the alert, saw Lieba and gave him a ride to the nearest law enforcement officer. The suspect initially refused to cooperate, but later told investigators he had strangled Maci. He drew a map to where he left her body in an abandoned vehicle parked within an old grain silo. Officers found the vehicle and were relieved to discover she was alive. Lesson learned—never give up!

PLEASE DESCRIBE ANY WORK WITH TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND TRIBAL CHILD PROTECTION PROGRAMS IN YOUR STATE.

Every child is important to us. We do not treat tribal children any differently. The same applies to tribal law enforcement agencies. They are treated with the same respect as any other law enforcement agency in Montana. If a tribal agency requests an AMBER Alert or Missing Endangered Person Advisory, and the circumstances meet the alert criteria, the alert is issued. Our strongest relationships with tribal law enforcement agencies occur when that agency has a Criminal Justice Information Network (CJIN) terminal. Tribal agencies without a CJIN terminal often work with us through a local sheriff’s office, but we will take the call from any of them at any time. We are very fortunate because some of our tribal law enforcement agencies cross-deputize with the sheriff’s office and have strong partnerships. We have found it is important to visit tribal agencies in person when you can. One of the challenges we face is staff turnover at tribal agencies and changes in management control (Bureau of Indian Affairs vs. tribal). It can be hard to keep current contacts. My goal would be for tribal agencies to know the state AMBER Alert program is here to serve them and all they need to do is call if they need us.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR AND CLEARINGHOUSE MANAGER, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED, MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

I have been very fortunate that every missing child I have done an alert for has been located, although sadly four of them were deceased. I am driven to ensure when we issue an alert that the public gets it quickly and it has the most accurate and complete information possible.

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Stacey Pearson has been with the Louisiana State Police for 18 years and works out of Lafayette. She has been the manager of the Louisiana Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children (LACMEC) since 2012 and the state AMBER Alert Coordinator since January 2015.

Pearson is a third generation law enforcement officer, and has served as a uniform trooper, narcotics agent, and criminal investigator. She was also the supervisor on a task force investigating the deaths of the “Jeff Davis 8,” the unsolved murders of eight women in Jefferson Davis Parish.

Pearson conducts and coordinates crimes against children investigations and works as a police composite sketch artist. In 2016, she founded The Pelican Project, a charitable foundation working with families of missing, abducted and exploited children who are in need of reunification assistance.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR AND CLEARINGHOUSE MANAGER, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED, MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

My work on the Jeff Davis 8 case and my duties as Clearinghouse Manager and AMBER Alert Coordinator are instrumental in my commitment to help children. It is my goal to continue to develop and provide training in Louisiana and nationally to move this good work forward.

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT YOUR AMBER ALERT AND CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAM, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE YOUR PROGRAMS SUCCESSFUL?

Our Clearinghouse and AMBER Alert programs are not unique; however, we do strive to provide any and all assistance needed to law enforcement agencies conducting missing child/person investigations. Through a vast network of contacts, the LACMEC and the Louisiana Fusion Center are able to communicate and coordinate the response to critical missing children as well as child trafficking investigations.

WHAT IS YOUR VISION AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT AND CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAMS IN THE FUTURE?

My vision for the future is to have a website dedicated to the LACMEC and the Louisiana AMBER Alert programs with photographs of missing children available to the public for viewing, searching and sharing. I would also like to provide links to National Center

for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) training resources on this website as well as safety tips. I also have a goal to create a Louisiana Missing Persons Day.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SUCCESS STORY IN WORKING A MISSING CHILD CASE.

Two cases stand out the most:

An alleged California sex offender and a woman were found in Louisiana with four missing children, ages four, six, seven and eight. The suspects were arrested at a convenience store and the children were found inside his car dirty and hungry. The couple fled California to help prevent the man from being arrested for sexual acts involving a minor.
A couple from Shreveport, Louisiana, were arrested in Arizona after allegedly abducting two boys, ages seven and two. The couple allegedly committed a bank robbery after they took the children.

Sometimes our “successes” on the surface are in reality very tragic. The elation that is felt when a child is recovered can quickly be replaced with anger, grief and disgust at the circumstances the children were taken; how they lived and the circumstances they were rescued from. The reality that no one person can “fix” the situation takes its toll. There is no magic wand.

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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, 27-year-old Tom Begay Jr. was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the brutal crimes that are prompting massive changes in the way child abductions are handled in Indian Country.

At the sentencing hearing, Ashlynne’s mother, Pamela Foster, spoke about the heartbreak she felt when she found out her two children were missing.

“My world spun so fast I fell to my knees and cried,” she said in court. “I prayed like I have never done before and I cried for my children and for their safety, and for some kind of clue that they would both be found unharmed and alive, and my tears have never stopped flowing since. Anger, worry and fear set in immediately, and to my heartache I watched the minutes turn into hours. We went into a panic, wondering and being frightened for the children.”

She learned that evening her son Ian was alive but Ashlynne was still missing. “Where could my precious baby be? We were full of questions that no one had answers,” said Foster. “The next afternoon our precious daughter Ashlynne’s lifeless body was found. I was devastated. How could my sweet baby be gone?”

“We are grateful he admitted to doing what he did so that we can have closure in this chapter,” said Gary Mike, Ashlynne’s father. “Tell your children you love them.”

Jim Walters, Program Administrator for the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and the original Liaison for the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative, attended the hearing.

“With everyone else in the courtroom, I cried as she spoke of the two children reaching out and touching hands; afraid and helpless,” said Walters. “The family will never be whole and the pain will never end.”

The tragedy began on May 2, 2016, when Begaye drove 45 minutes from his home to a remote area of the Navajo Reservation to watch children getting off the school bus.

After offering Ashlynne and Ian a ride home, Begaye stated that he took the children to a remote spot near Shiprock Peak; raping, beating and strangling Ashlynne, and then leaving her, still breathing, in the desert.

Begaye released Ashlynne’s brother, who walked for miles before a motorist picked him up. However the driver could not get cell phone reception in order to call 911. An AMBER Alert was not issued until the following morning.

Immediately following the abduction, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) partnered with the Navajo Nation to provide technology support, and additional training and technical assistance to support the full development of an AMBER Alert Plan for the Navajo Nation. This plan includes agreements between New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, with all of the states committing their assistance to the Navajo Nation in issuing and managing AMBER Alerts.

Senators John McCain of Arizona and Tom Udall of New Mexico also introduced the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2017 which would expand the AMBER Alert child abduction warning system on Native American reservations by clarifying that Indian tribes are eligible for Department of Justice (DOJ) grants that help assemble AMBER Alert systems for tribal law enforcement

agencies. Under current law, that funding is only available to states. This bill would provide America’s 567 federally recognized tribes with the ability to develop AMBER Alert programs with their state and regional partners.

“This tragedy reminds us that we need to do more to protect our children from predators,” said Udall. “We need to use every tool available to ensure that these appalling events do not repeat themselves.”

In 2018, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program will hold a series of regional training programs for tribal communities to assist in developing AMBER Alert programs and improving their ability to respond to endangered missing and abducted children.

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program will also work with NCMEC, state AMBER Alert Coordinators and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers to provide training, technical assistance and policy development to increase the number of AMBER Alert plans in tribal communities.

“The tragedy of Ashlynn’s case highlights the need for comprehensive child abduction recovery plans on tribal lands,” added Walters. “No community is immune from the predators who would take a child and commit such a terrible crime. Our tribal, state, local and federal partners must work together to insure that Native American children enjoy the same protections, resources and efforts as those in the cities and counties around the country.”

Walters said what happened to Ashlynne sends a call to action to anyone involved in the AMBER Alert program, especially to those who work with Native American communities.

“We should be dedicated to making sure that communities are prepared to respond to the unimaginable and that they are equipped with the very best training and resources,” said Walters. “We should all be committed advocates for these families and their lost children; and to doing our part to help bring home the missing.”

Ashlynne’s mother also has hope her daughter’s death will prevent other parents from sharing the same experience.

“This is a nightmare we can never wake from and it pangs my very soul in knowing he gratified himself in brutally assaulting my daughter,” said Foster. “This monster terrorized my angel and caused a paramount of pain upon her and it breaks my heart and angers me that the last living thing she saw was him and looking into his evil eyes.

“This monster desecrated our traditions and cares not of others and knows nothing of the value of life,” she said. “We just lost a future leader and a great one and she was to carry on our traditions.”

With resolve, Ashlynne’s mother emphasized for the judge and everyone in the court that she will still keep the traditions of beauty, balance, order and harmony practiced by the Navajo, holding life to be precious and sacred.

“Although she is no longer physically with us we thank God that a piece of her lives in all of her siblings and my hugs are just a little bit longer. As survivors no amount of justice, restitution and praying will ever bring our daughter back. Our baby is now in the spirit world never to be hurt again and by the grace of God this monster has finally admitted to his crime.”

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November 20, 2017*: An AMBER Alert for a missing 12-year-old girl has been canceled after she and her alleged abductor were found safe in Des Moines following a traffic stop on I-235.

Beyonce Carrasco was reported missing around 3:00am from her home in Denison. Police believed she was with 13-year-old Rodolfo Penaflor, Jr. traveling in a 2016 Nissan Sentra.

Around 2:00pm the suspect vehicle was spotted on I-235 in Des Moines. After a short pursuit the vehicle was stopped near the Euclid exit. The Iowa DOT reports both Carrasco and Penaflor were found safe inside the vehicle.

“We had an AMBER Alert resolved quickly in Iowa yesterday,” said Terry Cowman, Special Agent in Charge at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. “It started a rural area of the state and was a runaway situation that evolved into an Alert due to threats of violence. They were found safe about two hours later in Des Moines thanks to a call from an alert citizen.”

File this one under “success.” Great work!

*Image and information source: http://whotv.com/2017/11/20/amber-alert-canceled-both-subjects-found-safe/.

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Shea Reliford has overseen the Indiana Clearinghouse for Missing Children & Missing Endangered Adults since September 2016. He is also a First Sergeant with the Office of Intelligence and Investigative Technologies and serves as the Administrative Officer for the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center. He began his career with the Indiana State Police in 2006. Previous duties include serving as a state trooper, police academy counselor and instructor, human resources sergeant, field training officer, recruiter, emergency vehicle operations instructor and background investigator...

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Derek VanLuchene is a Project Coordinator for the AATTAP with a focus on its Child Abduction Response Team (CART) program and continuing to expand the number of U.S. DOJ Certified CART programs, increase the number of trained CART programs in Indian Country and assist previously-trained teams in maintaining operational capacity and readiness. Derek works closely with a talented team of CART trainers, the AATTAP CART Certification team to assess the status of CART programs across the country.

Derek brings a unique perspective to the investigation and response to child abductions. In 1987, when Derek was 17 years old, his 8 year old brother Ryan was abducted and murdered by a repeat sex offender. Ryan was taken from the family’s backyard in a rural Montana community. Since that time, Derek has devoted himself to issues of sex offender management and child abduction response.

Derek spent 18 years as a Montana Law Enforcement Officer working for both the Conrad Police Department and The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. Currently, Derek manages Ryan United, a non-profit organization dedicated to his brother. Through Ryan United, Derek provides resources to crime victims, law enforcement, corrections officials specific to sex offender management, child abduction and community safety.

Derek has worked as an associate with FVTC and its National Criminal Justice Training Center, as well as with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, for over 10 years and has taught extensively in the CART program and other investigative courses.

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Janell Rasmussen has spent over 20 years working in public safety to develop, implement and operate multiple statewide law enforcement programs that have been highly successful and nationally recognized. During her time at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), Rasmussen was responsible for the development and operations of multiple statewide programs, including the Minnesota AMBER Alert Plan, the Missing Children’s Clearinghouse, the Communication & Duty Officer Program, the Crimes Against Children in Indian Country Conference, and the President’s Initiative on Missing & Unidentified Persons. She also served in capacities as Legislative and Media Coordinator during her tenure at the BCA. Janell is a highly regarded professional known for building collaborative partnerships with diverse stakeholder groups, enhancing government operations and her work in Law Enforcement Training. Janell recently left the BCA as Director of Criminal Justice Training & Education after 16 years to continue her work in child protection as Deputy Director at the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis. Janell has received certifications from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Training School - Instructor Development Program, International Association of Chiefs of Police - Leadership in Police Organizations Program, National Judicial College - Tribal Faculty Development Program, and numerous training certificates on a multitude of topics, including management, leadership, human trafficking, AMBER Alerts, domestic violence, investigative resources, information sharing, project management, and program development.

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Gus Paidousis is currently the Security Chief for the Knox County, Tennessee, School District, leading a force of over 100 armed security officers to protect 59,000 students and approximately 8,000 staff members. Gus has been with the school system since May 2013. Prior to serving the school district, he served the Knoxville, Tennessee, Police Department for 31 plus years, retiring as a Deputy Chief.

Gus has served in a variety of roles throughout his law enforcement career, to include Patrol Officer, Training Director, Staff Officer to the Chief of Police, as well as Deputy Chief of the Patrol, Criminal Investigations and Support Services Divisions. He was a member of the department’s Special Operations Squad for approximately 12 years and was instrumental in developing and implementing the East Tennessee AMBER Alert Plan.

Gus is a graduate of East Tennessee State University and the 191^st session of the National Academy conducted by the FBI. He also graduated from the 27^th session of the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute for Police.

As an associate with the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College, Gus has instructed and presented nationally and internationally on a wide range of child protection topics over the past decade. These topics include the scope and scale of the problem of missing, abducted and endangered children; initial law enforcement planning and response to missing and abducted child incidents; leadership issues around these case types; AMBER Alert program policy and procedural considerations; and Child Abduction Response Team (CART) development, policy and procedures. Mr. Paidousis also serves as an assessor for AATTAP's CART Certification process.

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Tribal officials and AMBER Alert partners gathered for a child protection symposium on June 1-2, 2017, in Bismarck, North Dakota, to share ideas on helping children in Indian Country. The symposium included presentations on child exploitation, human trafficking, and endangered and abducted children.

Presentations addressed the latest tools and technologies to support AMBER Alert programs and ways to promote long-term solutions for public safety in Tribal communities. Speakers included Human Trafficking Victim Advocate Cindy McCain, North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp and a child sex trafficking survivor. The 2-day symposium was free of cost.

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The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is recommending a simplification of the state’s AMBER Alert program. The KBI reviewed the system following concerns raised when an AMBER Alert failed to go out to cellphones after a mother and 3 children were abducted. The report recommends speeding up the process by giving more officers authority to request an alert. Other recommendations include:

Creating a checklist to be used when activating an AMBER Alert
Inviting media to participate in AMBER Alert reviews
Establishing an advisory board that meets annually
Focusing on technological advances for the program

The parents of a 10-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered 3 years ago are asking Missouri legislators to change the state’s AMBER Alert system. The parents of Hailey Owens and the parents of the alleged suspect are supporting “Hailey’s Law” which would integrate the AMBER Alert System with 2 other law enforcement computer systems so officers could enter incident information digitally. Both families say more could have been done to save Owens if the AMBER Alert, including the suspect’s license plate number, had gone out earlier. The bill has been given the green light by a Missouri House of Representatives committee.

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A British Columbia social worker is hoping Canada will create a new alert for missing at-risk children that do not fit the criteria for an AMBER Alert. Patricia McDonald says an “Alex Alert” is needed to prevent what happened to Alexandra Radita 4 years ago. The 15-year-old boy weighed only 37 pounds and was covered in bedsores and infections after a judge returned him to his parents. Emil and Rodica Radita were found guilty of first degree murder for starving and neglecting their son. McDonald would like an alert that can be issued to authorities across provinces to assist in locating and rescuing at-risk children who disappear.

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) continues to work with countries around the world to make sure AMBER Alerts work and missing and abducted children come home safely. In 2015, ICMEC released the Model Missing Child Framework, which outlines 12 key criteria countries should consider when developing a national strategy/response for missing children. The framework assists countries with building strong, well-rounded national responses, and to facilitate more efficient investigations, management and resolution of missing children cases.

ICMEC and AMBER Alert Europe co-authored and published the Rapid Emergency Child Alert System Framework in 2016. This year ICMEC released Photo Distribution Framework, which offers a strategy for photo distribution to stakeholders, media and the public in the search for a missing child. The document also clarifies the differences between a photo distribution strategy and an AMBER Alert system. AMBER Alert Europe has also created Understanding and Managing Risk in the Context of Missing Persons, an extensive review of the difficulty of determining risk and different elements to consider in a missing person case.

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A mother was carrying groceries into her home when a teenager jumped into her white SUV and sped off. The vehicle was running, the keys were still in the ignition and her 11-month son was still strapped in his car seat. The Baltimore, Maryland, Police Department got the call at 1:30 p.m. on October 26, 2016.

Police officers originally reported the case as a carjacking because of a language barrier with the mother. They soon found out about the child inside the vehicle.

Sergeant Deborah Flory of the Maryland State Police is also the state’s AMBER Alert Coordinator. She was in a parking lot and headed to an interview on an unrelated case when she received information about the abduction and AMBER Alert request at 2:05 p.m.

“My partner and I always have our laptops with wireless routers ready so we are able to get an AMBER Alert out without delay from our vehicles,” said Flory. She quickly determined the case met the criteria for an AMBER Alert: the victim was under the age of 18 and police had verified the abduction; the carjacking showed the child was in danger and descriptive information was available for the public about the suspect, victim and vehicle. The AMBER Alert was issued at 2:34 p.m.

“I am always on pins and needles until I find out the child has been located and I can cancel the alert,” said Flory.

The AMBER Alert was distributed to all law enforcement agencies and media in Maryland, including the state’s Coordination and Analysis Center, Center for Missing and Unidentified Persons, Highway Administration and Lottery. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was also notified. The alerts were posted on social media, highway signs, toll booths and cell phones through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA). The vehicle’s license plate was also entered into the state’s license plate reader program.

Charlmaine Wilson and Omar Parrine were walking along the street when they received the AMBER Alert on their cell phones; they spotted a toddler matching the alert description in his car seat on a sidewalk next to a porch.

“It’s cruel, unbelievable and don’t make sense,” said Wilson to WJZ-TV. “I thought it was a doll baby but when I went towards the house, it was a real baby.”

“The baby was kicking, crying and screaming,” said Parrine. “I usually don’t take this way home from school but something told me to take this way today. It’s a blessing.” Police recovered the child at 4:00 p.m. and the AMBER Alert was canceled 5 minutes later. The baby was unharmed, but taken to the hospital as a precaution. The stolen SUV was located and the suspect was taken into custody.

Flory felt relief when the child was found and is thankful for the 2 young people who responded to the alert. “That is what makes the AMBER Alert system work,” she said. “The alert is reaching everyone and they did their part.”

She also credits the Baltimore police officers for acting quickly. “They made the decision and requested the alert within 30 minutes after the child went missing,” said Flory “This is key for recovering a child.”

Maryland’s AMBER Alert program started in 2003 and Flory has been the coordinator since the beginning. She shares duties on the Child Recovery Unit with Corporal Chris Heid. They also oversee Silver Alerts, critical Missing children cases, parental abductions and cases involving juvenile victims of human trafficking for the Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force.

During the past 14 years, Maryland has received 160 requests to issue AMBER Alert, approving activation of alerts in 39 cases. Flory and her team work hard to swiftly yet carefully make decisions in these cases, making sure AMBER Alerts are used when the required information is available, and then issuing an alert so the public can help bring the child home safely. Flory has this simple advice for everyone else involved with AMBER Alerts: “Be prepared.”

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Federal lawmakers are considering the “The AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2017.” The act would make tribes eligible for Department of Justice grants for developing and implementing AMBER Alert communication plans on Tribal lands. The bipartisan legislation is in response to the 2016 fatal abduction of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike on the Navajo Nation. The case raised questions about gaps in communication and coordination between tribal and local law enforcement. The standing legislative committee of the Navajo Nation voted in July to support the measure. Learn more at https://www.tribaldatabase.org.

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Representatives from the U.S., Canada and Mexico are working to make sure the AMBER Alert systems in their countries and bordering areas work seamlessly when cross-border child abduction cases occur. The 2017 AMBER Alert Symposium included a panel discussion about what is being done to return abducted children who are taken across a national border.

Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas is the director of the National AMBER Alert program in Mexico. She worked with the AATTAP Southern Border Initiative to start the child abduction alert in Mexico in 2012. She said AMBER Alerts are saving lives in Mexico because everyone cooperates.

“We try to create an AMBER Alert culture so it is contagious and everyone is involved in finding children,” said Cardenas. “We are committed to families who are suffering because their child is missing.”

Mexico issues local, regional and national AMBER Alerts. The one noticeable difference in Mexico’s program is that AMBER Alerts are issued only for children under age 16.

Canada has had AMBER Alert programs in all of its provinces since 2002. In 2009, Canada created a national AMBER Alert working group to provide more coordination, training and technology for all agencies. A protocol was also created to work with all U.S. border-states.

Julie Morel is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal with the National Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Division. She would like to streamline the process when Canada contacts the U.S. about a cross-border child abduction case. “We are working to have a better system so we have a one-stop number for Canada available, so these lead agencies can be more closely involved.”

Maranda Everson, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Border Patrol Agent, agreed cooperation with Canada and Mexico is key to resolving child abduction cases quickly. She said her Mexican and Canadian counterparts have been great at inspecting all vehicles entering and leaving the country.

Stacy Pearson is the Louisiana Missing Persons Clearing House Manager and AMBER Alert Coordinator. Even though Louisiana is not a border state, she said she has had numerous missing person cases from Canada - even though the state is closer to Mexico. “We do not pay attention to borders,” said Pearson, emphasizing that all cases are given swift attention. “We are all going to work together and establish our own recovery railroad to return children home.”

INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL ABDUCTIONS

More parents kidnap their children from the U.S. than any other country in the world, according to Anna McGahuey, an officer with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues. The State Department received reports of 446 parental abductions involving 629 children during 2016; yet McGahuey believes the number is much higher.

“That is a lot of children but it is likely two or three times that many because parents do not know about us,” said McGahuey.

The U.S. and 82 other countries follows the Hague Convention’s standards of practices for custody cases. McGahuey spoke about the important features of the Hague Convention, noting rules recognizing the child’s habitual residence rather than a sole focus on citizenship.

“If a non-documented person calls our office we will help them,” she said. “In this office, citizenship is blind. Whatever works to recover the child is important to me.”

REACTION FROM INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANTS

AMBER Alert partners from Canada and Mexico said the symposium offered an invaluable experience. Winnipeg Police Service Sergeant Darryl Ramkissoon said he will take valuable lessons home. “I would like to build a better working relationship with other organizations in Canada,” he said. “We need to break down the borders like the U.S. has done in their states.”

Andrea Scott is a Detective and also works for the Winnipeg Police Service. “It is great to learn we all have similar issues but that we are all working together with the same goal, which is bringing kids home and preventing them from going missing.”

Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas said the symposium was a very important way to meet with her counterparts in the other countries. “My objective is that we have a clear path to communicate with the U.S. and Canada,” said Cardenas. “We want to work like there are no borders.”

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On June 6, 2017, a 14-year-old girl with a history of suicide attempts and other mental health problems went missing in Georgia. The Gordon County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office received a call at 11 a.m. from the girl’s mother and reported she saw her daughter the night before, but she was gone when she went to look for her in the morning.

Detectives discovered surveillance video of the girl at a hotel in Calhoun, Georgia. They also learned she left with an adult male and female she had met through social media in a blue 2017 Subaru Impreza. The Sheriff’s Office contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) about the alleged kidnapping and the possible issuance of an AMBER Alert.

“I was worried for the welfare of the child and began reviewing what else could be done to recover her,” said Georgia AMBER Alert Coordinator Brad Parks.

“I was also concerned about the mental health of the victim and the fact adults traveled from outside the state to remove her from her medical care,” added Georgia Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager Emily Butler.

Georgia issued an AMBER Alert at 4:30 p.m. on June 6, 2017. The alert updated notified law enforcement, media and social media platforms, and was posted on transportation signs. Data on the suspects’ vehicle was also placed into license plate recognition cameras.

The GBI also asked the Tennessee Bureau of Identification (TBI) to issue an AMBER Alert, as the agency had cell phone information indicating the victim and suspects were traveling to that state.

Tennessee AMBER Alert Coordinator Margie Quin explained that Tennessee, under its AMBER Alert plan, is able to issue an alert for another state after answering two questions: “It has to meet our criteria,” she said. “There also has to be a nexus to Tennessee; we have a reason to believe they are here, or coming here.”

The Loudon County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Department began pursuing the suspects’ vehicle after they spotted a reckless driver. At 10:30 p.m., the 14-year-old victim was found safe in the vehicle with no injuries. Deputies took the female driver and male passenger into custody.

“I think anytime a child is found quickly after an AMBER Alert is issued, that is evidence the system works,” said Quin.

Everyone involved in this case believes cooperation and relationships were key factors in making this AMBER Alert work.

“The TBI and GBI have really close relationships. We work together and we meet with each other,” added Quin. “This is not just a telephone relationship. When you have a critical relationship, it is not going to take an hour to find the right person to talk to and get things done really quickly.”

“The aspect of established contacts with individuals within state agencies is priceless,” added Parks. “It is important to have the ability to directly contact the people who can respond without any ‘red tape’ or lag time.”

Parks and Quin urge all AMBER Alert partners to get to know their counterparts in other states. “Do not wait to establish working relationships with surrounding states,” said Parks. “Have those numbers, names and processes ready and accessible.”

“Know who to call,” added Quin. “Time saves lives.”

“The TBI and GBI have really close relationships. We work together and we meet with each other. This is not just a telephone relationship. When you have a critical relationship, it is not going to take an hour to find the right person to talk to and get things done really quickly. Know who to call. Time saves lives.”

-Tennessee AMBER Alert Coordinator Margie Quin

“The aspect of established contacts with individuals within state agencies is priceless. It is important to have the ability to directly contact the people who can respond without any ‘red tape’ or lag time.”

-Georgia AMBER Alert Coordinator Brad Parks

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“He is very spiritually mature and voices his opinion out,” said Lowdog. “He has a big heart and he wants to do what he can to help.”

CHALLENGES IN INDIAN COUNTRY

AATTAP director Jim Walters has been working for years to help bring training and resources to Indian Country. Although much has been accomplished, he said most tribes do not have what is needed to slow the tide of missing and abducted children from their communities.

“Child abductions are down in the U.S. with one exception, and that is in Indian Country,” said Walters. “Children in Indian Country are especially vulnerable.”

Walters emphasized the problem of lacking data on missing and abducted children from tribal lands, noting the actual numbers are unknown because no federal or Native American agency is collecting that information.

Walters cited the murder of Ashlynne Mike as a tragic example of the challenges being faced in Indian Country. When Ashlynne was first discovered missing on May 3, 2016, her brother ran two-and-a-half miles to find a car with a phone—but the phone did not work. Twelve hours into the investigation, authorities were still unclear whether the state or the tribe should issue an AMBER Alert.

“Our priority is to save lives,” said Walters. “We can work out the jurisdictional issues later.”

The Navajo Nation is now working with Arizona and Utah to improve the AMBER Alert program on the reservation.

Walters offered other examples of unique challenges in Indian Country.

The unique history of cultural intervention and jurisdictional complexities
High turnover and lack of staffing
Lack of understanding of Indian Child Welfare laws
Use of the internet to lure Native American children away from their homes, yet these children are most often reported as runaways

Ashlynne Mike’s case did bring to light one very strong feature of Native American communities - they have the best trackers in the world. Walters gave examples of the superior skill and coordination tribal law enforcement and community members demonstrate when conducting searches. He discussed other child protection efforts and collaborative approaches that can help make a difference in Native American community efforts to prevent child exploitation and abduction.

Needs assessments should and will continue to be conducted in more than 100 Native American communities
State and community strategies with strong leadership from the tribal government must be developed
Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs) comprised of tribal, state and federal agencies should be championed, developed and maintained
Prevention education in elementary schools and additional training for law enforcement should be developed as a key component of a comprehensive child protection strategy

“Children are a precious resource,” said Walters. “We have to take a tribal approach where every member is responsible for the community. We want to assure the victim’s family and community that all resources are utilized in the successful recovery of a child.”

More information about child protection resources available for Indian Country can be found at the Tribal Database website – https://www.tribaldatabase.org.

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What is unique to your AMBER Alert and Clearinghouse program, and what do you think helps make your program(s) successful?

The Indiana Clearinghouse is a section of our Fusion Center. When an AMBER Alert is requested, all resources necessary are deployed whether or not an AMBER Alert is actually activated. This includes analytical support from the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center, Public Information Office, Cybercrime & Investigative Technologies Section, Indiana Crimes against Children, K-9 and additional investigators and officers.

Our success is due to close relationships between the personnel involved with the decision making around an AMBER Alert. Our procedures and request forms are on our website for quick access. We educate law enforcement to call the clearinghouse as soon as possible and we can assist them with an AMBER Alert or any missing person situation.

What challenges do you face in maintaining the effectiveness and strength of your Clearinghouse program?

Our number one issue is missing persons not being entered into NCIC immediately. Because AMBER Alerts do not occur frequently, agencies, officers and dispatchers are likely finding themselves involved with an alert for the first time; this inexperience with AMBER Alerts can sometimes cause a delay. We prefer agencies call us as soon as possible so we can assist them from the start to speed up the process.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert and Clearinghouse programs in the future?

I would like to see a nationwide platform where other states can communicate with each other, and with a push of a few buttons all processes needed for an AMBER Alert to happen can be performed at the same time. Currently we use about five different entities to carry out all of the functions, including emails, phone calls and other software programs.

Please share details about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case. How did the AMBER Alert and operations of the Clearinghouse support the outcomes? What were the most important lessons learned?

We activated the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) for the first time in September 2016, and law enforcement and the public were energized and very supportive in finding missing children. We also learned there would be backlash no matter what you do. We received questions such as whether it is necessary to activate AMBER Alerts statewide or in the middle of the night. However, our goal is to bring missing children home safely and we have better success if we notify the public by all means available.

How have your career and life experiences, including your work as a Clearinghouse Manager, strengthened your commitment to helping endangered, missing and abducted children?

With the first AMBER Alert in which I was involved, both of the children were killed. I am committed to doing everything within my power to prevent that from happening again.

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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 taken by a masked gunman in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Wetterling shared her story with nearly 100 AMBER Alert Coordinators and Missing Person Clearinghouse Managers from the U.S., Canada and Mexico at the 2017 AMBER Alert Symposium held June 27-29, 2017, in Bloomington, Minnesota.

“We were alone,” she said. “I knew nothing about law enforcement. I knew nothing about your world.”

Wetterling was a stay-at-home mom when her son was abducted but soon became one of the nation’s fiercest advocates for missing and abducted children, all the while continuing to search tirelessly for her son. Soft-spoken, yet amazingly strong, Patty shared with symposium participants important lessons learned in the 27 years through which she and her family persevered in the search for Jacob.

Of the many lessons and insights shared, she explained how important it is to have a family spokesperson to talk to reporters, squelch rumors, keep the story alive and make sure all media outlets are treated fairly.

Wetterling emphasized that the victim’s family needs to be asked the hard questions from the beginning to help with the investigation and build trust for the long term. She added that a multi-jurisdictional task force is critical when a child is abducted, and officers should leave their egos at the door when working on the task force.

“There is a problem of silos in law enforcement,” said Wetterling. As she spoke about this issue and how law enforcement through training and preparedness, can overcome this dangerous barrier to swift and effective response in child abduction cases she emphasized, “It is not about you. It is about the child.”

On September 1, 2016, Danny James Heinrich led investigators to the burial site of Jacob Wetterling and admitted to sexually assaulting and killing him. “You search for 27 years and eight days and it was over,” said Wetterling. “I did not know where to go for what was next.”

Wetterling plans to continue talking to law enforcement groups and others involved with missing and abducted child cases to help increase understanding about these cases and improve preparation for effective response; all in an effort to make things better the next time a child is taken.

She said Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard, Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck should give every parent hope their missing child may come home. “Never give up. Ever. You cannot give up on these cases,” said Wetterling.

FIVE YEAR REUNION

James Walters, AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Administrator, welcomed new and familiar faces to the first AMBER Alert Symposium in five years. The symposium was presented by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Walters encouraged participants to take advantage of the more than 130 AATTAP classes that can be requested at no cost for customized delivery in their areas, as well as those training courses which can be completed online anytime 24/7. “There is no reason not to get AMBER Alert training,” said Walters. “We need to go forward. We cannot go backwards.”

Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator with OJJDP, remarked on the importance of coming together, noting the symposium was designed to bring key AMBER Alert program partners together to foster coordination and collaboration. “We really do rely on you, the boots on the ground, who eat and breathe this every day,” she said. “There is no issue stronger in my heart than the return of missing and abducted children.”

NEW IN 2017

Dan Mills, NCMEC Training Program Manager, noted that 60 percent of all AMBER Alerts involve suspects who are family members. “Even though they are with a family member, this does not mean they are safe,” said Mills. “You never stop searching until the child comes home.”

NCMEC tracks all attempted abductions in the U.S. “A lot of abduction attempts are not successful on the first try,” said Mills. “We can look for trends and patterns when a child is missing.”

Mills explained that NCMEC offers a wealth of resources to help law enforcement, families and community members with missing and abducted child cases.

A video to help searchers find missing children with autism
Age progression photos that can be used when a child has been missing for an extended period of time
Advanced forensic techniques to produce pictures of victims who are recovered deceased
Team HOPE, a support group of volunteers who have experienced having a missing child
Team Adam, a group of retired law enforcement officers who can provide expertise during a missing child case

Updates were provided on the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the national warning system used to disseminate Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). On January 1, 2013, IPAWS began distributing AMBER Alerts to all cell phones in the geographical area of the abducted child.

Mark Lucero, IPAWS Engineering Chief, shared information on upcoming improvements for WEA.

A fourth type of alert for public safety will now be issued in addition to AMBER Alerts and other alerts for national and extreme weather emergencies
Hyperlinks to website addresses and phone numbers will be added in November 2017
Messages will be available in Spanish in November 2018
Message length will increase from 90 to 360 characters in May 2019

In discussing the composition of these messages and how IPAWS and WEA support them, Lucero noted how vital license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions are for issuing AMBER Alerts. He also emphasized how training w

hich includes testing and operation of IPAWS and related systems will promote stronger readiness the next time a child is taken. “Test, train, exercise and make mistakes,” he said.

THE BIG PICTURE

Drew Evans, Superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, encouraged participants to review and refresh their AMBER Alert programs. “There is not one AMBER Alert call that I am not on pins and needles until l know what happened,” said Evans. “It is hard to make incremental changes. I urge you to make your programs better.”

Tracy Perzel, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, also challenged everyone to do more to bring children home safely. “Our job is to pursue those who hurt our children,” she said. “It says a lot about our country if we do not protect our children.”

“The AMBER Alert system is a crucial tool to quickly, loudly and wisely alert the public about the need for help. There is no other way to bring the power of observation from law enforcement and people going about their business,” noted Perzel.

Louisiana Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager and AMBER Alert Coordinator Stacey Pearson summed up the symposium with these words: “The contacts we made these last three days and the relationships we have made will save more children.”

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Mishelle Bowen has been an Administrative Assistant with Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisconsin, since 2001. Mishelle supports AATTAP programs, meetings, and special events.

Mishelle works on a variety of projects including assisting in maintaining the AATTAP Distance Learning Programs, AMBER Alert Partners contact lists and group memberships, class registrations and student databases. Mishelle is skilled at reconciling program paperwork. She coordinates critical supply chain operations, including the shipping, receiving and inventory of all AATTAP materials and equipment for the Appleton FVTC office. Mishelle assists in preparation of statistical reports for program administration, as well as evaluation summaries and pre- and post-training/event questionnaires in support of continuous program improvement. She also supports the NCJTC’s staff and associate database which includes over 300 members.

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Jill Nysse is a Project Coordinator with expertise in office oversight and coordination. Her more than 15 years of progressive administrative experience have made her thorough and effective in organization and time management.

Jill processes training program registrations to ensure accuracy and compliance with federal grant requirements. She coordinates all AATTAP travel and lodging negotiations, logistics and documentation. She also prepares statistical reports for program administration, as well as evaluation summaries and pre- and post-training/event questionnaires in support of continuous program improvement.

Jill serves as an essential liaison between AATTAP’s customers, stakeholders, partners and personnel, coordinating all requests for training, technical assistance, meetings and events; she guides and supports inquiries and requests from inception through delivery, working with a wide variety of professions and officials including mayors, chiefs of police, police officers, judges, prosecutors, school officials, legislators, Native American tribal members, Hispanic contingents, and federal across the U.S.

Jill has extensive experience in providing onsite program support, and has assisted in the coordination of multiple conference and symposium events in the areas of missing, abducted and exploited children. Jill hold two Associates Degrees in Meeting and Event Management and Administrative Assistance from Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC).

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Joan Collins retired from the Rhode Island State Police in June 2021 after 28 years of service. From 1996 to 2021 she served as Police Communications Specialist Supervisor overseeing the RILETS Telecommunications Unit. Joan was the RISF/NCIC Quality Assurance Officer, responsible for auditing and training all RILETS users within Rhode Island.

Other duties and assignments throughout the years involved assisting with implementation, developing procedures and training for Abducted Children (AMBER) Alerts, Missing Senior Citizen (SILVER) Alerts, and Violent Threats against Police (BLUE) Alerts. She also served as the Sex Offender Database manager, Rhode Island Most Wanted site manager, and worked with the Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (RIICAC).

Prior to working with the Rhode Island State Police, Joan worked with the Warwick, RI, Police Department from 1982 to 1992 as a Communications Dispatch Clerk and Communications Specialist Dispatcher. From 1989-1994 Joan served as a Reserve Police Officer with Warwick Police.

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Melissa Blasing serves as a program manager focusing on the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative. Melissa also manages and facilitates the design and delivery of training and technical assistance and serves as a coordinator for a assigned AATTAP courses. Melissa writes and edits reports and documents, coordinates training and technical assistance activities, provides follow-up support to recipients for assistance, and provides guidance and program support for NCJTC-AATTAP Associates. Melissa also provides development oversight for AATTAP’s webinar series.

Ms. Blasing has worked with multiple organizations on sexual assault victim assistance and leadership development programs with at-risk youth. She is a leader in program creation, development, and outreach. Melissa Blasing has Bachelor and Master Degrees in Criminal Justice from St. Cloud State University.

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Bonnie Ferenbach is a Program Manager for AATTAP’s eLearning, website and publications project deliverables. She coordinates AMBER Alert’s AMBER Advocate and AMBER Alert in Indian Country websites and serves as the primary contact for content, design and functional components for all technology projects. Bonnie is an experienced curriculum designer and instructor, is skilled in public speaking and presentation, and serves as a founding member of the NCJTC’s Distance Learning team.

Bonnie also coordinates the development, editing and deployment of the AMBER Advocate newsletter. In this role, she works with AATTAP Associates and personnel to produce a high-quality publication reflecting the work of AMBER Alert partners across the US and internationally. Bonnie is also responsible for the coordination of AMBER Alert’s major publications and related holdings.

Representing the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program, Bonnie served on the executive team and training committee of the NCMEC Missing Kids Readiness Project and Public Safety Telecommunications Best Practices Project, which authored APCO ANS1.101 National Standard for Public Safety Telecommunicators When Responding to Calls of Missing, Abducted and Sexually Exploited Children. She is a lead trainer for the AATTAP’s Telecommunications Best Practices for Missing and Abducted Children (TELMAC) curriculum, which provides law enforcement and PSAP personnel with critically important background and operational guidelines in the area of call handling, intake and data management in cases of missing, abducted and sexually exploited children.

Bonnie was a member of the Illinois State Police for over a decade and for the last six years of her tenure there, served as a Regional Manager within the Division of Administration, Communications Services Bureau. In that role, she was responsible for administration, oversight and coordination of dispatch, data management, and emergency call-taking operations in central and downstate Illinois. While with the ISP, she also served as a member of the ISP training academy, working in training and professional development initiatives in law enforcement including competency-based programs, curriculum development, instructional design, authentic assessment methodologies, and team/group facilitation.

In 2001, Bonnie began close collaboration with the Illinois AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Children’s Clearinghouse Manager to prepare for the implementation of the Illinois AMBER Alert program in 2002. She coordinated the development, design, training and implementation of the telecommunications operations necessary to support the Illinois State Police's role as the control point for the issuance of all Illinois AMBER Alerts. She coordinated the development, with exceptional input from front line dispatch staff, AMBER Alert control point internal communications policies, procedures, and training materials. The experiences and lessons learned through this process inspired her to work with other public safety telecommunications professionals to develop national training and resources to support telecommunicator/call-takers in their ability to provide effective and compassionate first response to families and communities in cases of missing, abducted and sexually exploited children. Bonnie holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy from Millikin University.

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Sharon Williams is a Program Manager with Fox Valley Technical College’s National Criminal Justice Training Center and the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program. Ms. Williams has extensive experience spanning 40 years, holding positions specializing in criminal justice in the areas of program management, project coordination, product development, public relations, subject matter specialist, and direct client service. In these capacities, she has and continues to work directly and extensively with criminal justice practitioners and policymakers across all spectrums and levels of government, and community-based agencies and organizations committed to provide comprehensive responses in support of national, state, local and tribal initiatives exploring effective solutions to common problems to enhance public safety and advance crime prevention efforts. She has excellent verbal and communication skills and extensive research capabilities.

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James Walters is responsible for developing and delivering training and technical assistance to law enforcement, prosecutors, social services, child protection officials and first responders in investigative techniques, program development and policy issues related to child protection, exploitation, missing and abducted children and youth at high risk of victimization.

With over thirty-five years of diversified experience as a peace officer, USAF Security Forces Supervisor, technical training instructor, program manager, investigator, special weapons and tactics team leader, and Regional SWAT Commander, Jim Walters is a nationally and internationally accredited subject matter expert and master training instructor. He has trained over 10,000 peace officers, military personnel, child protection officials, first responders, judicial officers and government leaders on a wide range of topics, from criminal investigative techniques to anti-terrorism and intelligence operations.

He has published articles and research into human trafficking, child exploitation and victimization in the US southern border region, as well as South and Central America. He has worked with survivors of human trafficking to develop insight into the causative factors which lead to victimization and has travelled internationally to study conditions globally in order to develop comprehensive strategies to combat trafficking and exploitation. Having served as a patrol officer, investigator and public safety consultant to tribal communities, Mr. Walters has also conducted research and evaluation of programs in tribal communities on topics related to high risk youth, trafficking and exploitation of Native American youth, public safety programs and technology facilitated crimes against children in Indian Country. Mr. Walters helped develop AATTAP’s Liaison program, and served as the first liaison for the “AMBER in Indian County” initiative which builds capacity in tribal communities to respond to child protection issues such as abductions, exploitation and human trafficking. Mr. Walters was also the AATTAP Liaison to the US Southern Border Initiative, conducting joint training and technical assistance with officials in the US and Mexico to improve communications, collaboration and response to issues related to cross border abductions, child sex trafficking, exploitation and sex tourism in the US–Mexican border region. As a result of this program, Mexican officials announced the implementation of Mexico’s “Alerta AMBER Mexico” Child Abduction Protocol in 2013.

On behalf of the U.S. State Department and Department of Defense, he has conducted training and technical assistance on the African continent, South and Central America as well as Europe, on issues of human trafficking, child exploitation, counter terrorism, leadership, policing, ethics and tactics.

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Nicole Morell has worked for the Massachusetts State Police for 21 years and became the state’s AMBER Alert coordinator in 2007. Sergeant Morell also worked with the Missing Persons Clearinghouse for three years. She previously worked as a detective for the Worcester County State Police Detective Unit and investigated major crimes, including the disappearance and murder of Molly Bish. Sergeant Morrell also worked as an undercover narcotics detective.

What is unique to your AMBER Alert and Clearinghouse program, and what do you think helps make your programs successful?

One of the unique aspects of our program is the cohesive partnership between the New England states and the importance these states place on holding annual meetings to build and maintain strong relationships among the coordinators. They allow each agency to gain knowledge and experience through past issued alerts and review of AMBER Alert plans and criteria.

Due to the cohesiveness of the Northeastern states; all states agreed that when an alert is confirmed or credible evidence exists that a suspect has crossed into another state, there will be no time delay in issuing the alert.

In terms of our partnership with media, our program met with the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association a few years ago to discuss best practices for an activation. As a result of the communication and understanding built from that effort, the media has not prematurely announced an alert and waits for our office to send them a press release advising them an alert has been activated.

Since the passing of the Missing Person/AMBER Alert legislation, I have been a sitting member of the Missing Persons Task Force Committee. The task force discusses ways to improve missing person (juvenile) investigations.

What challenges do you face in maintaining the effectiveness and strength of your AMBER Alert and Clearinghouse programs?

Funding and lack of manpower.

What would you like to see happen with your AMBER Alert and Clearinghouse programs in the future? What is your vision for the programs?

Combine all AMBER Alert and Clearinghouse programs. When the agencies are unified, they have so much more potential in helping to resolve missing children cases.

Please share details about your most memorable success story in working a missing child case. How did the AMBER Alert and operations of the Clearinghouse support the outcomes? What were the most important lessons learned?

A homicide occurred in July 2011 in upstate New York. The New York State Police did not activate immediately but requested Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut to activate, which they did. During the after-action meeting, we discussed the importance of the requesting agency agreeing to activate as well. While an alert is not normally activated to locate a suspect wanted for fleeing from a crime scene, the requesting agency should issue an alert for several reasons: the abductor is the suspect in a homicide; the chance of a child being harmed or murdered is heightened; and the child is considered to be in danger due to the police search, which could result in a motor vehicle pursuit or violence when the suspect is located.

How have your career and life experiences, including your work as an AMBER Alert Coordinator and Clearinghouse Manager, strengthened your commitment to helping endangered, missing and abducted children?

Since the Massachusetts AMBER Alert program’s inception in 2002, we have maintained a 100 percent success rate. I credit this to the investigative knowledge of our team, which consists of one full-time and two part-time coordinators with 30 years of collective investigative experience. Our team also has seven detective captains and majors from our Division of Investigative Services. Our team understands the importance of acting quickly but effectively to recover our most vulnerable population.

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Craig Burge works for the Illinois State Police (ISP). He has been the state AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Person Clearinghouse Manager since 2011. He started his career with the ISP working on sex offender registration and management. His experience with providing sex offender information with the legislature and the public prepared him in his mission to promote child safety.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE YOUR PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL?

Our AMBER Alert program is simple and effective. Law enforcement, broadcasters and the public want a program that is easy to comprehend. We have one alerting system with the same criteria since its inception so everybody is familiar with how it works. What makes our program so successful is our AMBER Alert partners and their dedication to child safety. We have an AMBER Alert Task force that is made up of various agencies, entities and associations that really want to help with spreading the word about an abducted child. We have a tremendous relationship with the people at the Illinois Broadcasters Association who dedicate their airwaves for AMBER Alert messages and child abduction safety issues. The support the AMBER Alert program receives from these partners is what makes our program a success.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM?

As the AMBER Alert program evolves, it must grow and change with the times. People are always finding new ways to get their information. The AMBER Alert program must utilize the newest social networks and technologies to provide the public with information through the platforms they are using to access their news and alerts. It is always a challenge to find the appropriate funding and resources necessary to stay on top of the technology advances. Our AMBER Alert program is a privately funded program. No state resources are appropriated for its use. That makes building relationships with private agencies and organizations extremely important.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE? WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE PROGRAM?

I would like to see the AMBER Alert program be connected in every state. I would like to see a day when an AMBER Alert is issued in Illinois, and if we need that Alert to be released in another state, it can be done in a matter of minutes. Child abductions are not bound by geographic borders and neither should AMBER Alerts. The hope is one day all states will be connected to the same system which will allow AMBER Alerts to be sent out seamlessly across state lines. When time is of the essence, we need this quick connection with other states.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE AMBER ALERT SUCCESS STORY.

It was September 2012. A 3-week-old child was discovered by a farmer and his wife because they heard the AMBER Alert and decided to go out and look for the child. The child was left on the side of the road in a rural area, but the farmer was able to hear the faint cries of the child as he was driving along in his diesel pickup truck. It is a truly amazing story with an outcome that still brings a smile to my face.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED, MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

I have been in law enforcement for almost 18 years, mostly dealing with child safety issues. I can tell you there is no better feeling you can have in your law enforcement career than to return a child home safely. It is a feeling that makes everything worth it.

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Margie Quin was promoted in 2007 to Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) which included duties as the state AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Person Clearinghouse Manager. She also began working on human trafficking cases in 2010. Quinn specialized in electronic surveillance for drug cases when she started with TBI in 1998. Prior to joining TBI, Quinn served for 5 years with the Cobb County, Georgia, Police Department.

WHAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HELPS MAKE YOUR PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL?

The Tennessee AMBER Alert program has been successful from its inception because of the great partnerships that were formed at the beginning. The Tennessee broadcasters, Department of Transportation and the National Weather Service were instrumental in building a great partnership that elevated the credibility of the initiative statewide. For the last 10 years, Tennessee has tried to stay on the cutting edge of child abduction response. We certified our Child Abduction Response Team (CART) program in 2009, the fourth team in the country to achieve certification. We have re-certified every year since. We also continue to train and work with local agencies to improve the immediate and initial response to missing children incidents. The state has gone from averaging 10-12 activations per year to 5-6 per year over the last 2 years. We believe this is because of the efficiency in response at the local level.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN MAINTAINING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM?

The challenges in maintaining the effectiveness of the AMBER program are technical and environmental. The technical challenges continue to evolve as technology improves. The quick notification to the public is still the key to recovery in so many cases. That being said, AMBER, along with other alerts, must compete for the attention of the American public. In this technology age, peoples’ attention is often divided between numerous things and across a wide array of devices. Capturing the public’s undivided attention is the great challenge in 2017 and beyond.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN WITH YOUR AMBER ALERT PROGRAM IN THE FUTURE?

The program should continue to evolve and change with “the times.” I would like to see the program devote more time to training and awareness in 2017.

PLEASE SHARE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE AMBER ALERT SUCCESS STORY.

In 10 years, there have been so many cases. One stands out recently that was a case out of Knoxville, Tennessee. A woman was murdered by her estranged husband and he took their 3-year-old child. He used her ATM card in Ohio, and within 45 minutes, Ohio activated its system and a citizen quickly called about being behind the suspect’s vehicle. In that case, the AMBER Alert activation directly resulted in the recovery of the child. It worked in the exact way it was designed to work.

HOW HAVE YOUR CAREER AND LIFE EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING YOUR WORK AS AN AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, STRENGTHENED YOUR COMMITMENT TO HELPING ENDANGERED, MISSING AND ABDUCTED CHILDREN?

How has it not? That might be easier to answer. If we aren’t out here working for the kids, who are we working for? There is no more vulnerable population than children. They are also our most precious resource. We must continue to do all that we can to protect kids in this country.

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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 be notified for many abducted children in extreme danger.

The Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research conducted the study with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) on all sex trafficking cases in 2014. The study included 190 victims in 159 separate sex trafficking cases. The findings were presented in Las Vegas on February 13, 2017.

“Law enforcement has not let researchers in to do this type of study before,” said Domique Roe-Sepowitz, Director of ASU’s Sex Trafficking Intervention Research Office. “We saw pictures, read interviews, found strengths and ways we could do things better.”

Roe-Sepowitz and her team of researchers found two-thirds of the sex trafficking victims were minors ranging in age from 12 to 17. The average teenage victim was 16 years old. One in five victims was brought to Las Vegas from out of state, mostly from California.

THE LAS VEGAS EXPERIENCE

The Las Vegas metropolitan area has a population of two million people, yet experiences an additional transient population of 42 million visitors annually. LVMPD Captain Sasha Larkin said officers are building relationships with casinos, hotels, churches and members of the LGBT community to raise awareness of the problem, increase the capacity for businesses and individuals to assist in identifying and reporting suspected trafficking, and to better equip all involved to do their part in helping sex trafficking victims.

“We take this personal,” said Larkin. “It is our responsibility for all of us in the community to take it personal. What if we raised awareness in the community so there were never victims in the first place?”

The study found less than a quarter of victims and less than 20% of minor victims were willing to cooperate with law enforcement.

“There are those who believe what happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas,” said Kevin McMahill, LVMPD Undersheriff. “This is not the case for human traffickers. Human trafficking doesn’t stay here. It is brought here to live off the suffering of others and we have to stop it.”

McMahill noted many of the victims who were not reported missing were in the foster care system. “Those who are already disenfranchised fall through the cracks a second time and become preyed upon again.”

Nevada authorities say the study confirms that new methods must be used to investigate and ultimately prevent sex trafficking crimes, and to better respond to the needs of victims.

“We know brain chemistry changes when a person is exposed to trauma,” said Elynne Greene, LVPMD Victim Services and Trafficking Manager. “Our typical interrogation techniques do not work. We need to engage survivors, because they will teach us how to do our job.”

Finding victims and prosecuting perpetrators can also be a challenge because prostitution is legal in some Nevada counties. Greene said decriminalization would not help because the law is often the only way to provide resources to victims.

She said they are building a 24-hour response team so investigators can get help from advocates at any time they are needed. Those advocates provide safety, support and education to victims who are reluctant to get help. “The ones who are not willing to talk need the most help,” she added.

THE LURE AND THE LOCK

The study provides insight how victims are lured into sex trafficking. The findings illustrate the luring and manipulation at play.

31.5% of victims were recruited through romantic relationships with traffickers.
29% of victims were cultivated through social media.
Victims were also approached on the street and at malls.
10% were kidnapped.

“This is not surprising, but it confirms what we heard in the field and we now have data to support it,” said Jim Walters, Program Manager for the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program. “The child is relying on the trafficker for basic needs. When a young person sees this route as a way to improve their situation, then it becomes dangerous.”

The study found a “Romeo pimp” often identifies himself as a husband or a boyfriend and promises the victim a better future, protection and the finer things of life. The “Guerilla pimp” uses violence and terror to control the victim.

Sex traffickers used different types of violence to keep victims from leaving or making a report to law enforcement. The traffickers used 1 or more of the following: physical violence (56.2%), psychological violence (49.4%) and sexual violence (11.2%). A weapon was used in 13.8% of the cases.

The accounts of the brute violence suffered by sex trafficking victims are staggering; law enforcement, victim service providers with whom they work, and members of the larger Las Vegas community must increase awareness and understanding of the incredibly destabilizing impact such violence has on victims. A sex trafficking survivor at the presentation emphasized more studies need to be done to better understand and reckon with the violence caused by customers. “The closest I came to death was at the hands of a customer,” she said.

MODERN SLAVERY

Wesley Duncan, First Assistant Attorney General of Nevada, referenced a quote from William Wilberforce when he spoke with the English House of Commons in 1789 about the slave trade: “Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know.”

Duncan said more than two centuries later we are still fighting slavery and we still have a duty to warn others. “This is not a third world problem, it is a first world problem,” said Duncan. “This is going on in the streets, the bars and the shopping malls. We need to break up this evil and abolish human trafficking in our lifetime.” Cindy McCain, Chair to break up this evil and abolish human trafficking in our lifetime.” Cindy McCain, Chair of the McCain Institute at ASU’s Human Trafficking Advisory Council, emphasized that public education must be part of the solution. “We need to make human trafficking and slavery part of everyday conversation. The same way we now talk about breast cancer or politics.”

McCain noted efforts underway to stop publications like Backpage from advertising sex trafficking victims and robustly promoting their exploitation. She explained the ride sharing company Uber has joined in the effort to promote awareness and identification with its drivers, citing the recent bravery and commitment of a driver who acted to identify and help rescue a young sex trafficking victim who was a rider in his vehicle. “If we think we are ahead of this, the sex traffickers are still miles ahead,” said McCain. “I have called sex trafficking victims disposable children because they vaporize.”

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Case Analysis Director Angela Aufmuth said the Las Vegas study corroborates what the Center is seeing on a national scale. “What we see repeatedly is that there are many kids being picked up in sex trafficking stings who were never reported missing,” said Aufmuth. “If you have a kid running away over and over again. Instead of thinking they are bad kids, we need to find out what are they running from and what are they running to.”

A CALL TO ACTION

The study clarifies challenges for those involved with AMBER Alert programs due to under- and non-reporting of trafficking victims; namely that trafficked children are often not reported missing, most victims are not willing to let anyone know they are in danger, and if located, most will not cooperate with law enforcement due to the manipulation and coercive control of their traffickers. Researchers found law enforcement agencies are often limited in investigating numerous, highly complex cases. Authorities also struggle to help victims from continued physical violence and psychological or “invisible violence.” Finally, prosecutors find sex trafficking cases are much more difficult to solve and win.

These findings underpin clear recommendations for forming authentic and genuine relationships with victims in order to develop trust and provide safety for them and accountability for the perpetrators. To support this transformation, researchers suggest law enforcement agencies work closely with state Missing Person Clearinghouses and domestic violence and victim service providers to help identify missing children. A victim advocate is needed for all vice or human trafficking investigations units. Additionally, a full-time cyber-investigator should be used to help monitor sex trafficking activity taking place online and through social media.

Finally, researchers say more education is needed for law enforcement, the media and the public. “We need to hold sex traffickers accountable,” concluded LVMPD Undersheriff Kevin McMahill. “We need to keep spreading the message that this is not a victimless crime and will not be tolerated in our community.”

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Law enforcement officials in Christian County, Missouri, and Fort Wayne and Allen Counties in Indiana are encouraging residents to use a new app to help find missing children. The Swift 911 app can be used to help notify the public while officers are working to determine if the case meets the criteria for effective issuance of an AMBER Alert.

Allen County Sheriff David Gladieux said he was not pleased about the time it took to approve and activate a recent AMBER Alert and thought the new system would help prevent any delays.

The app has been used in Christian County to find missing children as well as to notify the public about weather events, gas leaks, bomb threats and other emergencies. The app sends messages by text, email, social media and phone to users in a specific geographical area.

New Jersey lawmakers are considering creating a “Zack Alert” to notify the public when someone flees from a serious accident. The alert is named after 21-year-old Zack Simmons, who was killed by the driver of a black SUV.

“Lives could be saved because a driver would think twice about leaving a scene due to the knowledge of what a Zack Alert would do,” said family friend Jennifer Jordan.

The statewide alert would notify law enforcement, media and the public when a driver has left the scene of an accident where someone was killed or seriously injured.

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Nine European countries have signed an agreement to work closely together to help find missing children taken across national borders. The joint declaration was signed in November 2016 by Ministers of Interior Affairs from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

“When a child goes missing, quick and effective cross-border information exchange between national law enforcement authorities and other expert bodies is therefore crucial,” said Milan Chovanec, Minister of the Interior of the Czech Republic. “Since every endangered missing child deserves an equal chance of being found as quickly as possible, this must not be inhibited by them crossing borders.”

AMBER Alert Europe was involved with the agreement, which includes law enforcement agencies from each country sharing more information, while also seeking public assistance across countries to help find missing children.

A group of 35 German members of the European parliament are calling upon all European countries to have an AMBER Alert program. Currently, 17 of the 28 countries of the European Union have child abduction alert plans.

“To save missing children it is crucial to act immediately, every minute counts,” said German Parliament Member Bernd Kölmel. “German citizens need to be informed as soon as possible via all available media. It is absolutely necessary that Germany builds a modern, digital AMBER Alert system.”

So far just 8 European countries have issued at least one an AMBER Alert.

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On August 8, 2016, detectives in King County, Washington, learned of the alleged abduction of 2 boys by a suspect on his way to Chicago. Paul Brown allegedly took his 3-year-old son Chance and 1-year-old son Hunter and told their mother he would not return.

The children had been taken 3 days earlier, with Chance having a condition requiring tube-feeding and medication. Chase’s father did not have the supplies nor the training to feed him. Detectives requested an AMBER Alert be issued in South Dakota after they discovered Brown had recently made a credit card purchase in that state.

South Dakota AMBER Alert Coordinator Bryan Dockter was out of state at the time, but Bryan Gortmaker and Bonnie Feller Hagen with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) were on site to take the 8:22 p.m. call.

The Washington detective called 25 minutes later and provided information from a Seattle hospital that the situation for the older boy had become dangerous and life-threatening.

“We decided to activate to try and recover these endangered children,” said Feller Hagen. “Securing the safety of the children was our number one priority.”

Photos and additional information were gathered and the AMBER Alert was issued at 10:14 p.m.

The alert was posted on the state website, emails were sent to state employees, and citizens signed up to receive alerts began receiving messaging notifications. The Emergency Alert System notified the media, National Weather Service, 511, highway signs and lottery terminals.

The state’s FUSION center sent a text and email to all law enforcement in the state and an audible message was broadcast over law enforcement radios. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children activated a Wireless Emergency Alert to reach all cell phones across the state.

“I was feeling a sense of urgency,” said Feller Hagen. “We wanted to get the information out rapidly and accurately and get the information out while people were still up and watching the evening news.”

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was also underway that night requiring a large presence of law enforcement. The popular event also resulted in large numbers of people on the road who might spot the suspect’s vehicle.

Within minutes a trucker and an Indiana sheriff’s deputy spotted the suspect’s white Pontiac with Washington license plates and called 911. Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy Natasha Mendelsohn was driving home through South Dakota and said she has a habit of scanning vehicles and plates.

“I cried,” said Mendelsohn to a WTTV reporter. “It was more tears of happiness that we knew that these children were now safe.”

When she got home she shared a call to action on Facebook: “More people can help other people just by being aware of your surroundings and paying attention to what’s going on around you. And had we not taken the quick second to look at that vehicle, we may not have been able to help the way we did.”

The children were taken to a nearby hospital for medical care and Brown was arrested and charged with abuse or cruelty to a child.

“I am amazed at how quickly everything came together with the help of public and the cooperative efforts of law enforcement,” said Feller Hagen.

This was the sixth AMBER Alert issued in South Dakota since the state started the child abduction alert program in 2003. The state is now implementing the AMBER Alert LEAP portal to streamline the activation procedures and improve the time required disseminate an alert. A significant lesson learned from this AMBER Alert is how important it is to know your AMBER Alert partners in other states.

“Keep your state AMBER Alert program active and meet and test your system regularly,” said Feller Hagen. “Working together for the safety of children is the primary goal.”

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Janet Turnbull is doing her best to make sure borders never get in the way of finding an abducted child. Since 2013 she has been working in Mexico City, Mexico, as a legal advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training (OPDAT). Her focus is on human trafficking, which puts her at the center of making sure AMBER Alerts work in all countries.

“When a child goes missing across the border we do not want to think that is the end of the effort,” said Turnbull. “The challenge is there is not a lot of communication between the AMBER Alert coordinators in the U.S. and in Mexico.”

In May, Turnbull worked with the U.S. AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and its Southern Border Initiative to organize the Trinational Forum in Mexico City. The 2-day forum included AMBER Alert Coordinators from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Turnbull is also supported by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, with funding from the Merida Initiative.

“What we are going for is to get AMBER Alert coordinators in Mexico, U.S.A. and Canada to see themselves as a single group of North American AMBER Alert coordinators. No borders,” said Turnbull.

At the time of the forum, investigations remained open for 75 children taken from the U.S. to Mexico, and 183 children taken from Mexico to the U.S.

The AMBER Alert began locally in the U.S. in 1996 and later developed into a nationwide initiative. Mexico’s Alerta AMBER began in 2012 when it was launched by that country’s president and attorney general. So far the Alerta AMBER has led to the safe recovery of more than 350 children in Mexico.

“One is not better but they are slightly different,” said Turnbull. “We want the training to be consistent in the U.S .and Mexico and knowing the differences between each system. Training keeps everyone on the same sheet of music. It also helps people make a connection.”

Turnbull said Mexico coordinators still rely heavily on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to confirm the right jurisdiction(s) in which to issue an AMBER Alert in the U.S. NCMEC can be reached by calling 800-THE-LOST (800-843-5678).

She said it is easier for U.S. law enforcement to use Mexico’s child abduction alert because it can be done with one contact with the National Mexico Alerta AMBER Coordinator Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas at 011-521-555-346-2510 or via email at blanca.niebla@pgr.gob.mx. “It is one call shopping for them,” she noted.

Turnbull’s career began as a Special Agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Her investigation into drug smuggling in Columbia even uncovered an unfinished submarine in Bogota. She then got her law degree at the University Of Virginia School Of Law and began prosecuting drug traffickers and corruption cases involving public officials and police officers.

Today, Turnbull is immersed in finding trafficking victims and abducted children. This year she has been involved with solving cross-border abductions including a Florida girl found in Cancun, a baby taken from San Diego, California, to Sinaloa, Mexico, and a Brownsville, Texas, girl who was recovered after Mexico issued an Alerta AMBER at the request of U.S. authorities. All 3 cases illustrate that much can be accomplished when countries work together.

“Do not give up just because the child has gone across the border,” said Turnbull. “There are things that can be done to bring a child home.”

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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 back to Oklahoma City and became involved with drugs. Ultimately, she fell victim to exploitation and trafficking at truck stops in Texas and Oklahoma as a way to survive.

Casey’s body was found on January 31, 2004. She had been beaten, raped, strangled and thrown off of a bridge. She was only 19 years old.

Grapevine, Texas, Police Lieutenant Larry Hallmark shared with Symposium participants how he helped find Casey’s killer. Hallmark spent a decade interviewing pimps, sex trafficking victims and family members in order to determine what happened to her.

Hallmark also interviewed many truckers who remembered having seen Casey, and almost all of them said the same thing, “She was a sweet girl and did not deserve to die.”

The investigation received a big break when “America’s Most Wanted” profiled Casey’s murder, resulting in 84 tips - including one about John Robert Williams, the so called “Big Rig Killer.”

Grapevine, Texas Police LIeutenant Larry Hallmark

Williams was already serving a life sentence in prison for murder when he agreed to be interviewed by Hallmark. The veteran detective said the vast majority of killers will talk if you do not show any judgment over what they say.

“If you could show Williams a picture he would identify the victim,” said Hallmark. However, Williams did not recognize any of the pictures of Casey.

Hallmark finally asked a family member if there were any pictures of Casey that showed her dressed in clothing she would wear when she was at the truck stops.

“He [Williams] snapped his fingers and said, ‘That is Little Bit. I killed her.’ He named every detail of that case and admitted to strangling her from behind,” said Hallmark. The detective also learned the victim had a ‘Little Bit’ tattoo on her shoulder.

“He is a psychopath,” said Hallmark. “He went and showered and ate while her body was in the truck.”

In 2013, Williams was charged with the murder of Casey Pipestem. He has been implicated in killing 14 additional women and has admitted to murdering 30 others. The man who pimped and exploited Casey was also caught and charged, and is serving time in federal prison. One of other girls exploited by him was just 13 years old.

The U.S. has 2 million truck drivers, and 3 out of 4 are long-haul drivers. It is estimated that 120-140 murders of sexual exploitation and trafficking victims occur each year at truck stops.

“Truck driving is a good job for this type of psychopath-sociopath personalities,” said Hallmark. “You have highly mobile offenders who have to get from point A to point B. They get cash for incidentals and lots of routes and time flexibility.”

Hallmark does credit the trucking industry for helping solve crimes committed by truckers, but emphasized that “Truck stops are a den of rattlesnakes” and trafficking victims are very vulnerable with truckers and in these environments.

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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 law enforcement and child protection leaders from across the country. Jiminez explained how her experience is part of the long history of Native Americans facing trauma, genocide and stolen lands.

“We are finding it is in our DNA,” she said. “I figured that this was what life was like.”

Jimenez left her abusive husband but had to battle him in court for custody of their daughter. “Every time we met he would beat the crap out of me,” she said.

She went back home, but did not find any job opportunities on the reservation so she moved in with a friend in Portland, Oregon. Her friend convinced her to join “the life” of prostitution so she could pay her bills.

“Prostitution happens when you do not have a choice. When you have no choices you are not making a choice. It is a lack of choice,” said Jimenez. “When we blame young women or boys and call them prostitutes that is victim blaming. If you could do anything else, you would.”

One man stabbed her in the arm and neck and then drove off with her clothes. Jimenez watched as young Native American girls were picked up by the police or human services, but found it hard to return to their families.

“The families do not know what to do with her,” she said. “She usually ends up in a shelter and calls her pimp and takes another person with her from the shelter. It was people saying ‘I see you and I care.’ That was the thing that turned things around for me the most.”

When Jimenez finally escaped her sexual exploitation and got help she went back to the reservation and met with her female relatives. She found most of them had gone through the same things she had suffered and were also in recovery.

“Our traditions taught us to only take what you need and to give back,” she said. “We have to come back to the way we were before.”

Jimenez challenged parents to keep loving their children no matter what has happened. She asked law enforcement officers to let trafficking victims know they ‘see them’ because their pimps make them feel invisible.

She also urged counselors to never give up on trafficking victims. “You need to be kind,” she said. “You may have to pick them up 20-plus times, but you try to break that shell.”

Jimenez now has 4 children and 10 grandchildren. She works with other victims of sex trafficking to help others heal, and for her own continued healing. “Without faith there is no hope,” she said. “Without hope there is no change.”

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Tribal members joined together for a 5-mile walk to Window Rock, the seat of the Navajo Nation, to raise awareness about the AMBER Alert and abducted children. They carried banners, signs and ribbons to keep the memory of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike alive following her May 2016 abduction and murder.

“If something was ever to happen to another child, God forbid, we would have no way to get the word out,” said walk organizer Charlietta Gray to KOB-TV.

Gray also started an unofficial AMBER Alert Facebook page for the Navajo Nation which already has 17,000 members.

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The Navajo Nation will now issue AMBER Alerts through the New Mexico Child Abduction Alert System. The state would also notify Arizona and Utah if the Navajo Nation issues an AMBER Alert. New Mexico will issue the alerts as the Navajo Nation Alert System Task Force works to fully develop an AMBER Alert program, a 911 system and an improved identification mechanism for homes in rural areas.

The task force was created after residents raised concerns about the AMBER Alert system following the May 2, 2016, abduction of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike and her 9-year-old brother Ian. Although Ian escaped and was found and taken to safety, Ashlynne was brutally murdered, her body discovered the day following the abduction.

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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 Managers and Child Abduction Response Team (CART) members.

“We are all here with the goal of protecting children,” said Robert Listenbee, Administrator for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. “The children in Indian Country are overlooked and underserved.”

Listenbee said technology has increased the victimization and trafficking of Native American children and noted American Indian and Alaska Native children are exposed to violence more than any other minority in America.

Recognizing the Risks

Director of “Not Our Native Daughters” Lynnette Grey Bull said the biggest problem is that people do not believe sexual trafficking and exploitation is happening in Indian Country. “I have not been to a tribe where it was not happening,’ said Grey Bull. “You won’t see a pimp with a big purple hat come on to the reservation. Anywhere you see poverty, you will see trafficking.”

“Not Our Native Daughters” is a non-profit organization focusing on ending human trafficking in tribal communities. Grey Bull shared startling statistics for Native Americans.

A 50% higher rate for sexual assault for Native American women
The highest suicide, rape and murder rates for all ethnicities
14% have no education and 20 percent do not have indoor plumbing
The lowest life expectancy - between 47 and 55 years old
The highest rate of death from tragedy, accidents, alcohol and drug use

The U.S. Department of Justice found 70 percent of the violence was caused by non-Native perpetrators.

Arizona State University professor Dominique Roe-Sepowitz has also been studying the unique and critical challenges for Native American sex trafficking victims. The university’s study interviewed victims ages 13 to 42.

60% of victims’ parents never married, 59% of family members have drug and/or alcohol problems, 54% of victims ran away and 75% had family members in jail
63% of victims had been molested, 46% had been raped and 28% experienced emotional abuse
58% of victims were addicted to alcohol or drugs, with 90% taking drugs and 50% believing they drink excessively

“Trafficking victims do not leave, because they have nowhere to go, they have no income and they need shelter,” said Roe-Sepowitz. She emphasized that we need to develop a collaborative way to help Native American victims of sex trafficking.

“You can’t go anywhere without people talking about human trafficking,” said longtime human trafficking victim advocate Cindy McCain. “It used to be no one talked about it or that it even exists.”

McCain called trafficking an “epidemic as deadly as Zika or Ebola.” She said many children from the reservations are ending up in other countries. McCain added that the problem is exasperated by a culture that demeans women and children.

“Real men do not buy little girls,” McCain remarked. “Pimps are not cool. They are not ‘good-old’ boys. They are pedophiles and sex offenders and need to be treated as such.”

AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance (AATTAP) Program Administrator Jim Walters said he first learned about the problem while working as a police officer. “I remembered meeting a woman who said, ‘Give me the drugs I want and you can have sex with my daughter.’ The girl was 14.” Walters explained law enforcement at that time was just beginning to recognize and understand the problem of human trafficking and must be trained and prepared to better and more fully understand the scope and complexity of the problem in tribal communities and across the U.S.

Tribal Challenges

Tribal communities have additional barriers in prosecuting child sex abuse cases. Geri Wisner is the Tribal Prosecutor for the Pawnee Nation Court and Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Executive Director for the Native American Children’s Alliance (NACA).

“I look at our tribal codes and there is no language to deal with child sex abuse and no tribe has a law against human trafficking,” said Wisner. “If we are truly sovereign, it is our responsibility to make the laws that can be enforced so we can have justice.”

Wisner recommended taking the Native American oral tradition and writing it into law. “We cannot wait for the federal government to fix all this,” she said. “If we write it down, we can write it in our own way with our own traditions and sense of justice.”

Valerie Bribiescas is a member of the Navajo Nation and a detective with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Arizona. She said non-Indian investigators often do not understand the culture, and as a result can offend victims who are already reluctant to talk.

“A lot of our victims go home and do not want to come back and testify,” said Bribiescas. “They do not want their families to know they are part of trafficking and want to leave it be. It is going to be difficult to get victims to come to court.”

Bribiescas challenged Native Americans to teach others about the culture so more victims can be helped.

“Our girls are being utilized over and over and that is why we have to work with outside entities,” she added. “We have to learn from each other.”

Additional Resources

The U.S. has 61 Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces, yet no tribal teams. However, the White Mountain Apache tribe has created the first tribal ICAC affiliate.

Phoenix Police Sergeant Jerry Barker oversees the Arizona ICAC and has met with 19 tribes to educate members about what resources are available. He is bringing equipment, training, funding and additional manpower to help the tribes become part of the solution.

“The cases are the same on the reservation as you would see in an expensive neighborhood,” said Barker. “When we find child pornography suspects, they are in every community. The only difference is the location.”

Former Montana Law Enforcement Officer and AATTAP Consultant Derek VanLuchene urged tribal representatives to come together and make a plan, form a Child Abduction Response Team (CART), become affiliated with ICAC and assign a main contact for AMBER Alerts.

“Have conversations with the community about the overall protection of children,” he said. “Identify what you have and what you need. Knowledge is power.”

Trafficking survivor Jeri Jimenez summarized the mission ahead with a quote from former Cherokee Tribal Chief Wilma Mankiller, “We must trust our own thinking. Trust where we’re going. And get the job done.”

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It started with a scuffle at the Utah Division of Child and Family Services on May 5, 2016. Christopher Montoya and Monica Martinez were “combative, threatening and agitated” because they could no longer see their two daughters. The courts had taken away the couple’s custody rights and witnesses said they appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

Suspects Christopher John Montoya & Monica Martinez

Christopher John Montoya and Monica Martinez left the agency and drove to the babysitter’s location for 3-year-old Marae Montoya and her 11-month-old sister Cynthia. The couple grabbed the two children without permission from their legal guardian and drove away in a white 4-door Cadillac sedan.

Clinton, Utah, Police Sergeant Matt Fawbush was assigned to the case after a call from the babysitter came in at 3:08 p.m. The Clinton Police Department had never issued an AMBER Alert and it was also the first time the 14-year law enforcement veteran had to consider issuing an alert.

“I tried to remain calm and rely on my training and experience,” said Fawbush. “I have been a member of the Davis County Child Abduction Response Team since 2007 and actively involved in many cases; however no prior AMBER Alerts. I also attended several training sessions in state and out of state on the topic of missing and abducted children.”

Fawbush started gathering information from family members, witnesses and investigating officers. The police department assessed the incident against the AMBER Alert criteria and determined the children were in danger for the following reasons:

The parents were believed to be under the influence of a controlled substance.
Both parents had mental health issues, violent tendencies and were transient.
The couple no longer had custody and had a no-contact court order based upon a history of domestic violence while the children were present.

“I had a sense of urgency and wanted to cover all aspects of the investigation to assure the quick and safe recovery of the children,” said Fawbush.

A Missing/Endangered Advisory went out to law enforcement at 7:43 p.m. and the statewide AMBER Alert was issued at 10:39 p.m. Fawbush also reached out to law enforcement in Colorado in case the suspects traveled through that state.

“The decision to issue the AMBER alert could have been sooner,” said Fawbush. “There were a few problems getting the alert entered and issued in a timely manner.”

A clerk at the Motel 6 in Gallup, New Mexico, recognized the suspects when the couple requested a room around 2:00 a.m. the next day. The clerk saw the AMBER Alert on social media, verified the vehicle matched the description in the alert and notified police.

“The media played a huge role in disseminating the information to the public on a large scale, which ultimately helped with the recovery of the children,” said Fawbush.

Utah AMBER Alert Coordinator Gina McNeil & Clinton, Utah, Police Sergeant Matt Fawbush

Gina McNeil has been Utah’s AMBER Alert Coordinator for nearly 3 years. She is also the state’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager and has been actively involved in all 43 AMBER Alerts issued by Utah. McNeil has helped to develop and strengthen Utah’s child abduction alert system since its inception in 2002.

“Any time a missing child is located safely it is a happy occasion,” said McNeil. “I think we have one of the best AMBER Alert programs in the Nation and the AMBER Alert has saved the lives of hundreds of children. There is nothing better than that.”

The Utah AMBER Alert Committee has a review with law enforcement agencies after each alert is issued. The review is a chance to find out what worked and what can be done better the next time.

“You learn from every alert and continue to improve the system each time,” said McNeil.

“Communication is the key,” added Fawbush. “Everyone involved in the process must be on the same page and work together to fine tune the procedures set in place.”

The suspects were returned to Utah and initially charged with two counts each of child kidnapping and one count of burglary. They both pleaded guilty to two counts of custodial interference. Their two children are now safe with their legal guardian.

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In this issue:

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The power of family perspectives

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GPS bracelet helps Florida deputies find child

Exchange student rescued after online scam

John Walsh partners with NCMEC, returns to TV

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New DNA tests can help identify missing Native Americans and solve crimes

Ottawa begins work on ‘Red Dress Alert’ for missing Indigenous women and girls

Two Iowa sisters become a voice for missing and murdered Indigenous people

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New photo technology helps find missing kids

Ongoing efforts return ‘stolen’ Ukraine children

Report: Migrant children still missing in Ireland

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DNA test helps U.S. man, stolen at birth, reunite with mother in Chile after 42 years

Brazilian government signs deal with Meta to track down missing children

American Samoa and Guam delegates propose legislation to increase jail time for traffickers

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NCMEC: How to spot fake missing child posters

Florida Missing Children’s Day brings healing

59 missing children rescued during FBI sting

Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit nabs first in manhunt trials

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1) Message Design Dashboard: Building a better WEA

2) Flock Safety: Real-time vehicle intelligence

3) Doorbell cameras: Public-engaging technology

4) Open Source Intelligence: Digging deep for answers

5) Artificial intelligence: Growing & evolving

Be on the Lookout: More Tech Advances

Better Equipping Indian Country

NCMEC’s QR Code to the Rescue

Policing Bad Apps

Data Mining is Gold—But Tricky

For Searches, the Heat is On

Forensic Genetic Genealogy Cracks Cold Cases

Geolocation Finds Favor

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Did you imagine the iStand Parent Network would last a decade?

What has changed with IPCA—good or bad—in the past 10 years?

What was it like being one of the parent-authors of the updated When Your Child Is Missing: Family Survival Guide?

What’s next for you?

IPCA Myth Busters

Dr. Noelle Hunter dispels three common myths surrounding international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases

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In this issue:

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Training is made possible through the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program provided by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

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In this issue:

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Be compassionate

Know the laws—and think ahead

Communicate regularly and respectfully

Stay current with training and technology

Learn the signs of sex trafficking, and why children go on the run

Be cognizant of cultural bias

With a family member’ doesn’t always mean ‘safe’

Find out what resources exist for victim & family emotional and financial support

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2008

2010

2018

2019

2020

2023

Top 5 Takeaways for Law Enforcement
Acclaimed Minnesota crime reporter Carolyn Lowe calls Wetterling’s memoir ‘a must-read for anyone working unsolved abduction cases.’

Ashlynne Mike’s legacy:
A law to help Tribal children—and law enforcement