Texting Amber Alerts

If your child was abducted, wouldn't you want EVERYONE in your community to immediately know who and what to look for? AMBER Alerts were designed specifically for this purpose and have been extremely valuable when information needs to be distributed quickly in these situations. According to the U.S Department of Justice, the AMBER Alert™ Program, "is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry, to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the child."

Metropolitan cities often have the capability of displaying AMBER Alert messages on LED message boards that hang over Interstate highways or other digital-type billboard displays. But smaller towns and rural areas don't always have access to these tools. The only way to instantly send an AMBER Alert in these areas is through text message or automated calls to cells phones. Only through these methods will the message reach those who are already out on the roads, where they could possibly spot a particular vehicle, license plate, or suspicious situation.

This is yet another instance where local governments and law enforcement could use CME's broadcast communication system with life-saving results. Our instant messaging capabilities activate 4 different methods of communication and reach people wherever they happened to be - shopping malls, fast food restaurants, gas stations, and streets and highways. By arming citizens with detailed information, an abducted child could be recovered faster with the help of text messaging and automated phone messages.