Neal Dunn: “on behalf of the Smart family, the Polly Klaas Foundation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and…”

“on behalf of the Smart family, the Polly Klaas Foundation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the thousands of families still searching for their missing children, I rise today to join our chairman in offering hope that we will establish a voluntary, nationwide AMBER Alert system to find children. I want to compliment the chairman for moving this bill so speedily through the House of Representatives. The AMBER Alert was named after a little girl named Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped and killed by her abductor. The community rallied around her family to begin a search that resulted in the AMBER Alert program. In 1997, a Washington State child homicide study, which examined over 600 child abduction murder cases from all over the country, found that the first 3 hours of a child's abduction are critical to bringing this child home safely. This is the reason that we are seeking an AMBER Alert program. To date, AMBER has been credited with the safe recovery of 52 children, including, very recently, a 12-year-old California girl reunited with her family after a witness saw the car described in AMBER Alert messages transmitted across the State. We know the AMBER Alert system works by allowing communities to tap into the resources of an educated public, prepare law enforcement and engage the media in reuniting children with their family. The media and an educated public were absolutely critical in the safe return of Elizabeth Smart.”