Encouraging the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice to include within the minimum standards established pursuant to the PROTECT Act a specific criterion for issuance of an alert through the AMBER Alert communications network.

Encourages the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice to include the following criterion within the minimum standards established pursuant to the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 (PROTECT Act) for issuing an AMBER alert: reasonable belief by law enforcement officials that the welfare of a child who has been missing for six or more hours is in danger based on facts tending to show that the child may have been abducted.

[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 454 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 454

Encouraging the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice to 
   include within the minimum standards established pursuant to the 
 PROTECT Act a specific criterion for issuance of an alert through the 
                  AMBER Alert communications network.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 19, 2003

   Mrs. Jones of Ohio submitted the following resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Encouraging the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice to 
   include within the minimum standards established pursuant to the 
 PROTECT Act a specific criterion for issuance of an alert through the 
                  AMBER Alert communications network.

Whereas approximately 797,500 children are reported missing each year, according 
        to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the 
        United States Department of Justice;
Whereas 74 percent of abducted children who are murdered are dead within 12 
        hours of the abduction, and therefore a quick response is essential to 
        the safe recovery of abducted children;
Whereas local, State, and Federal law enforcement officials log countless hours 
        in their commendable recovery efforts in each missing child case;
Whereas law enforcement officials should be afforded every means available to 
        help recover missing children;
Whereas the America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (referred to in this 
        resolution as ``AMBER'') Alert communications network has led to the 
        recovery of over 100 missing children since the network's inception at 
        the local level in 1996;
Whereas the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the 
        Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of 
        Children Today Act of 2003 promote national coordination of the AMBER 
        Alert communications network;
Whereas more than half of the 100 recoveries made by the AMBER Alert 
        communications network have been made since the national coordination 
        efforts began;
Whereas using the AMBER Alert communications network in the hours after a 
        child's disappearance makes the safe recovery of the child much more 
        likely than if the network is not used, and therefore the network is an 
        effective tool for the location of missing children in the crucial hours 
        after a child's disappearance;
Whereas these facts demonstrate the importance of the new relationships between 
        Federal and State authorities in developing and expanding the AMBER 
        Alert communications network;
Whereas an expansion of the criteria suggested by the AMBER Alert Coordinator of 
        the Department of Justice for local law enforcement officials to use 
        when deciding whether to issue an alert through the AMBER Alert 
        communications network would greatly aid in the safe recovery of missing 
        children; and
Whereas preserving the discretion of local law enforcement officials in deciding 
        when to issue an alert through the AMBER Alert communications network 
        also contributes to the safe recovery of missing children: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives encourages the AMBER 
Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice to include within the 
minimum standards established pursuant to the Prosecutorial Remedies 
and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 
the following criterion for issuance of an alert through the AMBER 
Alert communications network: If law enforcement officials reasonably 
believe that a child's welfare is in danger, such officials shall issue 
an alert through the AMBER Alert communications network if the child 
has been missing for 6 or more hours. A determination of reasonable 
belief that a child's welfare is in danger shall not require specific 
knowledge of an abduction, but shall require facts tending to show that 
the child may have been abducted based on the particular circumstances.
                                 <all>