[ OUR OPINION ]
GOVERNMENT and broadcasting officials are planning what they call a "Maile Alert" program for quickly distributing information when a child has been abducted. Ideally, it soon will be part of a nationwide network of systems that already have been adopted as "Amber Alerts" in 25 other states and some cities and towns. Public should help
spot child abductors
THE ISSUE Hawaii is preparing a system for enlisting the public in tracking down vehicles used in child abductions.
The systems in other states were named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, a girl who was kidnapped and murdered in Texas six years ago. It relies on using television and radio bulletins and electronic signs along freeways to enlist the public in tracking down vehicles used in child abductions. Sponsors say that Amber Alerts have saved 27 children nationally.
Since California began using the system in late July, children in that state have been safely recovered in 12 of 13 alerts. Little more than a week ago, an Amber Alert including the license plate number and description of a motor home with kangaroo decals and an orange stripe on each side led to the recovery at a San Diego County campground of a 9-year-old boy who had been taken from his Palm Desert, Calif., home by two gunmen. A campground employee spotted the motor home and notified authorities.
Hawaii's proposed network is named after Maile Gilbert, a 6-year-old Kailua girl who was abducted from a family party and murdered in 1986. The name also has been turned into an acronym -- Minor Abducted In Life-threatening Emergency." Sgt. Wallace Choy, head of the Honolulu Police Department's Missing Persons Unit, says Maile Alert is planned to begin in the near future.
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., have introduced a bill that would set up the nationwide system to be coordinated by the Department of Justice. The department also would develop standards for issuing the alerts. Federal grants would be available to states developing Amber Alert programs. The sponsors are aiming for enactment of the legislation by the time Congress adjourns, probably next month.
"There's no excuse for it not being passed almost immediately," says Orin Hatch of Utah, ranking Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy also supports prompt action. The Polly Klaas Foundation says a poll it conducted found that 95 percent of Americans want such a notification system to be implemented in their home states.
The system is especially useful in the hours after a child abduction is reported. "Most people in the field of child disappearances believe that the first 24 to 48 hours is critical -- either you get that child back in that period of time or the likelihood of getting the child back diminishes," says Feinstein. "This is where Amber Alert comes in."
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