Attorney General Wants Citizens Aware Of Amber Alerts (KSAL News, December 30, 2008)

Attorney General Steve Six and the Kansas AMBER Alert Taskforce have released some television and radio public service announcements they hope local stations and cable companies will broadcast.

The PSAs are to increase public awareness of the criteria for an AMBER Alert and the wireless alert system. AMBER alerts are used by law enforcement to disseminate information quickly to the public when a child goes missing and is believe to have been abducted an in danger.

The program is named after Amber Hagerman.

In 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The area's Association of Radio Managers with the region's law enforcement agencies, reacted by developing a program to promptly distribute information when a child is abducted. They called the program the AMBER Plan in memory of Amber. Statewide AMBER Plans have facilitated the recovery of dozens of children.

Kansas established an AMBER Plan in September 2002. Attorney General Stephen Six oversees the statewide alert system to deter potential abductors and quickly mobilize citizens to contact authorities with helpful information when an alert is issued.