The AMBER Alert System began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children.
AMBER stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnaped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, TX, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation.
Every state adopt the “17 years of age or younger” standard; or, at a minimum, agree to honor the request of any other state to issue an AMBER Alert, even if the case does not meet the responding state’s age criterion, as long as it meets the age criterion of the requesting state.
See AmberAlert.gov's Guidelines for Issuing AMBER Alerts for more info.
In the news: An Amber Alert is over after a Staten Island toddler, who police had said could be in imminent danger, was located.
Police were looking for Kim Woo, 2, years, 11 months, who was with her father. The child had been missing since 8:30 a.m. and was only wearing pink pajamas. Get the full report at FoxNY.com.