I think most people are aware of the Amber Alert - an emergency broadcast notice for when a child is taken or missing giving details of the abductor or suspect. According to their website, it's for the "most serious" of child-abduction cases.
Ohio now has a Blue Alert Program - an emergency alert system to broadcast information about suspects involved in injuring or killing law enforcement officers in the line of duty. It could also be activated if an officer is missing. It would work the same as the Amber Alert, broadcasting identifying information about suspects so they can be identified and apprehended quickly.
The bill creating the system, S.B. 258, passed the Senate 33-0 and the House by a vote of 91-9. It now goes to Governor Johan Kasich for his signature.
Upon implementation, Ohio will join 12 other states with a Blue Alert: Texas,
Oklahoma, Alabama, Maryland, Georgia, Delaware, California, Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Montana, and Colorado (in order of implementation). The alerts are being supported and promoted by the National COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) organization.
The Blue Alert will be the third alert system in Ohio, joining the Amber and Silver Alerts.
A Silver Alert is for missing seniors or other adults with Alzheimer's or other cognitive disorders and is active in 32 states.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
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I remember a time in college where one of my friends' grandmother wondered away from the family in the Student Plaza. She had Alzheimer's. Something like a silver alert would have been useful then.
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