Amber Alert Program Dials Into Popularity Of Mobile Phone Use
The Amber Alert program is now a part of the wireless industry in an effort titled “The Wireless Amber Alerts” initiative which includes all wireless carriers, law enforcement, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
More than 240 children have been found thanks to the Amber Alert program, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Wireless users can sign up to receive Amber Alerts in text messages in as many as five different ZIP codes.
RadioShack and Cingular recently launched their server that plans to add 1 million Wireless Amber Alerts users. “We’re trying to promote the use of technology that [just about] everyone has in their hands,” says Charles Hodges at RadioShack. “Getting the information out quickly to as many people as possible is going to assist in the recovery of missing children.”
Every state has the Amber Alert program and the wireless industry is attempting to get the nation’s nearly 200 million wireless users to sign up for the new service.
“When a child has been abducted, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” says Robert Hoever at the NCMEC. “The more eyes and ears you have from the public, the smaller that haystack is and the better our chances are in finding that child.”
Roxanne Robbins at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association says hundreds of thousands of cellular phone users have already signed up to receive the alerts.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Investor’s Business Daily (01/30/06) P. A5; Much, Marilyn .