Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. press release, September 5, 2002

( \FWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland Urihwvab, Могу lend 21093 1 407 York Rood, Soil* 304 315 Соллол Houm Office building Wellington, D C 20515 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 5, 2002 CONTACT: Henry Fawell 202/225-3061 Ehrlich Joins Fight for Abducted Children WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Bob Ehrlich (MD-2) joined lawmakers today to endorse HR. 5326, The AMBER Alert Act of 2002, a bipartisan congressional initiative to help locate and rescue abducted children through emergency television and radio broadcasts. “Last year, 725,000 children were reported missing to local and federal authorities. That’s 2,000 children a day. Yet only eighteen states have established an emergency broadcast system to help bring these kids home safely. As the father of a three-year-old boy, I want the absolute best crime-prevention programs in place to help protect my child. AMBER Alert tops the list.” AMBER, the America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response plan, is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies and broadcasters to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child abduction cases. Like severe weather alerts, broadcasters use the Emergency Alert System to air a description of the missing child and suspected abductor. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the AMBER Alert has been credited with saving 27 kidnapped children. H.R. 5326, inspired by recent well-publicized abductions, would establish an officer at the U.S. Department of Justice to help implement the AMBER Alert program nationwide. This legislation, which was introduced by Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX) and Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-WA), would also provide matching grants of up to 50 percent to states that build electronic sign boards along state and federal highways. If enacted, the bill would dedicate $25 million in federal funding for nationwide AMBER Alert efforts. Statistics show that the few hours immediately after an abduction are critical to the outcome of a kidnapping case. According to the Justice Department, 74 percent of the children who were kidnapped and later found murdered were killed within the first three hours after being abducted.