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How It Works In Sequoyah County
Once the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Department has been
notified about an abducted child, they must first determine
if the case meets the AMBER Plan’s criteria for triggering
an alert.
The situation must meet the following criteria:
• law enforcement confirms a child age 15 or younger has
been abducted
• law enforcement believes the circumstances surrounding
the abduction
indicate that the child is in danger of serious bodily
harm or death
• there is enough descriptive information about the child,
abductor, and/or
suspect’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert
will help
If these criteria are met, alert information must be put
together for public distribution. This information can
include descriptions and pictures of the missing child, the
suspected abductor, a suspected vehicle, and any other
information available and valuable to identifying the child
and suspect.
The information is then faxed to radio stations
designated as primary stations under the Emergency Alert
System (EAS) and is placed on the Sequoyah County Sheriff's
Department web site.
The primary stations send the same information to area
radio and television stations and cable systems via the EAS,
and it is immediately broadcast by participating stations to
millions of listeners.
Radio stations interrupt programming to announce the
Alert, and television stations and cable systems run a
“crawl” on the screen along with a picture of the child.
Oklahoma also incorporates electronic highway billboards
in the Amber Plan. The billboards, typically used to
disseminate traffic information to drivers, now alert the
public of abducted children, displaying pertinent
information about the child, abductor or suspected vehicle
that drivers might look for on highways.
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