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Dispatchers answer 911 calls 24 hours a day, everyday. And in the case of a missing child, they are the lifeline between the child’s family and the statewide Amber Alert system.
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Connan Wolfe, top, and Everett Holz, both dispatchers for Winona County, respond to calls at the Winona County Sheriff's Department on National Amber Alert Day yesterday. Neither have had to issue or respond to an Amber Alert, but both understand the importance of being prepared. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
Fortunately, neither has had to issue one of those alerts, they said.
“I’m glad I haven’t had to,” Holz said.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t know the importance of getting an alert out as soon as possible to help locate a missing child. Together with child safety advocates, law enforcement agencies around the country recognized Sunday as National Amber Alert Awareness Day to remind people of the emergency broadcast system for missing children.
Started in 1997 and named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who went missing in Arlington, Texas, on Jan. 13, 1996, the National AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) alert system has reunited nearly 375 children with their families.
All of the 18 children reported missing through Minnesota’s Amber Alert Plan, which started in 2001, have been found, including one case that originated in Winona County.
On Nov. 5, 2004, Sara Fay Peterson, 26, and Dana John Thompson, 28, abducted their 17-month-old daughter from her court-appointed guardian in Utica, Minn. The guardian called police, and an Amber Alert was issued. Five days later, authorities found the threesome in Fridley, a suburb west of Minneapolis.
The two were charged with depriving the guardian custody in violation of a court order. Both were sentenced to serve two years of probation and to pay about $8,000 in fees and restitution for law enforcement costs incurred during the statewide search.
Although Holz, a 27-year dispatch veteran, wasn’t on duty the night of Winona’s Amber Alert, he said the first few hours of that kind of situation come with a sense of urgency.
“The sooner you get the information on air, the better,” Holz said. “A vehicle can travel miles within a few minutes.”
That information can go out almost immediately, he said. Once dispatchers receive a call of a missing child, they run through a standardized form to see if an Amber Alert should be issued. Alerts aren’t issued for all children, however. The most basic criteria are the child must be 17 years old or younger and believed to be in imminent danger of harm or death.
If that’s the case, a form is filled out with a description of when and where the child was abducted and descriptions of the child, the abductor and a vehicle if one is involved. The form asks for last known direction of travel and the relationship between the child and the abductor. If possible, photos are included. This information is sent in a fax to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which makes the ultimate determination to issue an Amber Alert.
Holz said the whole process can be completed within minutes. The information is then piped to digital billboards on highways and state media outlets like newspapers, TV and radio stations.
Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand said that information could be passed to local media outlets even before an alert is issued because the media play a large part in helping locate children through the program.
If a child or person is considered ineligible for an Amber Alert, their information can be released on the Minnesota Crime Alert Network, another avenue for seeking public assistance in locating missing people. Holz said if the alerts were used for adults older than 18, they would become so common, people wouldn’t pay much attention to them.
As it stands right now, Amber Alerts often become a high priority for law enforcement agencies, and no tip goes unchecked in hopes it might help solve the case. Brand said when Winona’s alert happened in 2004, he called in extra investigators to work overtime and help field every tip that came into the office.
“Some information is good and some isn’t,” he said, “but you’ve got to check every detail.”
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com
