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Amber Alert
Massachusetts Amber Alert Plan
| Criteria for the Amber Alert Notification Plan Activation |
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Although each case has its own set of circumstances, law enforcement agencies must follow the activation criteria as closely as possible. |
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| If all criteria are NOT met, the AMBER Alert Notification Plan should NOT be activated. The Plan should NOT be used for runaways. Also, while each case must be judged individually, most "child custody" situations DO NOT meet the criteria. |
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INITIAL INVESTIGATION |
| Local law enforcement officers or members of the Massachusetts State Police must conduct an initial investigation to be certain whether the criteria for an activation of the AMBER Alert are met. |
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ACTIVATION REQUEST |
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Where the three criteria have been met, the Chief or his/her designee may decide
to submit an AMBER Alert Activation Request. The determination of who is
authorized to submit such a Request is left to the local Chief. In larger departments
, it may be delegated to the Commanding Officer or Shift Supervisor. In very
small departments, where only one officer is on duty, and especially where no
supervisor can be reached promptly, the descision may be left to the on-duty
officer regardless of rank, if that is what the local Chief deems best. It is important for everyone to realize that if the system is overused, it will lose credibility and may result in reduced broadcaster participation. An Amber Alert Activation Request may be submitted orally by phone to the Massachusetts State Police Communications Section (Comm Sec) by calling and by faxing the completed Activation Request form to Comm Sec followed by a phone call to confirm they received the fax. Officers calling by phone should be prepared to furnish as much information shown on the form as possible and should promptly complete the fax and form as well. A recent photograph of the abducted child and the suspect, if available, should be obtained and forwarded to the State Police Communications Center, preferably in electronic format(especially if a scanner is available). Upon receipt of the Activation Request, the MSP Comm Sec will immediately notify and on-call Major, known as the Amber Alert Activation Officer, providing him/her with the information received. The Major will then:
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ALERT DISSEMINATION |
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The State Police Communications Section will work with the Massachusetts
Emergency Management Agency to disseminate a broadcast(voice and/or text) over
the Emergency Broadcast Network. This involves tape recording a message and
sending it to two radio stations in Boston. The message is monitored by other
stations and, after a series of such monitoring, it is picked up by stations
across the state. Discussions are on-going and the speed and manner of such dissemination may improve in time. Where an abduction takes place near a state border, or where there is reason to believe the suspect will flee this state, consideration should be given to notifying the New England States Police Network (NESPN) so that police agencies in other states will be on the lookout for the parties. Stations that decide to do so will likely interrupt their regular broadcasting to air the Amber Alert. It is expected that this will take place every 30 minutes for the first 4 hours unless the Alert is terminated. Cable and television stations that decide to participate are more likely to broadcast a text message. |
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TERMINATION |
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The State Police Communications Section should be notified immediately when an
abducted child is recovered or found. The Alert Activation Officer (Major)
must take the appropriate steps to cancel the Alert and arrange to have the
broadcasters so notified. |
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GUIDELINES |
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An Amber Alert should only be issued for serious child abduction cases. It
should not normally be used for runaway or parental-abduction cases, the two
leading causes of missing children. The only cause for an alert under these
circumstances would be if law enforcement believes the life of the child is in
serious danger(e.g. if a parent threatened to harm the child and this
information can be verified). Each case will need to be judged on an
individual basis. Circumstances where an AMBER Alert would be activated include:
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EXAMPLES |
| SCENARIO #1 |
| SCENARIO #2 |
| SCENARIO #3 |
| SCENARIO #4 |
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Actual Alerts |
| February 23rd, 2007 |
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Emergency - police,
fire, ambulance: 911 or 729-1212
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