ADD AN AGE BRACKET ALERT TO THE AMBER ALERT PROGRAM

Still pushing!

The Fort Worth Star Telegram did a good article on the petition this week. I am still pushing to get the changes made. PLEASE sign and Forward the petition. We need to get A LOT more signatures to get the attention of Governor Abbott. If I can get his attention and then his suppport we will be a lot more successfull a lot sooner! Thank you for everyones support!

Meeting with Chief Gibson and LT. Roberts today

The meeting with Chief Gibson and Lt. Roberts went REALLY!!! Well! We talked for a little over an hour and Chief Gibson agrees something needs to be changed or an alternative system developed. We came up with the idea of an alternate alert (like there is the Silver alert for Elderly or mentally ill missing persons) an Alert for the maybe like the age bracket of 14 and younger. An alert that has a little less restrictive requirements to get an alert out when the case doesn't exactly meet the regular Amber alert guidelines. It was even suggested calling the age bracket alert the "Kaytlynn alert". Chief Gibson said he is going to move on suggesting that option and I agreed, that will be the goal I will be pushing for as well. Chief Gibson has already been contacted by State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (Texas State House District 92) and Texas State Senate District 10-Senator Konni Burton, with concerns and questions regarding the Amber Alert guidelines and the case at hand. I will now be scheduling more meetings with more local Chiefs to get their input and get their opinion on another age bracket alert and I will also try to meet with Sheriff Waybourne. I will also be reaching out to Rep. Strickland and other Government officials including Governor Abbott. I have tried to avoid the media until I spoke with several Chiefs (which is why I didn't tell anyone the exact time of the meeting) but Channel 11 caught me in the parking lot of BPD so I did speak to them about what I was doing and where we are going from here with the push for change. Thank you everyone who pushed for the signatures (keep doing so) and I will reach out once this really gets going, I will need all of the help I can get and want to get the community involved as much as I can. What I did learn today as well is that Bedford PD has a Black Board program that you can go to and sign up for Text alerts regarding missing persons, missing kids, active shooter situations, natural disasters etc. I highly recommend that everyone sign up for that. Bedford also has a Bedford Citizens Corp program that is amazing, where citizens can get training and volunteer to help. Today I learned even more just how much of a "Community Policing Chief" Chief Gibson is. He is really focused on community involvement and community patrol. And I will tell you this, speaking with him today, looking the man in the eyes.. I could see that his heart was absolutely broken over Kaytlynn. And he expressed that the rest of the department is hurting as well. They did everything they were legally able to do, but he is the type of man that isn't just doing a job, he genuinely cares for the citizens of Bedford so it affects him just as much as it does everyone else. And he is 100% willing to work on trying to find someway that there can be a positive change to adapt the Alert system now, at the same time not desensitizing the alert system, like unfortunately it has already been. With his professional input and the input of many law enforcement administrators and working with Government officials, I firmly believe that we can find a way to adapt the system to todays needs, like creating the age bracket alert that is less restrictive.

Question about proposed changes

The question was asked "why aren't the proposed changes listed?"... Here is one change. To change the guidelines regarding an assumption that its a runaway case. Like if there was no altercation with parents before the child went missing, if there was no note left indicating running away and if the child does not have a history of running away. Thats one guideline that needs to be changed/added. After a meeting with multiple Chiefs, a letter will written documenting all of the Chiefs suggestions and opinions. So until I can get their professional input, I don't want to list EVER change I think needs to be made.

Thank you for understanding and signing.

Letter to Tarrant County Chiefs and Sheriff.

I will be putting together a letter addressed to all Tarrant County Police Chiefs and the Tarrant County Sheriff (Bill Waybourne). In this letter I will request that the Chiefs attend a soon to be scheduled meeting to get their opinions and discuss changes to the Amber Alert Guidelines that THEY feel could be less restrictive, make more sense and that would be beneficial to the communities and to help Tarrant County Law Enforcement in missing or abducted child cases. I hope we can get many of Tarrant Countys Law Enforcement leaders to attend.

Thank you!

G. Charles Clark

TheBlueVoice

Even if there are a million false alerts.. if it saves one child it is worth it!

Guidelines for Issuing AMBER Alerts Every successful AMBER plan contains clearly defined activation criteria. The following guidance is designed to achieve a uniform, interoperable network of plans across the country, and to minimize potentially deadly delays because of confusion among varying jurisdictions.

The following are criteria recommendations: Law Enforcement Confirms an Abduction AMBER plans require law enforcement to confirm an abduction prior to issuing an alert. This is essential when determining the level of risk to the child. Clearly, stranger abductions are the most dangerous for children and thus are primary to the mission of an AMBER Alert. To allow activations in the absence of significant information that an abduction has occurred could lead to abuse of the system and ultimately weaken its effectiveness. At the same time, each case must be appraised on its own merits and a judgment call made quickly. Law enforcement must understand that a “best judgment” approach, based on the evidence, is appropriate and necessary. Risk of Serious Bodily Injury or Death Plans require a child be at risk for serious bodily harm or death before an alert can be issued. This element is clearly related to law enforcement’s recognition that stranger abductions represent the greatest danger to children. The need for timely, accurate information based on strict and clearly understood criteria is critical, again keeping in mind the “best judgment” approach.

(IF A CHILD IS MISSING AND HAS NO HISTORY OF RUNAWAY REPORTS THEN WHY NOT ASSUME THEY ARE IN DANGER??)

Sufficient Descriptive Information For an AMBER Alert to be effective in recovering a missing child, the law enforcement agency must have enough information to believe that an immediate broadcast to the public will enhance the efforts of law enforcement to locate the child and apprehend the suspect. This element requires as much descriptive information as possible about the abducted child and the abduction, as well as descriptive information about the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle. Issuing alerts in the absence of significant information that an abduction has occurred could lead to abuse of the system and ultimately weaken its effectiveness.

(THE CHILDS DESCRIPTION IS WHAT MATTERS MOST! THE CHILDS PICTURE SHOULD BE BLASTED AROUND SOCIAL MEDIA AND NEWS MEDIA IMMEDIATELY AND AN AMBER ALERT DIRECTING COMMUNITIES TO LOOK AT THE LOCAL POLICE WEBSITE OR SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE FOR MORE INFO AND PICTURES OF THE MISSING CHILD.)

NCIC Data Entry Immediately enter AMBER Alert data into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.  Text information describing the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the child should be entered, and the case flagged as a Child Abduction. Many plans do not mandate entry of the data into NCIC, but this omission undermines the entire mission of the AMBER Alert initiative. The notation on the entry should be sufficient to explain the circumstances of the disappearance of the child. Entry of the alert data into NCIC expands the search for an abducted child from the local, state, or regional level to the national. This is a critical element of any effective AMBER Alert plan.  

(IF IT IS NOT A CONFIRMED ABDUCTION BUT THE CHILD HAS NOT RUNAWAY HISTORY THEN WHY NOT AT LEAST ENTER THE AMBER ALERT AND CHILDS INFORMATION INTO TCIC (TEXAS CRIME INFORMATION COMPUTER) AND TLETS (TEXAS LAW ENFORCEMENT TELETYPE SYSTEM)? )  

Summary of Department of Justice Recommended Criteria •  There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred. •  The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. •  There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child. •  The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger. The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.      

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