ERNIE ALLEN REMARKSDOJ/FACEBOOK AMBER ALERT PAGE PRESS CONFERENCE

JANUARY 12, 2011

Hello I am Ernie Allen, President of the National Center for Missing &

Exploited Children and I am pleased to welcome you to the National Center

for Missing & Exploited Children. We are delighted that so many have

joined us today at our Jimmy Ryce Law Enforcement Training Center here

in Alexandria.

Before we get started I would like to recognize some special guests that are

here with us today: On the stage with me are Laurie Robinson, Assistant

Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs

and National AMBER Coordinator; Colonel Steven Flaherty, Superintendent

Virginia State Police; and Chris Sonderby, Facebook Lead Security and

Investigations Counsel.

In the audience I would also like to recognize Jeff Slowikowski, the Acting

Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention;

Marne Levine with Facebook (and possible others).

Today, we recognize and commemorate a sad anniversary. Tomorrow is

the 15th anniversary of the abduction and murder of a little girl named

Amber Hagerman. Today we are also making an exciting announcement

about a program that is saving lives. This morning you hear from a number

of speakers and will learn the details about this new initiative and why it is

so important.

The media are asked to hold any questions that they have until everyone has

finished their remarks. At that time we will open the floor for questions.

I would like to begin by telling you more about Amber Hagerman who I

mentioned a few minutes ago.

On January 13, 1996, 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was riding her bicycle in

Arlington, Texas, when a neighbor heard her scream. The neighbor saw a

man pull Amber off her bike, throw her into the front seat of his pickup

truck, and drive away at a high rate of speed. The neighbor called police and

provided a description of the suspect and his vehicle.

Arlington Police and the FBI interviewed other neighbors and searched for

the suspect and the vehicle. Local radio and television stations covered the

story. Four days later Amber’s body was found in a drainage ditch four

miles away.

Although her case has never been solved, her abduction and murder in 1996

led to the creation of the national AMBER Alert program. AMBER stands

for: America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response.

In response to Amber’s abduction, the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of

Radio Managers teams up with local law-enforcement in 1997 to implement

the first local AMBER Plan.

The concept was simple. Time is of the essence in looking for a missing

Child. Use the old emergency broadcast system, now called the Emergency

Alert System, not just for weather emergencies and other civil emergencies,

but also for the most serious child abductions.

They implemented it in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and almost

immediately it began to work. 8 week old Rae Leigh Bradbury of Arlington,

abducted by a drug-involved babysitter, became the first child recovered

safely due to an Amber Alert.

A motorist driving down an Interstate Highway heard the Amber Alert over

the radio, saw the vehicle described in the Alert directly in front of him, and

used his cell phone to alert authorities. The abductor was apprehended and

little Rae Leigh was recovered.

Dallas authorities said, “this works and needs to be implemented

nationwide.”

In 2003 the Congress passed the PROTECT Act, which created a national

AMBER system, headed by the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of

Justice Programs as the National AMBER Coordinator.

Once law enforcement has determined that a child has been abducted and the

abduction meets AMBER Alert criteria, law enforcement notifies

broadcasters and state transportations officials. AMBER Alert enables us to

mobilize the eyes and ears of the public in those vital early moments

following the disappearance of a child. It is a voluntary program that works

and costs virtually nothing.

The progress has been incredible. Today, there are 120 AMBER plans in the

United States, including statewide plans in every state. The AMBER Alert

has been implemented in Canada, parts of Mexico, the UK, France, Greece,

Portugal and other countries.

However, our goal is to reach everyone who might have seen something or

know something, so we have also implemented a secondary AMBER

System. When AMBER Alerts are activated by local law enforcement, the

National Center is contacted and receives the case information. So, in

addition to notification via EAS, the Center also distributes that information

to many companies and industries helping us reach even more people. For

example, the Internet industry is a major partner. The wireless industry

initiates wireless AMBER Alerts via text message.

Today we take another bold step to engage millions more. Life-saving

AMBER Alerts are now going to be available to the millions of people on

the social networking giant Facebook. Beginning today, Facebook users

will be able to sign up to receive AMBER Alert bulletins for their state.

A total of 53 new AMBER Alert Pages have been created, one for each

state, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

And they will be able to share them with their friends. With more than half

a billion users of Facebook, the new Facebook AMBER Alert pages

represent an important expansion of the national AMBER Alert program.