Hailey Owens is the victim of a broken Amber Alert system. Hailey was kidnapped in front of witnesses in the 3200 block of West Lombard St., in Springfield, MO at 4:48 p.m. on February 18, 2014. By 5:00 p.m. the witnesses had provided local law enforcement with the suspect’s description, vehicle make, color & license plate. Based on eyewitness accounts and the information provided to law enforcement, the Amber Alert should have been issued in minutes. Unfortunately, Springfield PD is not authorized to issue Amber Alerts. That is the responsibility of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
At 6:00 p.m. the Springfield PD issued a news release and posted information about the abduction to their social media sites. Unfortunately, a news release carries neither weight no the sense of urgency of an Amber Alert. A statewide Amber Alert was issued at 7:07 p.m., two-hours and nineteen-minutes after Hailey was kidnapped. Information was distributed to all area law enforcement agencies and media outlets. The suspect’s description, vehicle make, color & license plate were finally released to the public.
The National Amber Alert program was broken upon conception. Like all state Amber Alert systems, the Missouri plan was conceived and created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). I know because I attended one of their steering committee concept meetings and argued against their old technology and their bureaucratic approach. My ideas were rejected by the architects of the plan at NCMEC.
Amber Alert should be a local, not statewide system because kidnapping is a local crime. When children are murdered the distance between where the child was last seen and their body was recovered was less than 1.5 mile in 46% of cases and less than 12 miles in 76.5% of cases. The same study clearly demonstrates that missing children are killed within a very short time after they are abducted. 46.8% are dead within an hour, and 76.2% are dead within three hours. Had the Amber Alert been issued within minutes, not hours of Hailey’s abduction, she might very well be alive today. Clearly, in the most desperate cases like Hailey Owens, time is of the essence. We need action, not red tape.
The rationale for this cumbersome approach to the Amber Alert is to guard against ‘cry wolf’ scenarios. I have never seen evidence of ‘cry wolf’, but I have seen plenty of kids die because it took too long to issue an Amber Alert. I believe that ‘cry wolf’ is nothing more than a fiction created to justify a broken system. We trust cops with guns, why not trust them to issue Amber Alerts?
NCMEC there is blood on your hands. That the Amber Alert failed to save Hailey Owens is not the fault of Springfield PD or the Missouri State Highway Patrol. They were simply following a protocol created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Mr Klaas, Please when you have time would you share your thoughts about the rallying efforts & bill featured in this article:“ 3/19/2014 (Holly)” Bobo’s family and other loved ones of crime victims came together to support a bill that would make a major change to murder trials. If passed, the bill would admit (victim B4 crime) pictures as evidence at murder trials.” “Other families of crime victims echoed the disappointment as they watched two House committee members say rules of evidence could not be changed because they are made by the Supreme Court.
“With a few nays during a voice vote, the bill was sent to what is called a summer study committee.
That means the measure will not be considered for the rest of this legislative session.”
http://www.wkrn.com/story/25022048/holly-bobos-family-rallies-for-vicitms-rights-bill
I am a volunteer for the NCMEC and I agree with you 100% that Amber alerts must be issued much quicker! I need to point out though that is entirely up to the local and state law enforcement agencies. They are the only ones who can issue an Amber Alert. NCMEC then and only then can pass the information along to all their volunteers and subscribing members, who in turn do the best they can to pass it along to all they know. Once the Amber Alert is issued I assure you NCMEC is on it ASAP! I like the idea of a “Hailey Alert” mention above. Get to it make it happen! Then make sure to be sure that the NCMEC gets the information and let’s work together to end this murderous act of despicable violence. and for God’s Sake, please stop letting the pedophiles out of prison. What is it going to take for us to learn that they will always be repeat offenders. They do not deserve a second chance.
These are the true facts of the Amber Alert system……
AMBER Alert is a Department of Justice program that is administered on a state by state basis and only by law enforcement. ONLY law enforcement can issue an AMBER Alert. Law enforcement determines if the local criteria has been met and whether and how an AMBER Alert will be issued.
http://www.AMBERAlert.gov
NCMEC’s role is as a secondary AMBER Alert distributor only. AFTER local law enforcement issues the primary AMBER Alert (locally or state-wide), NCMEC then issues the secondary alert to its recipients, and this alert is sent to any organization in the country that is a “subscriber.” These participants accept the secondary AMBER Alert on a volunteer basis.
Yes, the Amber Alert is a USDOJ program, but OJJDP administrator J. Robert Flores allowed NCMEC to conceive, construct and implement the program.
Marc, “Why in the world would you point the finger at NCMEC and claim that there is “blood on their hands”. Have you gone ballistic? Do you know how many lives they have saved? Are you familiar with the volunteers who support the people who have had their children abducted. I appreciate all you do with your services to help prevent these inhumane acts against children, but Please Marc don’t be an idiot and make derogatory comments about an organization that has the same goal. We need unity not some stupid comments like politicians who have lost track of a common goal. If you think the local LE needs to be quicker to respond,and I agree, then use your clout and do something about it.
I have to disrespectfully disagree with almost everything that you have said. I have been watching the NCMEC since shortly after Polly was kidnapped. Please, tell me the name of even one child that they have saved? After all, it is pretty difficult to save the life of a child if you spend your life sitting at a desk in Alexandria, VA, or walking the halls of the DC legislative buildings. How exactly do they support the families of the missing? They never supported my family when we were looking for Polly. They haven’t supported the families of the missing that we serve. Oh, they might put a flyer on their website or send a bundle of flyers to the child’s home, but that is about it. I have witnessed these characters kill good programs because they didn’t have control over them. They are a monopoly that refuses to share power, funding or credit. They are the ones, with the help of OJJDP, who created this Amber Alert policy and when it fails miserably, as it did in Hailey Owens case, they need to accept responsibility – which they never will.
I see many comments about what can we do? My idea,and please feel free to steal it, to create a new system much like amber alert and call it Hailey Alert at the local level if ncmec won’t change we must then take matters into our own hands. Thank you for sharing this we everybody!!!
We all need to work together. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
I would rather have a “cry wolf” than a murdered child. If amber alert saves one child, was it not worth it?
What a shame.
I agree that LEA should be able to issue the Amber Alert. So many things need to be changed in the World of the Missing. Children & Adult Cases.
I agree totally. Is there anything we can do, as a social media/Facebook “addict” besides just sharing the fliers?
Thank you so much for looking into this and posting this for the world to see. I know I wrote you about it and probably thousands of others. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get it corrected.. I wish you would comment on that. Where do we start?
I am a registered voter. How can the public helpget the Amber alerts authorized on a local level?. Whom do we call or write to concerning this matter? Thank you Lorrie Molina