Re: Broadcast bulletins to alert Mainers to child abductions

[Dave Faneuf <tklaundry@juno.com>]

On Thu, 22 Aug 2002 15:02:23 -0400 "Aaron [Bishop] Read"
<aread@speakeasy.net> writes:
> At 01:41 PM 8/22/2002, Dave Faneuf wrote:
> >The other major flaw is getting timely and accurate information.  I
> >recall a Lowell girl was missing a couple of years ago, it was 3 or 
> 4
> >DAYS before the police went public and that was only AFTER the 
> family
> >contacted Channel 5. 

>snip<
Aaron wrote:
> There are many very legitimate reasons why a police agency would not 
> want 
> to go public about a kidnapping.  Sometimes the media coverage will 
> "egg 
> on" a kidnapper to act rashly and kill the abductee.  Sometimes the 
> police 
> are withholding vital info that only the kidnapper would know so as 
> to 
> distinguish between fake copycats and the real thing.  There are 
> other 
> reasons, too.

Actually in the case I cited above the police were treating it as a
runaway, the little girl's body was found a few days after the case was
made public.
The other question I would have regarding EAS is if EAS were activiated
how often would it be used in a single case....once when the Amber Alert
was issued, but then what?  Every hour? once a day?  I just don't see
most stations allowing this to interrupt their programming.
df