Photo Courtesy of Facebook
Thank you Facebook and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for teaming up for this awesome step forward!
Since law enforcement agencies first became involved with building communities on Facebook, the sharing of information regarding missing children has been a priority piece of information sharing. When the sharing is done right, it is a very powerful form of reach to a potentially massive community.
For the public, seeing the information form a local police department puts a sense of home-grown need to help for the sake of your community. It’s a win-win.
The problem has always been verification of the information and time.
Photo Courtesy of Facebook
With the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children providing the verified information, using Facebook’s power of reach and location services you’ll be seeing the right information at the right time from the right people.
The last problem is time-lapse. In many jurisdictions an Amber Alert is only posted for a set amount of time and with good reason. I can’t count the number of times that I have seen Amber Alerts shared by the public that are days, weeks and even months old.
Early information is that the notifications will be pulled so that problem may very well be eliminated.
From the Facebook News Release:
These alerts, which include photographs and other details about the missing child, are shown on mobile and desktop. People can share the alert with friends and link directly to the National Center’s missing child poster, which always has the most up-to-date information about the case.
Here’s how it works:
When local or state police determine that a case qualifies for an AMBER Alert, the alert is issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and distributed through the Facebook system with any available information, including a photograph of the missing child, a license plate number, the name and description of the child and suspected abductor.
It doesn’t get any easier than that!
I like this!
This feature is only available in the United States at this time
Links in post:
FB News Release:
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/01/introducing-amber-alerts-on-facebook/
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Website:
http://www.missingkids.com/home
FB Page for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
https://www.facebook.com/missingkids
