bduction alert bulletin used in several countries throughout the world, issued upon the suspected abduction of a child.
It is named after nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, a Texan girl who was abducted in 1996 while riding her bicycle.
Four days after the abduction, a man walking his dog found Amber’s body in a storm drainage ditch. Her killer was never found.
Amber’s parents soon established People Against Sex Offenders (P.A.S.O.) and collected signatures hoping to force the Texas Legislature into passing more stringent laws to protect children, and the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act was passed in 1996.
Following this, the Dallas police launched the Amber Alert.
The program emigrated to Canada in December 2002, when Alberta launched the first province-wide system. Other Canadian provinces soon adopted the system, and by May 2004 the program was in use throughout the country.
An Amber Alert are only used for serious child abductions and there are strict guidelines police must follow before issuing one.
Police must have confirmed the abduction, the victim must be under 18 and be in serious danger and there must be information available that will mean the general public can be of assistance, such as the make and model of the suspect’s car.
An Amber Alert was issued across BC on Wednesday at 6 p.m. to aid in the search for Kienan Hebert, following his abduction, around nine hours after he was reported missing.