How to Receive Wireless Amber Alerts
My friend Chris Griffith of Real Life & Real Estate in Bonita Springs read my post about Leah Hickman, a Marshall University student who has disappeared with out a trace. She gave me a link that was so good, I couldn’t just leave it in the comments.
Now we can get Wireless AMBER Alerts sent directly to our cell phones.
All you do is enter your cell phone number on their website. When an AMBER Alert is issued in your area, you’ll receive a text message immediately after law enforcement is notified.
Time is critical in missing persons cases, and the first three hours after a child goes missing have proven to be the most important.
When you sign up, you create an account and choose up to five zip codes to keep an eye on. You can enter your email address as well if you like. (I did, I’m at the computer a lot.) When your account is set up, they’ll send you a text message (and email if you gave them that, too) to let you know it’s working.
I hope you never receive an AMBER Alert, but I’m thankful that we have such a system in place to get as many people as possible looking out for missing children.
Thank you for the link, Chris.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Beautiful!
December 19th, 2007 at 10:04 am
A couple of times this year I have been in my car when an Amber Alert has been issued in Ohio. It breaks in on the radio… in the two I remember they tell you what kind of a car they believe may be involved. Suddenly you are so aware of the cars around you. Then you see it on the message boards over the highway. We don’t have as many message boards as some cities and I know when you get out more rural there would not even be that. In both cases the Amber Alert was from another part of the state, but it is possible you’d be driving on the highways in Central Ohio and see someone who is fleeing from Cleveland or another part of the state.
It breaks my heart when you see / hear stories about young, women students disappearing. We’ve had so many at Ohio State over the years.
Thanks for the info Chris and Sarah, I suppose I ought to sign up.
December 20th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I’ve only seen one Amber Alert ever on the highway signs and Maureen is so right. All of a sudden all eyes are everywhere looking for the car and hopefully the child. It’s heartbreaking that we have these things happening. But it’s good that with technology we may be able to return a child safely to loved ones. I’m heading over there now.
My friends don’t read my blog so I guess I’ll be emailing them a link too.