| Washington, DC – U.S.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today hailed Senate passage of the National
AMBER Alert Network Act of 2003. Wyden is an original cosponsor of
the legislation that authorizes $25 million to enhance the operation
of the AMBER Alert communications network to facilitate the recovery
of abducted children. Oregon recently implemented a statewide AMBER
Alert system and is eligible to apply for federal funding for the
program. “Oregonians have felt
firsthand the heartache communities experience when children disappear,”
Wyden said. “This legislation is designed to help communities
and law enforcement agencies work together to catch abductors and
bring missing kids home safely.”
The AMBER Alert Network is named for 9-year-old
Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in her hometown
of Arlington, Texas in 1996. The AMBER Alert is activated by law
enforcement to find an abducted child through highway notification
and broadcast messages throughout the area where the abduction has
occurred. The AMBER Alert method has a proven record of helping
communities and law enforcement officials find missing children
– and their abductors – quickly.
The Senate legislation provides Federal assistance
to make AMBER Alert programs across the country even more effective.
The bill provides for national coordination of state AMBER Alert
programs to assist in tracking child abductors across state lines;
creates voluntary minimum standards for AMBER Alert programs to
ensure their effectiveness; and authorizes Federal grants to facilitate
AMBER Alert communications along the nation’s highways for
recovery of abducted children.
This Federal legislation will also provide
grants to states to aid in the implementation of new AMBER Alert
initiatives. Although similar legislation passed the Senate in September
2002, the House of Representatives failed to act on the measure.
President Bush has indicated his intention to sign the legislation
into law once it passes both chambers.
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