Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Amber Alert upgrade sought Confusion, delays hinder state system

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 07:31:50 -0400

Article Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Amber Alert upgrade sought Confusion, delays hinder state system

By Jennifer Beauprez and Zach Kouwe

The Denver Post

Maria Soria-Hernandez is sure a statewide Amber Alert
led to the rescue of her kidnapped baby boy this summer.
But officials who know the Colorado's 1-year-old
emergency rescue system well say there's plenty of room
for improvement.

"It's a painful thing to go through, and I would never wish
it on anyone," said Hernandez, whose 5-month-old boy
was found at a northwest Denver home by police in June
after an Amber Alert drew hundreds of tips. She was
allegedly duped by the kidnapper, who claimed to be a
church worker.

"The faster they can find the baby, the better," Hernandez
said.

That's tough when state investigators must scrawl details
of kidnappings on sticky notes and paper and then use
phone, fax and e-mail to relay the information statewide to
police, broadcasters, thousands of Qwest field
technicians, America Online members and state agencies
that post messages on 170 overhead highway signs and
2,700 lottery terminals.

The state Amber Alert program
faces other problems as well: It is
cash-strapped, photos aren't
included in alerts and police aren't
always sure which kidnapping cases
qualify for the system.

Some of those problems may be
tough to solve. But this month, the
Colorado Bureau of Investigation will
install software donated by
Boulder-based NetDelivery Corp. to
get alerts out faster to the many
groups who publicize them. With the
touch of one button, officials can
send alerts to myriad agencies,
ending the time-consuming process
of phones calls, e-mails and faxes.

"Time is critical," said Kristina
Koellner, Amber Alert coordinator
for the CBI.

Indeed, 74 percent of the children
murdered by non-family members
are killed within the first three hours
of their abduction, according a 1997
study by the U.S. Department of
Justice.

"This software will cut down on the
time to get those alerts out," Koellner
said. "And it's decreasing the
chances of human error."

But Koellner is in a difficult spot. When the Amber Alert
program became law in Colorado in April 2002, it
included no state funding.

"Software is not going to solve all our problems," Koellner
said. "If we had another person (dedicated to Amber
Alert), that would help out tremendously."

Koellner relies on donations to get technology to improve
the system. Nextel Communications donated two
cellphones and a modem, and NetDelivery donated two
laptops in addition to the software.

But the CBI is still looking for help getting connected
wirelessly to the Internet. Four CBI officials rotate to take
Amber Alert calls wherever they may be.

"We're on call for a week's period and may be out at the
grocery store, driving to a soccer game, and we need
accessibility to wireless Internet," Koellner said.

It has also been tough getting the system to work
smoothly among police agencies and media outlets.

Technical glitches have caused spotty dissemination of
alerts to broadcasters. And earlier this year, Comcast
Corp. posted incomplete information about abductions on
cable TV channels and confused a number of viewers.

Lafayette police had to go to the news media themselves,
around the CBI, to release a photo of the suspect in the
kidnapping of a 14-month-old boy last month. The case
warranted an Amber Alert because the man beat the
mother and threatened the toddler's life before taking the
child.

The CBI did a good job of getting information out
statewide, said Lafayette police Cmdr. Rick Bashor. But,
he said, more tips came in once the public saw a picture
of the suspect. "The picture definitely helps," he said. "The
system, as it is set up, works well, but I think it needs
more resources."

Other police officers still remain confused over what
constitutes an Amber Alert.

For instance, several weeks ago, officials at the Jefferson
County Sheriff's Office wanted to issue an Amber Alert
about a missing 14-year-old girl.

But police discovered they couldn't because they didn't
have information on the person who may have taken the
girl.

"You need information about a suspect in order to issue
an Amber Alert, and sometimes that information is tough
to get because the family doesn't disclose everything to the
officers," said Jacki Tallman, spokeswoman for the
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

Officers found the girl a few hours later on the streets after
using a "Be On The Lookout" alert sent to other police
agencies.

Koellner said Amber Alerts require strict criteria - a child
must be under 17 and in immediate danger, and police
must have descriptive information on both the child and
the abductor.

"We're looking for the most serious cases, where the
motive is either murder or sexual assault, not if you just
can't find the child," Koellner said. "If we put this out for
every missing child, we'd have 50 Amber Alerts every
day."

There's always room for improvement, said Mark Wilson,
former CBI Amber Alert coordinator.

The bureau's new software should speed up data input
with a simple form that uses pull-down menus. It also has
preprogrammed settings to ensure the alert gets to
everyone appropriately, whether it's by fax, teletype or
e-mail.

Software maker NetDelivery predicts the system will cut
in half the hour it takes to issue those alerts.

"If you close this thing down to 20 minutes, chances are
the suspect is within miles of the original abduction site,"
Wilson said. "Every second counts."

Denver Post staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera
contributed to this report.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1698813,00.html

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