Help find missing and abducted children with AMBER Alert

AMBER Alert is the new nationwide alert system for urgent cases of missing children and child abductions. This system enables the police to immediately warn The Netherlands nationwide in the case of a missing or abducted child by means of PC and television screens, websites, email, text messages, instant messaging, television and radio, highly increasing the chances of a positive outcome.

Everyone can receive AMBER Alerts voluntarily. Your help literally is a matter of life and death. The larger the reach of these messages, the more people see these missing notices, increasing the chance a child is found (on time). Help us, and show electronic AMBER Alert APBs on your PC or plasma screen. Or subscribe to the email, instant messenger or text message Alerts. You can also copy AMBER Alerts to your website by means of the Website Alerts (Flash) or one of the RSS News feeds.

AMBER Alerts will only be issued for urgent missing children cases. The Dutch National Police decides whether an AMBER Alert will be issued by assessing whether a case meets the AMBER Alert criteria. These criteria include that the child has to be under 18 years old, and that there has to be direct endangerment to the child's life or a fear for grave bodily or mental injury. Expectations are that an AMBER Alert will be issued in The Netherlands between five and ten times a year.

AMBER Alert Netherlands is based on the American AMBER Alert Plan that has saved the lives of hundreds of children. The system is named after Amber Hagerman from Arlington, Texas. Amber was abducted at the age of nine in 1996, riding her bike in the neighborhood and was killed soon after. AMBER Alert aims to alert as many people as possible when a child goes missing or is abducted. The more people are looking out for a child, the higher the chance the child is quickly found unharmed. Time is of the essence to an abducted child.

Frank Hoen, CEO of communication software specialist Netpresenter, initiated AMBER Alert Netherlands, in cooperation with the National Missing Persons Bureau of the Dutch National Police. Netpresenter has developed the AMBER Alert system and provided it free of charge to the Dutch police. The Dutch police is fully responsible for the contents of the AMBER Alert messages. AMBER Alerts are free of advertising and the users privacy is completely safeguarded.

For more information on Amber Alerts and how to receive them, please visit www.amberalertnederland.nl.