Allegheny County Sheriff's Office 2008. All Rights Reserved

On February 20, 2002 Governor Mark Schweiker announced the implementation of Pennsylvania's AMBER PLAN.  This is a system that uses emergency alerts to radio and television stations to notify the public about abductions of children.  To be activated law enforcement officials must determine the following: 

1. The abducted child must be under eighteen years of age;
2. The abducted child is believed to be in danger of death or serious injury.

The AMBER PLAN was created in 1996 as a powerful legacy to 9-year old Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped and brutally murdered while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas. 

On June 10, 2003 Allegheny County Sheriff's Office announced the creation of a first-response AMBER Alert Missing Children's Unit made up of about 50 volunteers from the Sheriff's Office Emergency Response Team and Harmarville-based Air Search Rescue, a non-profit emergency volunteer group.  The missing children unit is sponsored entirely by volunteers and donations. 

The Sheriff's Office Emergency Response Team includes a dive crew, specially trained search dogs, an all-terrain vehicle/dirt bike ground search team and fixed wing and helicopter assets. 

The Sheriff's Office Emergency Response Team is designed to provide sophisticated emergency response capacities at no cost to local public safety authorities. 

 

In case your child should ever end up missing, Sheriff Mullen suggests that ALL parents print out and fill out a Child Identification Card. He urges you to keep this as updated as possible and immediately bring this to your local police department in case of emergency.

 

For more information, please visit the AMBER Alert website below.