Cell Phones Now Show Amber Alerts

Messages seen on freeways notifying drivers of child abductions can now also be found on wireless devices, including BlackBerrys and cell phones.

Messages seen on freeways notifying drivers of child abductions can now also be found on wireless devices, including BlackBerrys and cell phones.

The wireless industry has teamed up with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to make this possible.

Any wireless subscriber capable of receiving text messages and whose wireless carrier participates in the Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative may opt in to receive the alerts by registering at www.wirelessamberalerts.org or their wireless carrier’s Website. Subscribers can designate up to five geographical regions to receive alerts about.

AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response” and was created in 1997 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It was named in honor of Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old girl who was kidnapped in her Texas neighborhood and murdered. All 50 states now have AMBER Alert programs.

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