Several years ago the Washoe County
Sheriff's Office developed an emergency Child Abduction Alert Plan
(CAAP) that utilizes our area Emergency Alert System to provide
quick, police-generated reports on abducted children. The plan was
modeled after the "Amber Alert" in Texas following the
1996 abduction and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman.
The Child Abduction Alert Plan
was originally dedicated as the Krystal
CAAP Alert in memory of Krystal Steadman
who was tragically abducted and murdered in 2000. It has since been
renamed the "Amber Alert." It gives law enforcement the
use of the Emergency Alert System to quickly notify the public of
an abducted child, sharing descriptions, vehicles involved, direction
of travel, and other identifying information. Spreading information
to the public in a timely manner can aid in the recovery of missing
children.
The CAAP cooperates with broadcasters
and cable television operators in the Northern Nevada/Eastern California
area. A critical element of the success of this program is the cooperation
of media outlets who act as law enforcement's link to the community.
When activated, information is disseminated throughout nine northern
Nevada counties and seven surrounding counties in California.
The CAAP must be activated by the
law enforcement agency that holds jurisdiction in the case and only
for cases that meet specific criteria and have occurred within a
certain time frame. To eliminate the potential problem of false
or misleading information being distributed, a security code has
been put in place that can only be used by authorized law enforcement
personnel.
