WASHINGTON-Nine wireless carriers said they will send text messages to people who opt in to receive Amber Alerts over their cell phones in the culmination of a movement CTIA President Steve Largent began more than a year ago.
Participating carriers are Alltel Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C., Dobson Communications, Nextel Communications Inc., Rural Cellular Corp., Sprint Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc., U.S. Cellular Corp. and Verizon Wireless. Terry Addington, chief executive officer of First Cellular of Southern Illinois and chairman of the board of CTIA, said smaller wireless operators like his company likely will participate in the initiative but don’t have the resources to move as quickly as larger operators. Nevertheless, the participating carriers today cover 90 percent of the nation’s 182 million wireless users.
Statistics show that the first three hours after a child is abducted are the most critical to recovering the child alive, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which partnered with industry on the initiative. As such, the public often plays a crucial part in safely recovering an abducted child after an Amber Alert, said John Walsh, host of “America’s Most Wanted” and a co-founder of NCMEC.
“This has been a terrible year for children,” Walsh said, commenting on a rash of heinous crimes against kids. Adding a wireless segment to Amber Alerts not only can help capture criminals abducting children more quickly, but could prevent abductions since would-be perpetrators might be aware cell-phone owners could have immediate access to Amber Alerts.
People who want to opt in to the wireless text messages must register at wirelessamberalerts.org or their carrier’s Web site to be able to receive the alerts and can choose up to five geographic areas for which they would like to receive alerts. Phones also must be able to carry text messages.
Carriers are not charging for the text messages, but the capability did not come free. An estimated $9 million of resources was spent to set the system up, said Syniverse CEO Ed Evans. Syniverse worked with HP, Oracle, SunGuard Availability Services, Veritas Software, Verizon Information Technology L.L.C., and Integrated Research to set up the capability.
At today’s press conference announcing the initiative, speakers downplayed the cost and focused instead on how powerful a tool the text message blasts could be. “We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” Largent said.
Indeed, the first recovery after an Amber Alert was issued had a wireless component: An infant in Dallas was saved after being abducted by the babysitter because a motorist heard the alert on his radio and used his cell phone to alert law enforcement, said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC.
In Pennsylvania, where Nextel launched an Amber Alert pilot program more than a year ago, two children have been recovered with aid from wireless phones, said Wayne Sheppard, the Pennsylvania Amber Alert coordinator. In one instance, the caller received a text message and called police, and another person heard the alert on the radio and used a cell phone to call authorities.
