AMBER Alert

AMBER Alert logo A critical missing child response tool combining resources of law enforcement and media.AMBER Alerts notify the public to be on the lookout due to an urgent bulletin of a serious child abduction case and to report any information observed.

Statistics show that time is our greatest adversary when a child has been abducted.

AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response Alert. An AMBER Alert is a statewide program partnering the law enforcement community, media broadcasting stations, and the public to share information to help locate abducted children.
The goal is to immediately involve the public, especially motorists, in the search for an abducted child.
Only a local law enforcement official can request an AMBER Alert.

If you observe a child, a vehicle or activity fitting the description in the AMBER Alert, immediately call the telephone number given in the alert or dial 9-1-1.

Provide authorities with as much information as possible.
AMBER Alerts are rare and provide a powerful resource for law enforcement to instantly mobilize the entire community to assist in a safe return of a child.

Contact local law enforcement through 9-1-1 if your child is missing or abducted. Local law enforcement agencies must begin the AMBER Alert process.
If you are uncertain who the local law enforcement agency is, your phone will recognize the designated 9-1-1 center for the area you are in and route your call to them automatically.
Local law enforcement agencies will respond and gather information from you. They will request a photo of the child or the abductor if they are known.

Program Details

Law enforcement officials confirm a child has been abducted; and
The child is 17 years or younger; and
Law enforcement officials believe that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death; and
There is adequate descriptive information available to believe that its dissemination to the public could help locate the child, suspect, and/or suspect's vehicle; and
The child's name and other critical data elements - including the child abduction (CA) and AMBER Alert (AA) flags must be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.

The local Law Enforcement agency contacts the OSP Criminal Investigations Division to review the investigative facts. Upon determination the case meets criteria for an AMBER Alert in Oregon, the following steps are taken:

OSP enters information into a web portal so that AMBER Alert details are sent to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), where those details are displayed on the NCMEC website.
- NCMEC also distributes details to many other informational outlets, including secondary a network of secondary distributors that includes internet service providers, digital billboards, and others.
- NCMEC may send AMBER Alert information directly to citizens who register at the NCMEC website: Citizens can elect to receive direct AMBER Alerts to their email, cell phones, and other devices in a variety of options explained on the NCMEC website.
OSP notifies Oregon Emergency Management (OEM) to initiate broadcast of an Emergency Alert System (EAS) message.
OSP notifies Oregon Department of Transportation for placement of information on highway variable message signs.
OSP’s AMBER Alert Coordinator decides what information is provided through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA). The WEA is also known as the Commercial Mobile Alert System. The WEA Program is operated by FEMA to distribute notifications from authorized federal, state, local and tribal government agencies that alert customers with capable devices of imminent threats to safety or an emergency message. WEA messages are intended as a supplement to the existing EAS.

AMBER Alert, also known as America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response Plan, is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice. It is a voluntary partnership between law enforcement agencies, broadcasters and transportation agencies to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious-child abduction cases where there is enough information to make the alert effective. Local networks cover all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Nationally, there have been over 1,000 children safety recovered because of the AMBER Alert program.

If you are a Law Enforcement agency representative and wish to request AMBER Alert activation, please call OSP’s Northern Command Center at 503-375-3555. Dispatch staff are available 24 hours a day and will help coordinate contact with a representative from the Oregon State Police Criminal Investigations Division to review your request and provide further assistance.

Oregon State Police (OSP) is the designated statewide law enforcement agency for local law enforcement agencies to contact to activate an AMBER Alert. Only a local law enforcement official can request an AMBER Alert. OSP develops an AMBER Alert Review Committee, led by an AMBER Alert Coordinator, to review all yearly activity related to AMBER alerts in Oregon for lessons learned to help maintain the program’s integrity.

Program staff are generally available between the hours of 8:00 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 503-934-0188 or via e-mail at amber.alert@state.or.us