EAS Amber Alert
AMBER - what's it all about? The AMBER Plan is a voluntary partnership between law enforcement agencies and broadcasters to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. New Hampshire is adopting the FCC EAS standard for child abduction emergencies; it will not use the AMBER name. In May 2002 the FCC adopted a rulemaking revising many aspects of EAS. Among other things, it created 21 new event codes including CAE (Child Abduction Emergency). |
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When law enforcement agencies are convinced a child has been abudtced they will use EAS to deliver vital information to the broadcast media. The intent is that broadcasters will voluntarily relay the information to listeners and viewers, creating thousands of extra eyes and ears to look for the victim and perpetrator.
WILL THIS HAPPEN OFTEN?
N.H. police say the only incident that would have met the criteria in recent years was the 1983 kidnapping of Tammy Belanger in Exeter.
WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA?
*Law enforcement confirms a child under the age of 17 has been abducted
*They believe the circumstances surrounding the abduction indicate that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death
* There is enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, and/or suspect's vehicle to believe an immediate alert will help.
HOW DOES MY STATION RECEIVE THE INFORMATION?
Exactly the same way it receives Severe Thunderstorm Warnings - the EAS hardware will sound the familiar alert chirps then deliver a voice message under two minutes in length.
OKAY, I'M A BELIEVER...WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?
Install the software and program your gear to accept the CAE event code.
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