The Police Department participates with the nation's law enforcement officers and the Department of Justice to implement the AMBER Alert program. The America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response Alert Plan was created as a legacy to 9-year old Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped and murdered in 1996 in Arlington, Texas. As a result of Amber's murder, the Dallas / Fort Worth Association of Radio Managers teamed up with local law enforcement in northern Texas and developed this early warning system to help find abducted children. National coordination of state and local AMBER Alert programs began in 2003.
The AMBER Alert Plan is activated when a child 17 years of age or
younger is abducted and there is reason to believe the child is in
imminent danger, or when a child medically diagnosed as suffering mental
or physical disability is missing or abducted and there is reason to
believe the child is in imminent danger, and there is information
available to disseminate to the general public that could assist in the
safe recovery of the child and/or the apprehension of a suspect.