National Amber Alert Awareness Day

Wednesday is National Amber Alert Awareness Day, a day that was inspired by the unsolved Arlington, TX abduction and murder case of 9 year old Amber Hagerman.

The Amber Alert system was created in 1996 to instantly prompt the entire community to assist in the search and safe recovery of a missing child. Muskingum County Sheriff’s Captain Jeff Lecocq said the early stages of an abduction are the most crucial.

“It’s very critical, everyone needs to understand the early hours of an abduction is the most critical. Statistics has shown within the first three hours that’s the greatest opportunity for the safe recovery of the child that’s been abducted. The longer the child is gone the lesser the chances of a successful recovery,” said Captain Lecocq.

Since the creation of the Amber Alert, there have been nearly 700 cases of safe recoveries linked to this system. Captain Lecocq broke down the steps the sheriff’s office takes in the case of a potential abduction.

“When a officer goes out they verify that the abduction has in fact occurred. Then they radio back to our dispatch center the facts that they have. The information that we have is entered into the computer system and that’s what triggers the whole series and sequence of broadcasting events,” said Captain Lecocq.

Captain Lecoqo encourages everyone to be observant and in the case of an abduction, immediately call 911.