DALLAS, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Federal legislation will be sought to provide interstate coordination of the Amber Alert program that was instrumental in the recent rescue of two teenage girls abducted in California, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Wednesday.
Hutchison announced the legislation at the 14th annual Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas, where the Amber Plan was created by local broadcasters and law enforcement officials in 1996 after the abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in suburban Arlington.
In the audience was Hagerman's mother, Donna Norris. She endorsed the bill and called on more communities to join the program, under which radio and television stations immediately broadcast information on abductions when notified by police.
"The plan works great and it's going to continue to work great and anybody out there that's not involved ... they need to get involved," she said. "Help bring our children home where they belong. We don't need any more angels in heaven."
Since the plan was adopted in the Dallas area, 43 other communities across the country have implemented similar systems along with 14 states, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The lives of 21 children have been saved.
When an abduction occurs, police alert local radio and TV stations, which immediately and repeatedly issue bulletins with a description of the missing child and any available details on the abductor or a vehicle.
In the recent California abduction, officials also placed bulletins on electronic highway information signs that are usually used to inform motorists about construction projects, accidents or closed lanes.
The two kidnapped girls were recovered and their abductor was killed by police.
Hutchison said her bill would not make the program mandatory but establish a national coordinator in the attorney-general's office to ensure immediate dissemination of the information across state lines when necessary.
"Where you have an interstate highway, someone could be abducted and gone before you have time to send an alert," she said. "We want a coordinator to make the decision where the Amber Alert should go."
Hutchison said the bill would also provide more ready access to law enforcement data on sexual predators, plus matching funds to assist communities in implementing the program.
Joining Hutchison at the news conference were Reps. Martin Frost (D-Texas) and Joe Barton (R-Texas), who pledged support.
Hutchison said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) would join her in sponsoring the Senate bill.
"This is not a partisan issue and everyone wants to make sure that we apprehend and punish the people who commit these crimes," said Frost, who is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and author of the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act.
The Hagerman law expanded federal jurisdiction in child molestation cases, created a two-strikes law that puts repeat child molesters away for life, and mandated the death penalty for child killers in federal cases.
Also attending the news conference were Patricia Bradbury and her 3-year-old daughter Rae-Leigh, who was saved by an Amber Alert when she was eight weeks old in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"A man called 911 from his cell phone and said the vehicle driving in front of me is the one you are describing over my radio," the Saginaw mother recalled. "Police immediately came to the scene and arrested the kidnapper and brought my daughter home to me."
Bradbury said the Amber Plan "is the reason Rae-Leigh is here today."
