Alert Information

AMBER Alert

The AMBER Alert System began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation.

AMBER Alerts are issued for abducted children when the situation meets the AMBER Alert criteria. Some children wander away in a crowded grocery store, others might run off after a heated argument. When a child is missing, law enforcement can act swiftly to help recover the child by developing search and rescue teams or by bringing tracking dogs to the scene, for example. The AMBER Alert is only one tool that law enforcement can use to find abducted children. AMBER Alerts should be reserved for those cases that meet the AMBER criteria. Overuse of the AMBER Alert system could result in the public becoming desensitized to Alerts when they are issued.

The AMBER Alert has been very effective. AMBER Alert programs have helped save the lives of over 800 children nationwide. Over 84 percent of those recoveries have occurred since October 2002 when President Bush called for the appointment of an AMBER Alert Coordinator at the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. AMBER Alerts serve as deterrents to those who would prey upon our children. AMBER Alert cases have shown that some perpetrators release the abducted child after hearing the AMBER Alert on the radio or seeing it on television.

Utah's Criteria for an AMBER Alert

An AMBER Alert is an emergency broadcast reserved exclusively for severe, time-critical child abduction cases. Because the system utilizes widespread public communication channels—including overhead highway signs and wireless emergency mobile alerts—local law enforcement must verify that an incident satisfies four strict statutory conditions before activation:

  • Verified Abduction: Investigating law enforcement authorities must have a reasonable, evidence-based belief that an involuntary child abduction has actively occurred.
  • Age Threshold Parameter: The missing victim or victims must be minor children aged 17 years old or younger.
  • Imminent Core Danger: Supervisors must confirm a reasonable belief that the child faces immediate, imminent danger of death or serious, life-threatening bodily injury.
  • Actionable Telemetry Data: There must be sufficient descriptive data regarding the victim, the captor, or the escape vehicle that can be immediately provided to the general public to assist in a safe recovery or suspect apprehension.

Utah’s Endangered Missing Advisory

The Endangered Missing Advisory is a system to rapidly disseminate information about a missing and/or endangered person to law enforcement agencies and the media. The Endangered Missing Advisory is a voluntary partnership between law enforcement and local broadcasters for notifying the public about a missing and endangered person. The advisories are initiated solely by Utah law enforcement agencies.

Criteria for Endangered Missing Advisory

An Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA) serves as an essential communications bridge when a missing person incident does not fulfill the strict statutory thresholds required for an AMBER Alert activation. Investigative supervisors evaluate three core diagnostic baselines to determine eligibility:

  • Unexplained or Suspicious Disappearance: Investigatory records must establish that the individual vanished under unexplained, atypical, or highly suspicious circumstances.
  • Imminent Peril or Vulnerability Factors: Evidence suggests the individual is in immediate physical danger. This vulnerability can be driven by advanced age, cognitive health deficits, severe mental or physical disabilities, extreme environment or winter weather conditions, or verified accompaniment by a potentially hazardous person.
  • Actionable Public Recovery Information: Local law enforcement possesses descriptive telemetry data, physical profiles, or vehicle specifics that can meaningfully assist the general public in securing a safe recovery.

What Happens When an Advisory is Activated?

Once a local law enforcement agency commands a formal activation request and state clearinghouse administrators approve the case file, an immediate notification sequence is initiated across municipal networks:

1. National NCIC Entry

The primary investigating agency immediately processes and logs the missing individual's profiling metrics directly into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database for nationwide tracking access.

2. Statewide "Attempt to Locate" Dispatch

A formal, synchronized statewide "Attempt to Locate" emergency directive is pushed instantaneously to all municipal police desks and county sheriff communication rings throughout Utah.

3. Media Wire Distribution

Urgent email alerts detailing the case variables, physical images, and contact avenues are broadcast directly to local newsrooms, verified digital journalists, and public radio desks.

Department of Transportation Signage Restriction: Overhead highway message signs (VMS/freeway alerts) will NOT be activated or modified for an Endangered Missing Advisory. By operational rule, the scope of this tracking tool is constrained exclusively to rapid local news and broadcast media notification.