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| Avon and Somerset Constabulary has joined together with forces across the country in a bid to save the lives of abducted children. The Child Rescue Alert system is today, Monday March 27 2006, being launched by every force in England and Wales. Child Rescue Alert was originally launched by Sussex Police in November 2002 as a ground-breaking initiative to save abducted children from being murdered. The scheme works by interrupting television and radio programmes with immediate news flashes that a youngster has been snatched and is at risk of serious harm or death. Detective Superintendent Arthur Lewis said: "By joining with the media, police forces are able to spread the message to a vast cross-section of the public within moments, asking them to keep their eyes and ears open and to call 999 if they have crucial information." After five forces had signed up to the system one by one, it was decided that all forces should come on board to maximise the benefits of the system and any future alert. The scheme is based on an American concept called Amber Alert, which was introduced in Texas in 1996 following the kidnapping and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman. This has now been credited with saving at least 69 children. The system will not be used in every case where a child goes missing. D/Supt Lewis explains: "A Child Rescue Alert is only launched if four set criteria are met and must be authorised by a senior officer. "An alert is launched when the following criteria are met - a child under the age of 16 yrs old is missing, a senior police officer feels that serious harm or death may occur to the child, the child has been, or is strongly suspected of having been, kidnapped, and the case has sufficient descriptive details (or CCTV/photos) of the victim or offender, to justify launching an alert." When an alert is launched a circulation is made to all media outlets via email, text message and telephone which will contain a description of the child, details of the location, description of the offender and possibly details of any vehicles used. Radio stations will broadcast this alert every 15 minutes for four hours. TV stations will use a "ticker tape" at the bottom of the screen, directing the public to a page on their news text services (Ceefax etc) or, if a local transmission, will interrupt and show a newsflash. Members of the public will be encouraged to keep their eyes and ears open for anything that may assist the police in recovering the kidnapped child. |