RIDGELAND, Miss.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cellular South, the largest privately owned wireless provider in the U.S., is joining forces with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to encourage mobile phone users in Tennessee to sign up for free wireless AMBER alerts that can help law enforcement safely recover abducted children.
“We want to continue to encourage consumers and businesses across the state to sign up to receive free text messages when a child has been abducted in their area and join the effort to help reunite that child with their family”
The wireless AMBER Alert program is a voluntary partnership between the wireless industry, law enforcement agencies and NCMEC to distribute an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases to consumers and businesses who opt in to receive free text messages on their wireless devices.
“These life-saving messages have the potential to reach 96 percent of the public with more than 292 million mobile phone subscribers in the U.S. and more than 30 million mobile phones active in Tennessee,” said Jim Richmond, director of Corporate Communications for Cellular South. “This week marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of the National AMBER Alert Awareness program and our goal is to educate and encourage all wireless users to register to receive the free alerts and increase the number of people who may be able to help in recovering abducted children.”
Since its creation in 1997, the AMBER Alert program has led to the safe recovery of 525 abducted and missing children in the U.S., according to Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC. “Wireless AMBER Alerts are a powerful, effective tool to mobilize the public’s help in the search for child abduction victims. They work and cost virtually nothing,” Allen said.
In Tennessee, the AMBER Alert system was activated 46 times in the five year period ending in 2009, helping in the safe recovery and return of seven children, according to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn. “Our goal in partnering with wireless carriers like Cellular South and NCMEC is to make mobile phone users aware of the power they literally have in the palm of their hands to help rescue an abducted child,” Gwyn said. “Mobile phone technology gives us the ability to extend the reach of law enforcement with wireless AMBER Alerts.”
Since its creation in 2005, nearly 700,000 cell phone users nationwide participate in the wireless AMBER Alert program, including an estimated 6,000 mobile phone users in Tennessee. “We want to continue to encourage consumers and businesses across the state to sign up to receive free text messages when a child has been abducted in their area and join the effort to help reunite that child with their family,” Richmond said.
The AMBER – “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response” – Alert program was named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old who was kidnapped and later murdered in Arlington, Texas, in 1996. That tragedy spurred the creation of early warning systems to aid in the recovery of abducted children. Since its creation in 1997, the AMBER Alerts program has helped reunite 525 children and their families.
Richmond said consumers and businesses with cell phones can sign up to receive free Wireless AMBER Alerts through one of three methods:
- Send a text message from their cell phone to the short code 26237 with the keyword “AMBER” or “amber” or “SUBSCRIBE” or “subscribe” followed by a space and their five-digit zip code. Users can enter up to five zip codes.
- Log on to www.wirelessamberalerts.org and register online.
- Go to www.cellularsouth.com/amberalert/ and follow the links.
As of this week, the more than 100 million Facebook users in the U.S. can sign up to receive their state’s AMBER Alerts. Tennessee has its own Facebook AMBER Alert page – www.facebook.com/amberalertTN – and users who become a fan will immediately get alerts in their news feed when there is a missing child in their area.
About NCMEC
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children’s hotline which has handled more than 2,528,730 calls. It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 157,720 children. The organization’s CyberTipline has handled more than 1,000,620 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 44,099,160 pornography images and videos. The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com.
About Cellular South
Cellular South is a diversified mobile communications company passionately committed to helping customers get the most out of their wireless devices and services. The nation’s largest privately owned wireless communications provider accomplishes this goal by optimizing customers’ app experience through Discover Apps, providing the most reliable and advanced high-speed nationwide wireless voice and data network, offering industry-leading family and unlimited flat rate voice, text and mobile web plans, and through its online and in-store Discover Centers, which give customers easy, simple and convenient tools, tips, advice and information on how to get the most out of their mobile phone. For more information about Cellular South and its products and services, visit www.cellularsouth.com.
