This issue of The AMBER Advocate provides highlights and a review of the 2009 National AMBER Alert Symposium with overviews of new AMBER Alert national initiatives.
The 2009 National AMBER Alert Symposium kicked off with lessons from child abduction victims. Symposium highlights were provided in the areas of AMBER Alert 5-year review, technology and AMBER Alerts, endangered missing advisory-child abduction response teams, best practices (highlighting the 9-1-1 Call Center Partner Program), and the role of broadcasters. A review of "Why Victims Don't Always Flee" was provided with emphasis on the use of the BITE model to explain the four areas where a captor will try and control a person: Behavior, Information, Thoughts, and Emotion. Captors instill false beliefs and fear to gain control of a person. The issue concludes with overviews of several AMBER Alert initiatives presented at the 2009 Symposium: (1) the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative, training of Tribal sites in the creation of child abduction alert plans; (2) the AMBER Alert Extranet is an information repository acting as a virtual file cabinet and secure storage location for all things related to AMBER Alerts; (3) the AMBER Alert Global Initiative is the global movement in the child abduction alert plan with current partners in the countries of Canada, Mexico, and the European Union; and (4) the first use of Maine's AMBER Alert plan after 7 years in existence (in Sanford, ME).