Re: Massachusetts Amber Alert

[John Maihos <boston.guide@about.com>]

There's nothing in the original press release from the Commonwealth about 
parental abduction vs. non-parental abduction. Here's what the original 
release said:
"The alerts are expected to be issued very rarely. To meet the criteria for 
an alert, the abduction victim must be 18 or under and believed by police 
to be in danger of serious bodily harm or death. Also, there must be enough 
descriptive information about the child, the abductor and/or the abductor's 
vehicle to assure an immediate broadcast alert will be effective."
http://www.state.ma.us/eops/releases/amber.htm

However, according to the Mass Chiefs of Police Association, "Amber Alerts 
are not intended for missing child incidents, runaways, or child custody 
situations."
http://www.masschiefs.org/hottopics/hot_aalert.html

Maybe the concern over the safety of the children outweighed the policy on 
custody issues.


At 07:17 AM 8/8/2003 -0400, *Bill wrote:
>Same Thought.
>
>I'll have to Look at the Mass Chiefs of Police Web Page and double check the
>guidelines there as well.
>
>Non-Parental...O well
>It worked, the Kids or the person they were with Say themselves talked about
>on TV and called the Police.
>
>Bill
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dan Billings" <billings@suscom-maine.net>
>To: "Mark Watson" <markwats@comcast.net>; "Boston Radio Interest"
><boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
>Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 22:37
>Subject: Re: Massachusetts Amber Alert
>
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mark Watson" <markwats@comcast.net>
> > To: "Boston Radio Interest" <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 9:42 PM
> > Subject: Massachusetts Amber Alert
> >
> >
> > > Just saw what may be the first Amber Alert in Massachusetts just a
>couple
> > of
> > > moments ago, WHDH-TV (Channel 7) just broke into a commercial break at
>the
> > > beginning of "Scrubs" with an Amber Alert for 3 children reportedly
> > abducted
> > > by their mother in Dudley MA. Not sure if any other TV or radio stations
> > in
> > > the state have broadcast this Amber Alert.
> >
> > I thought the system was only going to be used for non-family abductions?
> >
> > -- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine
> >
> >

-John Maihos, Guide to Boston on About
Web site: http://boston.about.com
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