PRINTER'S NO. 108
No. 34 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY O'PAKE, BOSCOLA, TARTAGLIONE, MUSTO, ERICKSON,
FONTANA, FERLO, COSTA, ROBBINS, ORIE, MELLOW, PIPPY, STOUT,
GREENLEAF, RAFFERTY, RHOADES, C. WILLIAMS, HUGHES, TOMLINSON,
WONDERLING, D. WHITE, KASUNIC, DINNIMAN, EARLL, PILEGGI AND
BROWNE, FEBRUARY 12, 2007
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, FEBRUARY 12, 2007
A RESOLUTION
1 Recognizing the Pennsylvania Amber Alert System on the occasion
2 of its fifth anniversary on February 20, 2007.
3 WHEREAS, Amber Alerts are named after nine-year-old Amber
4 Hagerman, who was killed after being abducted near her home in
5 Texas in 1996; and
6 WHEREAS, Timeliness is critical in a child abduction, with
7 studies showing that of the children who die in an abduction 44%
8 are murdered in the first hour and only 1% live more than a day;
9 and
10 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Amber Alert System depends on the
11 vigilance of the public to help swiftly locate and recover
12 children who have been abducted and who are in imminent danger
13 of death or serious bodily injury; and
14 WHEREAS, Private electronic and print media organizations in
15 this Commonwealth voluntarily cooperate with public law
16 enforcement agencies and other agencies in the Pennsylvania
1 Amber Alert System to alert the public when a child has been
2 abducted and is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily
3 injury; and
4 WHEREAS, When law enforcement agencies receive a report of a
5 child abduction involving the threat of imminent death or
6 serious bodily injury, the goal of the Pennsylvania Amber Alert
7 System is to determine whether it is credible and, as soon as
8 practicable, issue an Amber Alert by all available means to the
9 affected areas of this Commonwealth; and
10 WHEREAS, The public is notified of an Amber Alert through an
11 increasing array of means, including radio and television
12 broadcast messages utilizing the emergency alert system, lottery
13 system retail terminals, highway advisory signs and radio, plus
14 personal e-mails and cellular telephone text messages to more
15 than a quarter-million Pennsylvanians individually enrolled to
16 receive them; and
17 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Amber Alert System was implemented
18 on February 20, 2002; and
19 WHEREAS, To date, a Pennsylvania Amber Alert has been issued
20 on 39 occasions involving 61 children; and
21 WHEREAS, To date, the Pennsylvania Amber Alert System has
22 directly contributed to the safe recovery of 21 children; and
23 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Amber Alert System is a mutual
24 effort of the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania
25 Association of Broadcasters, the Department of Transportation,
26 the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the Pennsylvania Chiefs of
27 Police Association, the Pennsylvania State Lottery, the
28 Pennsylvania Cable and Telecommunications Association, the
29 Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission,
30 the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the
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1 Pennsylvania Newspaper Association; therefore be it
2 RESOLVED, That the Senate congratulate the participants in
3 the Pennsylvania Amber Alert System for their efforts and
4 successes; and be it further
5 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to
6 the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Association of
7 Broadcasters, the Department of Transportation, the Pennsylvania
8 Turnpike Commission, the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police
9 Association, the Pennsylvania State Lottery, the Pennsylvania
10 Cable and Telecommunications Association, the Municipal Police
11 Officers' Education and Training Commission, the Pennsylvania
12 Emergency Management Agency and the Pennsylvania Newspaper
13 Association.
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