Amber Alert: Saving children's lives

Britain's Conservative MEPs launched an ambitious and targeted campaign led by Kay Swinburne to help save the lives of missing children on 20 May.

The MEP for Wales is spearheading efforts to boost awareness of the Amber Alert network and to make it stronger and more effective across Britain and Europe.

The network exists to spread details of missing children who are in danger as quickly as possible via phones, apps, social media and business networks, as well as traditional news channels. One of the first times it was used in the tragic UK case of Welsh schoolgirl April Jones. On that occasion April could not be saved, but the network has been credited with locating children and saving lives on a regular basis.

Kate and Gerry McCann have also spoken out in favour of child alert systems and said they might well have made a difference had they existed  before their daughter Madeleine went missing in Portugal.

At a high-profile event in the European Parliament in Strasbourg today, Dr Swinburne was joined by a panel of experts to launch a five-point manifesto to boost Amber Alert.

Dr Swinburne said: "Amber alert is a great idea – but it can work even better. We want more individuals, more organisations, more countries to get involved so that in the long run we will save more children's lives. We also want the existing network to work better. That is what our five key points are about."

The campaign calls for:

1. A bigger, stronger Amber Alert network;
2. more flexibility in issuing alerts;
3. better cross-border information sharing;
4. better cross-border police co-operation, and;
5. border checks on children's passports.

Alongside Dr Swinburne, the expert panel included Frank Hoen, president and founder of Amber Alert; Martin Shipton, chief reporter of the national newspaper of Wales the Western Mail, which is backing the campaign; Charlie Hedges, European Alert Co-ordinator for Amber Alert; and Petra Binkova of the Czech Republic Interior Ministry, who recently steered through legislation in that country to adopt the Amber Alert system.

The launch meeting heard that tragically, 76% of children taken by someone who means them harm are killed within three hours. Searches could not be more time-critical. But efforts to trace victims are too often hampered by lack of public awareness, poor cross-border co-operation and blurred lines of responsibility.

Dr Swinburne said: "The Amber Alert network aims to change that – and help save more children's lives.  However, it needs support from politicians, companies and organizations, but most of all from the public.

"That means more countries signing up to run a child rescue alert system – and at home it means more of us getting involved directly.  People can sign up themselves so that they will be one of the individuals alerted when a child is in danger – and they can send on the message to their network of contacts by text and social media.

"Companies, organisations, clubs and schools can all get involved too – and link their database of contacts to the alert system. The more people signed up, the quicker information can get out, the more children we may save."

Download the Amber Alert app.