BY CIRCE VARGÓN
The News
MEXICO CITY – Interior Secretariat (Segob) Director Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong announced on Wednesday that he has signed an agreement with the National Chamber of Radio and Television (CIRT) for Mexico’s 1,200 CIRT-affiliated broadcasting stations to disseminate the Amber Alert child disappearance warning system.
Amber Alerts, originally developed in the United States in the 1990s, allow the authorities to advise the population of child disappearances by radio, television, email, and text messages, with the goal of recruiting the help of civilians in locating the children before any harm comes to them.
In April 2011, Mexico became the 10th country in the world — and the first in Latin America — to implement Amber Alerts.
Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam said that in 2013, the Mexican government issued 102 Amber Alerts, and as a result, 97 missing children were located and returned to their families within 72 hours of disappearing. Murillo Karam said that the first 24 to 48 hours following a child’s disappearance are the most critical, which is why it’s important to broadcast the child’s picture or description to as many people as possible in an efficient manner.
Osorio Chong said that civilian participation in locating missing children can mean the difference between life and death, adding that the agreement will also involve the collaboration of the transportation sector.
“There are other countries with this alert and the results can be easily seen,” he said. “With this agreement we are promoting the participation of land, air and sea transport operators; there are thousands of civilians who will participate.”
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