With national attention and media spotlight on recent child abduction cases, President Bush announced plans Aug. 6 to join the fight to protect the nation's children from kidnapping and other violent crimes.

In a Rose Garden speech, Bush said that he was profoundly concerned for the safety of children in the United States and announced the release of a document called the "Personal Safety For Children: A Guide For Parents" by the Department of Justice.

"America's children and parents are facing a wave of horrible violence from twisted criminals in our own communities," Bush said. "No family should ever have to endure the terrible pain of losing a child. Our nation grieves with every family that has suffered unbearable loss, and our nation will fight the threats against our children."

Bush also announced the convening of a White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children to be held in September. The conference, Bush said, will bring together leading national experts to focus on ways parents and communities can help shield children from criminal harm.

The Amber Alert is one method for finding missing children; and it has gained recent praise by its successful use in the abduction and subsequent rescue of two California teens taken at gunpoint from their boyfriends' cars last week.

The alert system was named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas in 1996.

The Amber Alert is a voluntary partnership between law enforcement and broadcast media for the purpose of releasing kidnapper and missing children descriptions to the general public as quickly and as far-reaching as possible, said Tina Schwartz, Public Affairs Director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Utah's version of the Amber Alert is called the Rachel Alert, and was used for the first time in the search for Elizabeth Smart.

"It got the message out quicker and to more people than had ever been done before," said Paul Murphy, spokesman for Utah's Attorneys General office.

There is heavy pressure being placed on every state to implement an Amber alert plan, Murphy said.

Currently, only 14 states, including Utah, have statewide plans. However, with recent media attention focusing on missing children, it is hoped more states will quickly involve themselves in developing their own Amber alert strategies.

"It is our hope that this program will become statewide in every state," Schwartz said. "We've seen that it works and hope that all states will take advantage of it."



Copyright Brigham Young University 6 Aug 2002