Amber Alert

To incorporate the Department of Transportation and the use of their intelligent transportation system (ITS) devices into Montana’s AMBER Alert Plan.

The AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert program is a plan to facilitate the recovery of abducted children. The plan was put into place in 1996 in memory of Amber Hagerman, a 9-year old Texan who was abducted and murdered. To initiate an AMBER Alert in Montana, the child must fit certain criteria. Once it is determined that the criteria have been met, an AMBER Alert is activated. In Montana, activation includes information (e.g. physical descriptions of child and abductor, motor vehicle information, and photographs) broadcast through radio, television, the Montana lottery system, and state web sites. An effective enhancement to the plan would be use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) across the state that reach the traveling public, those people who may be driving next to the abductor. ITS devices include highway advisory radio (HAR), dynamic message signs (DMS), and 511, the nation’s traveler information number. These types of devices are owned and operated by the state department of transportation. This grant will help to incorporate the use of these devices into Montana’s AMBER Alert Plan.