New View for AMBER

• NCJ Number: 213468
• Author(s): National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center
• Date Published: January 2006
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Operation of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC)

Annotation

This report describes a pilot project in West Virginia to enhance the AMBER Alert System with the capability to instantaneously mass broadcast high-resolution, three-dimensional photographs of missing children.

Abstract

While the AMBER Alert early warning system for abducted children has been a key tool for returning these children to their families, the system lacks the technology to instantaneously broadcast a photograph of missing children to the public and law enforcement agencies. As such, the West Virginia High Technology Consortium (WVHTC), in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), is developing AmberView, which allows the mass broadcast of a digit image via the World Wide Web within minutes of an AMBER Alert. The three-dimensional, high-resolution images can also be broadcast to 911 centers, media outlets, shopping malls, cell phones, and numerous other outlets. Three West Virginia counties participated in a pilot project of AmberView in which 230 middle school students had their faces scanned into the AmberView system. The pilot met with success and community participation and acceptance. Actual implementation of AmberView in West Virginia began in August 2005, with future developments on the program still in process. Contact information is presented for more details on AmberView.