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DOUBLE WHAMMY AGAINST CHILD ABDUCTORS
CHILD ABDUCTION TEAM & PUBLIC SERVICE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
Child abductors have two more strikes against them. One, the Utah Attorney Generalfs Office has started the first statewide Child Abduction Response Team, a highly skilled multi-agency task force that will spring into action whenever a child is taken. Two, a new public service campaign has been launched that will dramatically show the life and death stakes involved in a child kidnapping.
"We hope this two-prong approach will make child kidnappings absolutely futile,h says Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "Our Child Abduction Response Team working together with a well-informed public will nearly guarantee every child kidnapper will get caught."
CART: The Child Abduction Response Team, also known as CART, brings experts from state, local and federal law enforcement and other fields to respond immediately when a child is missing or taken. At the request of a law enforcement agency, CART members will provide expertise in computers, forensics, search and rescue, crime intelligence analysis and other areas involving abducted and endangered children.
"The CART is the SWAT team for child abductions," says Ken Wallentine, Director of Law Enforcement for the Attorney General's Office. "Fortunately child abductions are rare and many agencies donft have the expertise or resources needed to fully respond to a crime that requires an immediate response."
The CART concept began in Florida and is being adopted throughout the country. Utahfs CART includes nearly 50 people from the Utah Attorney Generalfs Office, Utah Department of Public Safety, Utah Department of Corrections, U.S. Marshall's Office, Salt Lake City Police Department, Sandy Police Department and the South Salt Lake City Police Department. Other agencies are expected to join the statewide CART and regional teams may be formed soon.
"We have recruited the best people from these agencies. Now law enforcement agencies can request a CART and immediately have a small army of experts to assist in finding a child as quickly as possible," says Lt. Jessica Eldredge, CART Director.
Highly-specialized equipment is also needed for the CART to be effective. Elaine Runyan-Simmons and Ed Smart, two parents who know firsthand about the terror parents experience when a child is kidnapped, have agreed to lead the fundraising efforts to help buy equipment for CART and Utah's AMBER Alert Plan.
Fighting Chance PSA: Utah is also launching a new public service announcement (PSA) campaign that lets everyone know "AMBER Alerts give kids a fighting chance." The PSA dramatically show a child being abducted and eventually rescued after an AMBER Alert is issued. The production actually came to a halt during filming because a neighbor wanted to let her children know that nine-year-old actress Hadley Gordon was not really being kidnapped.
The PSA contains three critical messages:
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AMBER Alerts are only issued when law enforcement believes the public can help find a child under 18 who has been kidnapped and is in danger.
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In child abduction homicides, three out of four children die within three hours.
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The public can go to www.amberalert.utah.gov to learn more about AMBER Alerts and sign up for free alerts on their cell phones.
"These spots are startling but sometimes you need something to cut through the clutter to remember what is important. Everyone must know that an AMBER Alert only goes out when a child's life is in danger," says Utah Broadcasters Association President Dale Zabriskie. The Utah Broadcasters Association will distribute the PSA's to every television and radio station in Utah.
The concept for the PSA was hammered out during a lunch meeting between KSL-News Radio News Director Sheryl Worsley and Utah AMBER Alert Coordinator Paul Murphy. A script was drafted that same afternoon and KSL agreed to cover all of the production costs. "Protecting the children of our community is consistent with KSL 5 Televisionfs mission as a community servant. KSL is proud to have been part of this production," says Greg James, Senior Vice President/Station Manager, KSL 5 Television.
KSL also insisted the PSA would not contain a station credit. "The AMBER Alert has always been a partnership between all broadcasters and law enforcement. We didn't want anything to hinder every radio and TV station from airing this important message," says KSL Vice-President Steve Poulsen.
The PSA was shown for the first time today at the Megaplex 12 Theater in Salt Lake City. The management at Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theaters agreed to show the PSA's at all 70 theater screens. "The AMBER Alert is near and dear to my heart," says Megaplex CEO Steve Tarbet. "The spot is only 30 seconds but that'fs enough time to let people know how to save lives."
KSL Special Projects Producer Laura Hadley, KSL photographer/editor Kory Hasegawa and production specialist Todd Matsuda worked with Paul Murphy and Scott Troxel from the Attorney General's Office on the PSA. Acting and voice skills were also provided by KSL's Brett Uttley and Von Coffman, Woods Cross Police Chief Paul Howard and Lisa Gordon, the mother of actress Hadley Gordon. The PSA is also be posted at www.amberalert.utah.gov.
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Press Conference Photos
AMBER Alert PSA