Local law officials will join broadcasters tonight on the Tempe Police Department's live call-in show, StreetBeat, to discuss Arizona's own version of the "Amber Alert."
Amber Alert is an emergency alert program for abducted children. Arizona is the 18th state to implement such a program, according to Art Brooks, president and CEO of the Arizona Broadcasters Association.
"I feel our plan is probably the best model out there," said Brooks.
Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., approached Brooks in late 2000 with the idea of combining efforts of law enforcement and broadcasting to deliver information to the community about abducted children and their abductors.
The program allows viewers to call in with questions or concerns about the Arizona Child Abduction Alert Plan, which Gov. Jane Hull announced would go into effect on Sept. 16.
The original Amber Alert was named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman from Arlington, Texas, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1996.
Utah, Colorado and Texas have already implemented such plans.
Brooks, who was instrumental in developing the plan over the past 18 months, will appear on the program, along with Tempe Police Chief Ralph Tranter, Steve Steidel from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and KFYI Program Director Laurie Cantillo, at 7 p.m. on Channel 11.
After an abduction, TV, radio stations and highway message boards will report and flash information on the child and abductor every quarter-hour for the first two hours and every 30 minutes for the next three hours.
Brooks added that the plan is not reactionary to the recent rash of national child abductions, but that the state has been slowly working on the program over the past year and a half in order to decide on specific criteria for the emergency alert.
"Some state plans were more hastily put together," Brooks said. "I'm not saying that's good or bad, but we took exhaustive efforts to put this together."
Officer Jeff Lane, producer of StreetBeat, added that the public needs to be informed about the details of the program in order for it to work.
"We can't do anything without the eyes and ears of the public," he said. "There may be a lot of questions in the beginning, but once they understand it, they'll be more educated on how it goes."
Brooks said some people might wonder why the system is not called the Amber Alert or named after one of Arizona's own missing children. Though other states have kept the name "Amber Alert," Brooks said they decided to localize the plan by naming it the Arizona Child Abduction Alert Plan.
"Our plan is modeled after the Amber plan. It's just not called that."
Under the new system, if a missing child report fits certain guidelines, media outlets will immediately be notified.
According to Lane, in order for the emergency plan to be used, the child in question must be 17 years old or younger and in imminent physical danger.
There must also be solid information about the suspected abductor, including vehicle information.
These strict guidelines, Brooks said, are to prevent an "over-activation" of the system.
"We don't want to desensitize people," he said. "The goal is to use as few activations as possible."
According to Lane, this means that some cases, no matter how serious they might be, will have to be turned down if they do not fit the guidelines.
Such was the case of the disappearance of 12-year-old Mikelle Biggs from a Mesa neighborhood in January 1999. Biggs was reportedly waiting for an ice cream truck with friends when she disappeared.
Lane said the alert system would not have been used for the Biggs case because there was no identification of an abductor.
Individual cities, according to Lane, will fund the additions needed to carry out the system, such as extra 9-1-1 phone lines or overtime pay for added police officers to cover an emergency situation, which could leave smaller cities with a tighter budget at a disadvantage.
"That's what's tough about it," he said. "Right now, however, no one has come forward to say they need help from another city."
George Weisz, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Hull, said the program does not need additional funding.
"Some smaller departments might not have all the phone lines they need," Weisz said. "But emergency systems are already in place, police officers are already in place."
Weisz added that local corporations have offered to assist with getting informational materials out to the public.
Lane said while he intends for tonight's program to inform viewers of the system, he hopes he will never have to apply what he teaches.
"Hopefully we never have to use this system," he said. "But if we do, we're ready for it. It's a great system."
Reach the reporter at ashlea.deahl@asu.edu.
