Late
on Sunday, January 13, 2013, a two-year-old Immokalee, Florida child was reported
missing and believed to have been abducted. At the request of Collier
County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued an AMBER
Alert. Under the direction of Collier County Sheriff’s Office, a Child
Abduction Response Team (CART) of 88 persons from 26 agencies sprang
into action to locate the child.
Fortunately,
the child was found alive and safe hours later in a field not far from
where she went missing, thanks to the dedicated efforts of law
enforcement agencies in the area.
FDLE has been notified that many Floridians awoke to a loud AMBER
Alert message broadcast to their smartphones via a new national system
around 1:45 a.m. According to the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children (NCMEC), smartphone customers are automatically
enrolled to receive various alerts, including AMBER Alerts.
FDLE
has been advised that smartphone owners who want to opt out of these
audible alerts can go to their ‘settings’ to turn off the alerts, or if
that isn’t possible, to contact their service provider to opt out of the
program. For a listing of participating providers and Frequently Asked
Questions, please see the link below:
Because AMBER Alerts are vitally important, FDLE urges citizens to sign up for email AMBER Alerts generated by the FDLE Missing Endangered Persons Clearinghouse (MEPIC). You can sign up and learn more at:
AMBER Alerts save lives:
Last year, two children in Florida were safely recovered as a direct result of an AMBER Alert.
In March, a 2-week-old
infant was abducted from West Palm Beach by a woman who befriended the
mother online. MEPIC conducted research, identified the suspect and
issued an AMBER Alert. A citizen saw the AMBER Alert and provided information that led to the safe recovery of the child.
In
October, a 1-year-old boy from North Miami Beach was forcibly abducted
along with his mother by the child’s father, who had an extensive
criminal history and felony warrants. The vehicle involved was spotted
by Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Mauricio Vasconcelos, who had seen the
AMBER Alert. Trooper Vasconcelos conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and safely recovered the mother and child.
In August, 2010, an AMBER Alert
was issued for a 1-year-old girl who was abducted after a suspect beat
the child's mother during a domestic dispute. A waitress at a
restaurant in Lake City recognized the suspect and child from the AMBER Alert broadcast on television. She contacted law enforcement and the child was safely rescued.
More than 20,000 citizens have signed up at www.missingchildrenalert.com to receive Florida AMBER
Alerts via e-mail. FDLE encourages citizens to sign up to receive these
free alerts to help law enforcement quickly recover children when they
go missing.
