Senator Coons Praises Facebook Plan to Display AMBER Alerts

Statement

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and co-chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, issued the following statement Tuesday on Facebook's announcement that it would begin automatically displaying AMBER Alerts to Facebook users in the designated search area.

"Police officers will tell you that the best way to get missing children home to their families is by getting the word out quickly and widely, using every distribution channel possible," Senator Coons said. "Utilization of the Facebook platform will expand the reach of AMBER Alerts significantly, recruiting thousands of pairs of eyes to each search effort. Facebook's integration of localized AMBER Alerts into its News Feed is a welcome, appreciated, and substantial gesture of partnership, and it will make an enormous difference in the effort to find children who have gone missing."

The AMBER Alert™ Program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry, to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the child.

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