Kansas Amber Alerts need simplifying, KBI review suggests

The process for issuing an Amber Alert in Kansas needs to be simplified, according to a review of the program by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt released the results of a “top-to-bottom review” of the Kansas Amber Alert program on Wednesday. The simplification of issuing an alert is one of eight recommendations in five different areas.

Schmidt requested the review in response to concerns raised about the execution of an Amber Alert in Wichita in December. In that incident early on the morning of Dec. 6, which involved the kidnapping of a Wichita mother and three children, the Amber Alert didn’t get sent to cellphones, though that’s an option in child abduction situations.

Cellphone alerts were not sent out because someone missed a procedural step, the KBI said in a written response to questions at the time. A KBI spokesperson said cellphone alerts “were not broadcasted as intended.”

“The Amber Alert program is a vitally important tool to help law enforcement recover abducted children in certain situations,” Schmidt said in a statement announcing the results of the review. “Ensuring ongoing public confidence in the system’s reliability must remain a top priority, and this review should be reassuring to all Kansans who expect the Amber Alert system to operate as intended.”

The recommendations include improving education and training of local law enforcement agencies, focusing on “the rapid and thorough response to suspected child abductions.”

Local law enforcement agencies also need to establish procedures that “shorten their Amber Alert request process during the initial response to an abduction.” That includes giving the authority to request an Amber Alert to officers on the scene “to avoid multiple levels of command approval.”

Other recommendations include:

▪ Creating a checklist used when activating an Amber Alert.

▪ Inviting media to meet with KBI officials to review Amber Alert processes and seek their input on improvements, potentially eliminating misperceptions held by both the media and public.

▪ Establishing an advisory board that meets annually to review all Amber Alerts and address concerns.

▪ Focusing on technological advances that affect the program.

This story was originally published February 1, 2017 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Kansas Amber Alerts need simplifying, KBI review suggests."