The Amber Alert, sometimes known as Amber's Plan, is a locally operated
Emergency Broadcast System for the
Dallas/
Fort Worth metroplex and surrounding communities. When a
child abduction has been confirmed, all local
media centers (radio
stations and
television stations) interrupt their broadcasts immediately to play a very eerie
siren recording followed by information with regard to the
suspect's
discription, vehicular information which might be of use, and the
victim's discription. The media is also responsible for continuing to broadcast the Alert periodically until the Alert is concluded by
law enforcement officials.
The Alert is named after Amber Hagerman, a local child who was kidnapped and killed in the mid 1990's.
The Alert can be initiated by any of a dozen law enforcement agencies in the area and initiates the Alert by faxing information to a designated central dispatch which calls back the department to confirm the abduction. Once the abduction is confirmed, the fax is forwarded to every media center in the area, at which point, the Alarm is broadcast to the public.