Posted on 12/28/2018 9:38:00 AM PST by Anti-Bubba182
"....ResearchGate: How do you view the success of AMBER Alert since its inception in 1996?
Timothy Griffin: AMBER Alerts do certainly, in a sense, work. A minority of them assist in the recovery of abducted children. My latest dataset isn’t complete yet, but the success rate among all Alerts issued, as my colleagues and I measure it, will be, I estimate, around 20 percent.
There is always an element of uncertainty, of course, because it is impossible to know what “would have” happened in any given AMBER Alert case, had no Alert been issued. However, in my reading of the data, the number of children whose lives have been saved by AMBER Alert ranges from zero to something very close to zero......."
(Excerpt) Read more at researchgate.net ...
I got tired of hearing them on my phone, so I turned them off.
They work in that they keep us aware to notice when things aren’t right in a child’s situation. I’d also assume that because there are often reports of someone being recognized and the child found that it scares away some would-be abductors.
It’s better than nothing. At least it makes us aware bad things happen and to take precautions.
Same here. The overwhelming majority of Amber Alerts are parental custody disputes and the children aren't in any real danger.
It’s a good idea to have drivers on the road looking out for STRANGER abductions, if they know the vehicle and description of child. But once you learn it was parental, you wonder if the judge didn’t give the child to the wrong parent or if the situation is too complicated. Here, they are 99% Hispanic and the parent is just jamming for the border usually.
Just like car alarms.
They go off, people keep walking.
I kept getting them on my phone for incidents 300+ miles away.
For instance, 8-year old reported missing, last seen in a blue Ford Fiesta. Motorist spots the blue Ford Fiesta, sees that a child is inside, and calls in the police. Has something like that ever happened? Also, I'd hate to be driving in a blue Ford Fiesta with my 8-year old grandchild when that AMBER alert sounds. Would make me very paranoid.
There have been at least a few cases in which an estranged ex-husband, the subject of a restraining order, abducts and then murders a child to retaliate against the ex-wife. (So, just because it’s domestic doesn’t necessarily make a case non-dangerous.)
I don’t know how many of these have been successfully intercepted with Amber alerts, though.
Same here. The overwhelming majority of Amber Alerts are parental custody disputes and the children aren’t in any real danger.
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^This^
They may not work very well, but does anyone have a better idea?
I kept getting them on my phone for incidents 300+ miles away.
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Where I live we get Silver Alerts. Signs on the TransGuide Highway signs alerting us to a missing senior citizen. From 300+ miles away.
Driving a beige Grand Marquis. (Like, don’t they all drive beige Grand Marquis?)
Your comments reflect my thoughts, as well.
I’m not surprised that the Amber Alert system has a low success rate, but it costs relative little to do it and if it saves any lives, I think it’s worth it.
The success case that sticks out in my mind is from 2002. Four teens were accosted on a remote lovers lane. The two boys were tied up and left. The two girls were abducted and raped. Law enforcement put out an Amber Alert (for the first time) and luckily an alert animal control officer had spotted the vehicle. The girls were found; they had been raped and were probably minutes or hours away from their deaths.
I too ignore all such messages.
They’ll have to invent another level of danger
Dozens that I’ve seen.
Well, can you tell us about one of the dozens of rescues you’ve seen?
There needs to be better guidelines for Amber Alerts.
If 2 parents are in contest over a kid and one of the parents decides to grab the kid and run, there is little chance that the kid is in jeopardy of health, life or limb.
I don’t want to get a phone alert for what constitutes a domestic dispute. The left behind parent may be distraught, but the kid is ultimately OK and not in danger.
Abduction or kidnapping by a child molester or for child trafficking or ransom is an entirely different story. A child is in danger and an alert is warranted.
They are about as useful as California Proposition 65 cancer warnings.
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