You’ve heard (or seen) the occasional “silver alert” on your radio, television, cell phone — or even on highway warning signs. Starting late next month, Arizona’s silver alert system will undergo some small changes. You might be puzzled by the new language, so we’re here to help you out.
Where it started: AMBER alerts
The idea of an AMBER alert was first floated back in 1996. It was started in the wake of the kidnapping and murder of Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas.
Though named in honor of the missing 9-year-old girl, AMBER is actually an acronym. It stands for “”America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response”. The system started after Amber’s kidnapping in Texas, and quickly spread across the country.
The first AMBER alert success was notched just two years later, in 1998. Rae-Leigh Bradbury was an eight-week-old girl abducted by her babysitter in Arlington, Texas. The AMBER alert went out immediately, and she was recovered unharmed less than two hours later. A stranger who heard the alert noticed the kidnapper’s turquoise-colored truck and reported it to authorities.
The Silver Alert created after a 2004 Georgia incident
Mattie Moore, a demented patient in Georgia, went missing in 2004. Local authorities decided to use the machinery of Georgia’s AMBER alert (which Georgia called — and still calls — “Levi’s Call”) for similar cases. The Georgia legislature ultimately created “Mattie’s Call,” which was quickly copied in other states like Oklahoma — which called their version a Silver Alert.
Silver Alerts are usually focused on missing seniors or vulnerable adults. Some states explicitly include disabled adults. That might be defined to specifically extend to the developmentally disabled, regardless of age.
The first formal statewide Silver Alert system started in 2007 in North Carolina. Since then, a majority of states (including Arizona) have adopted similar programs, sometimes with different (local) names but with a similar focus and based on the AMBER alert concept.
You might have wondered how often Silver Alerts result in successful location of the senior or disabled adult. According to one report, the success rate of the Silver Alert system might be as high as 90%.
If you have heard more than one Silver Alert, you have probably noticed that they seem to focus on confused seniors, often with multiple medical problems, who wander — or drive — away from their care homes or residences. Sometimes the subject of a Silver Alert will be a disabled adult, but still most often older. The very name “Silver Alert” focuses attention on that population.
Arizona’s new law
In the most recent legislative session, Arizona adopted a more robust Silver Alert system — and both expanded and renamed it. Soon to be called a “Seek and Find” alert, the system will still be available for the missing “elderly” (those over age 65). But it will also be available for those with a cognitive or developmental disability, regardless of their age.
Two other administrative changes might mean you will hear more Seek and Find alerts than you have heard of their predecessor:
- The Arizona Department of Public Safety must activate the emergency system when it receives a qualifying report, and
- The system must be activated even though the same individual might have been the subject of numerous previous alerts.
Another change: the Turquoise Alert
The legislature also adopted another new alert system. This one is focused on missing individuals under age 65. It specifically mentions membership in a recognized Indian tribe, but is not only available to indigenous individuals. This kind of alert is referred to as a Turquoise Alert.
The new alert system was initiated after the disappearance of Emily Pike, a 14-year-old member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. The new law was named “Emily’s Law” in her honor after her body was found two years after she went missing.
Arizona’s new law isn’t limited to indigenous victims, however. In fact, the first successful use of Emily’s Law was to locate 6-year-old Violet Coultas, a white, blonde, hazel-eyed girl who was taken by her mother in violation of a Hawaiian custody order.
Other alert colors
In addition to the AMBER, Turquoise and Silver alert, Arizona has for some time recognized the so-called Blue Alert. The subject of a Blue alert is someone who has particularly targeted police or public safety personnel.
Other states have created other special alert systems. California has an Ebony Alert (for missing African-American youngsters). Texas has a Camo Alert system for former military members (who might, for instance, be suffering from PTSD) who have gone missing or may have become dangerous.
Whatever the color code, the alert system helps locate endangered or missing individuals. And now you are ahead of your Arizona neighbors in knowing about upcoming silver alert changes.
