Attorney General Josh Kaul explains why Amber Alerts are rare and why some get denied
It's one of the worst nightmares for a parent: Your child goes missing.
One of the most powerful tools to find them is an Amber Alert.
This week, Wisconsin recognized the 20-year anniversary of its Amber Alert program, which has issued 57 alerts since its inception.
The program is run by the state Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Josh Kaul.
Kaul answered questions from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the Amber Alert program ahead of National Missing Children's Day, which will be marked on Thursday. Some answers have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
How effective are Amber Alerts?
In our experience in Wisconsin, they've been highly effective. In over half of the cases where the Amber Alert system was used, it's helped with the recovery of missing children.
It also raises awareness about the concerns about missing children and makes clear to anybody who might commit a horrific crime of potentially abducting kids that we're going to use the resources we have available to locate those missing children and to hold people accountable.
More:Who gets an Amber Alert in Wisconsin? Here’s what the data showed
The alerts, while effective, are relatively rare. Why is that?
We have certain criteria that we require to be met as part of the program and that's based off guidance from the (federal law) and because of those criteria, there are a fairly rare number of cases in which they're used.
It's important that we have those criteria though because, as I think anybody who has received an alert knows, they get your attention. They include wireless emergency alerts and because they get people's attention, we have a really good response rate. But we're also very cognizant that if people receive too many contacts, those alerts will become less significant to them and will be less likely to get responses.
The last thing we want to have happen is for people to start ignoring the alerts that they receive. And so being careful about when we're issuing them helps ensure that it remains an effective tool.
More:Amber Alerts are rare. A Milwaukee grandmother thinks one could have saved her family.
The state does deny requests from local law enforcement for Amber Alerts. What are the most common reasons for denials?
The criteria include that first that it has to be a child and secondly, there has to be a danger of serious bodily harm or death. If we're unaware of the circumstances that have led to somebody going missing, we may not have a basis to conclude that there's such a danger. And then we also need to have enough descriptive information about the child, the suspect, and or the suspect vehicle to think that an alert is going to be helpful.
But it's important to note though that even if an Amber Alert isn't issued, that doesn't mean that there's no investigation. On the contrary, we continue working with the agency that's requested that an alert be issued, and if we get the information that would support the issuance of an alert, we will put one out, but also there's a Child Abduction Response Team that works to locate missing kids, and there are other notifications that can be issued through for example, the Wisconsin Crime alert network.
Police agencies do resubmit alert requests as they get new information. In your opinion, is there any way for the process to work a little bit more efficiently?
I think the going back-and-forth is an inherent part of the process. It's absolutely not only understandable, but it's really what you want to see from agencies pursuing these cases as aggressively as they can. There is no more horrific nightmare for a parent than having a missing kid, and we absolutely understand that agencies want to use every tool available. That's why we work with them and go back and forth to try to figure out if there are there is a sufficient basis to issue an alert, where that's feasible.
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Wisconsin has other specialty alerts such as the Silver Alerts and the Green Alerts. Do you support efforts for what's been called a Purple Alert for victims of domestic violence who go missing?
What I would say is that having alerts that can help locate missing persons are valuable and so as an example, the Amber Alert program is one great example. With the Silver Alert program, for example, we recently began using wireless emergency alerts to locate missing seniors in certain circumstances when they're missing on foot.
Having alert systems that are very carefully tailored to the circumstances is very valuable. But I think making sure that those programs are developed in conjunction with the experts who issue those alerts and know when they're likely to lead to missing people being identified is really critical. Because again, you need to make sure you're doing it in a way that doesn't lead to so many alerts being issued that people begin ignoring them.
... The concept of the (Purple) alert is one that I'm certainly open to but again, you need to think through how you do it in a way that is going to ensure that it's effective in helping locate missing people.
Is there anything else you would like to add about the public's role that they play in finding not just missing children, but other missing people?
Ultimately, this system works because members of the public care about their neighbors and their community members and kids who have gone missing, and when they have information they think can help locate missing kids, they’ve been providing that information, and that is what makes this program effective.
I also firmly believe that we're gonna continue to have people stepping up to help others out and that this program will continue to be a success for years to come.
You can find a database of missing persons in Wisconsin at projects.jsonline.com/apps/missing-kids.
Contact Ashley Luthern at ashley.luthern@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @aluthern.