WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Postal Service will issue a commemorative stamp honoring the local broadcaster-initiated AMBER Alert Plan, a program dedicated to the rapid recovery of abducted children. AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alerts have been credited in the successful rescue of more than 230 abducted children nationwide.
We're pleased that the U.S. Postal Service is recognizing the role played by AMBER Alerts in the timely recovery of kidnapped children," said NAB President and CEO David Rehr. "As first informers in communities all over America, local radio and television stations are uniquely positioned to disseminate critical information that can save lives. NAB salutes the thousands of broadcasters who have embraced the AMBER Alert Plan as a demonstration of our commitment to serving communities."
Following the abduction and death of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in 1996, a group of Texas broadcasters in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area voluntarily developed the AMBER Alert Plan as an innovative way to use broadcast airwaves to transmit emergency information when a law enforcement agency determines that a child has been abducted and is in imminent danger.
Broadcasters in other markets and other states soon adopted an AMBER Alert Plan similar to that started in Dallas Fort-Worth after the successful recovery of several children.
In 2001, NAB partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Department of Justice to develop an "AMBER kit" and a campaign which encouraged the development of AMBER Alert plans across the country. Since that time the success of the program has led to the creation of more than 100 known AMBER Plans nationwide. On April 30, 2003, President George W. Bush signed the AMBER Alert program into law under the PROTECT Act of 2003.
The National Association of Broadcasters is a full-service trade association that promotes and protects free, over-the-air broadcasting interests in Washington and around the world. NAB is the broadcaster's voice before Congress, federal agencies and the courts. NAB also serves a growing number of associate and international broadcaster members. Information about NAB can be found at www.nab.org.
-30-
follow me