Attorney General, AMBER Alert Taskforce begins new regional training program

September 11, 2008 -- Attorney General Steve Six, along with the members of his AMBER Alert Taskforce, today began a new series of regional training programs to provide free AMBER Alert education to law enforcement and media employees across Kansas. Six spoke at the training in Hutchinson today.

The new AMBER Alert Train-the-Trainer program will provide participants with information about the alert system that they can then provide to their communities.

Some of the information to be highlighted during the four-hour course includes the criteria for an alert to be issued, the process the Kansas Bureau of Investigation uses to issue an alert, possible secondary alerts and how victim advocates can be used during alerts.

Also planned is an additional presentation focusing on the Florida-based "A Child is Missing" alert system, which can be used if the criteria for an AMBER alert is not met.

The AMBER Alert program is a voluntary partnership between law enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies and the wireless industry to activate an urgent public alert in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to quickly notify citizens about an abduction so they can assist in the search and recovery effort.

In September 2002, Kansas Attorney General Carla J. Stovall established Kansas' AMBER Plan to deter potential child abductors and quickly mobilize citizens to contact authorities with helpful information. Today, Attorney General Steve Six has made the Kansas AMBER Alert system a priority of his administration by increasing training opportunities, mobilizing the task force, updating technologies and reinvigorating the statewide alert system to better protect the children of Kansas.

The Training program begins today. All training sessions are from 8 a.m. to noon or 1 to 5 p.m.