Alerts: What They Mean
Image by Pixabay
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
You’re sitting at home watching TV and suddenly your cell phone sends out a loud obnoxious tone. What is it? You just received an Amber Alert for a missing child, but there is a whole array of notifications, each with a special code name. If you are like me, you don’t know all of the code definitions.
We have been conditioned by TV shows to believe that you must wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person, but according to the US Department of Justice, this is not true; call 911 as soon as you learn they are missing.
The most widely recognized is the AMBER Alert.
The Amber Alert system is now a nationwide system that began in 1996 in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas. The system was created by a law enforcement officer and a journalist trying to get the word out faster about missing children. The missing child must be 17 years old or younger and at risk of injury or death, plus there must be someone to confirm an abduction occurred with a description of the child, abductor, and or vehicle.
AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was named for a nine-year-old girl named Amber Hagerman who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas.
IAN Alert
This alert was created by the 2024 General Assembly HB 682. The bill led to the creation of an alert when a child within the autism spectrum disorder is reported missing.
The alert is named for Ian Sousis, a 9-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who ran away and tragically died of drowning. Statistics from the National Autism Association (NAN) report that 91% of the total U.S. ASD deaths from 2009-2011 were from drowning after wandering away from safe environments.
ASHANTI Alert
This system was also implemented into Kentucky law during the 2024 General Assembly with SB 45. In 2018, the Ashanti Alert Act was passed nationally in honor of Ashanti Billie, a 19-year-old woman from Virginia who was abducted and found dead in North Carolina 2 weeks later. This system is used for missing persons 18 years or older who may have been abducted, kidnapped, or are in physical danger. This system provides an alert for people who have aged out of Amber Alerts and do not meet the qualifications for Golden Alerts.
GOLDEN Alert
This Kentucky alert system was created during the 2008 General Assembly. Golden Alerts are used to notify the public of the search and rescue efforts for missing adults with disabilities or impairments. These may include developmental disabilities, organic brain disorders, as well as physical, mental, or cognitive impairments. These alerts offer something more specific than an Ashanti Alert for adults who may be at a higher risk of danger.
GREEN Alert
The 2019 General Assembly voted to implement a Green Alert system for Kentucky. This alert system is for missing veterans who are at risk of harm due to physical or mental injuries sustained during service. Separating the individual from the Golden Alert and specializing an alert system for veterans allows search and rescue parties to understand the unique difficulties these individuals may be facing.
Each of these systems alerts the public to missing individuals whom they may be able to assist in finding. These alerts are important to ensure the safety of our fellow Kentuckians because when we are made aware of those who are missing, we are able to help find them.
