Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Amber Alert Program in Wis.

MADISON, Wis. (WEAU) - This Thursday is National Missing Children’s Day, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice is using the occasion to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Amber Alert Program in Wis.

Amber stands for: America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.

The Program is named after Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996. Amber Alerts today use a variety of mediums to reach as many people as possible, including: emergency phone alerts, television and radio emergency alert systems, social media, digital billboards, Wisconsin lottery retailers, and more.

“The key thing is to get communication to people where they’re at. So right now, we almost all have phones with us at just about all times. And so that’s a great way to contact people. But no doubt technology will continue to evolve, and people will receive messages in different ways. And as that happens, we’re going to continue working to build partnerships that allow us to reach people,” Josh Kaul, Wisconsin Attorney General, said.

Since being created in 2003, Wis. has issued 57 Amber Alerts, with over 50% of cases seeing successful recoveries due to the Alerts.

Additional information about the Amber Alert Program is available in a media release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, HERE.

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