Nextel, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and Communications Laboratories (Comlabs) are teaming up to take the Amber Alert child abduction warning system wireless, with a pilot program to launch in Pennsylvania sending Amber Alert warnings to cell phone users through the Emergency Alert System.
"NCMEC has spent more than 20 tireless years working to increase awareness and successfully unite law enforcement in the fight against the disappearance and abduction of children," said NCMEC president Ernie Allen announcing the program July 12. "Today, we are so pleased to be associated with a technology that will not only assist law enforcement, but also has the capability to extend the reach of Amber Alerts to millions of mobile phone users across the country."
The first wireless provider to work with Amber Alert coordinators and NCMEC to put the system wireless, Nextel is pushing other wireless providers to join up for a wide-ranging wireless Amber Alert system in their regions.
Nextel chief executive Tim Donahue said the company encourages public safety support as an obligation. "Our partnership with the Pennsylvania State Police has resulted in the development of a technology innovation that has the potential to put Amber Alerts in the hands of wireless users everywhere,” he said at the announcement. “We wholeheartedly encourage the rest of the wireless industry to join us in exploring ways to make this service available to all wireless users nationwide."
Nextel, the Pennsylvania State Police, and Comlabs joined to build the platform for the system, which will be distributed by state Amber Alert coordinators, aiming to keep and enhance the accuracy of both descriptions of the missing child in question and his or her suspected abductor, the two companies and state police said.
Comlabs’s EMNet system interfaces with Nextel technology and makes it a service allowing for alerts to go at once to wireless phone users, government, law enforcement, and the broadcast media via text messaging, Comlabs said. The company has installed six EMNet nodes at the NCMEC center for the program.
"[We are] very pleased to be partnering with Nextel to provide Amber Alert notification directly to Nextel public safety subscribers,” said Comlabs chief executive Roland Lussier. “Nextel's leadership in establishing and providing this service displays a strong commitment on their part to maximizing the use of wireless connectivity to save lives."
Amber Alerts, as required by federal law, are sent forth if a child is abducted, law enforcement confirms the abduction, the child is believed in danger of harm or death, and enough descriptive information exists to believe such an immediate broadcast alert would help recover the child and capture the abductor.
