JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When a child goes missing, law enforcement will often send out an alert it. It may even go straight to your phone, but it’s not always an Amber Alert.
Recently, a young boy went missing. As we disseminated the information through our website and social media accounts, a viewer asked why an Amber Alert wasn’t called to potentially get more eyes on the case.
THE QUESTION
Maria Novelli asked on our Facebook page “why wasn’t an amber alert given?” Let’s verify. Do all missing kids reports trigger an amber alert?
SOURCES
- Florida Department of Law Enforcement
- The Department of Justice
THE ANSWER
No, not all missing child cases qualify for an Amber Alert.
WHAT WE FOUND
FDLE oversees the Florida Missing Child Alert system while DOJ oversees Amber Alerts. The key difference is whether a child was *abducted*.
FDLE says “The Florida Missing Child Alert was established in 2003 to provide law enforcement with a tool to quickly disseminate information when a child is missing and believed to be in life-threatening danger, but there is no indication that the child has been abducted.”
Whereas DOJ's Amber Alert website states the first criteria to trigger an Amber Alert is "reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred."
FDLE says they can release information early with a missing child’s alert but they have to meet more criteria to call an Amber Alert. A missing child alert could change into an Amber Alert as investigators learn more.