US Helping Mexico Set Up Amber Alert System

SAN DIEGO -- The U.S. Department of Justice is
helping Mexico set up its own national Amber Alert system that would
help recover abducted children on both sides of the border.Since
2002, 180 Amber Alerts have been issued in California, and 216 children
have been recovered. Some of their abductors were headed to Mexico where
there is a failure in the Amber Alert system.Alerts issued in
California are not automatically issued in Baja, Mexico, and if they
are, they are not displayed on electronic signs along highways. Those
signs have become integral in California because they alert drivers who
would be the first to spot the abductor's vehicle."Because there's a potential gap in
the system, abductors, of course, know this and tend to flee into
Mexico," said Chula Vista Deputy Mayor Rudy Ramirez, who attended a
kickoff event for the joint U.S.-Mexico training.Baja has one of
the only Amber Alert systems in Mexico, but it is only set to media
outlets. This week, the Department of Justice began helping Mexico
develop a nationwide system that will work in conjunction with the U.S.
system. It will also include putting California Amber Alerts on
electronic signs in Mexico that are currently only used for advertising."That
is the idea because they are already there. We just need to use them
for this effect, too," said Alma Tucker, Directora General of Red
Binacional de Corazones (Binational Heart Network).
The system would be in place by January 2012 and could have a big impact.
Mexican officials said they receive at least 10 calls a month from California
warning an abductor is headed to the border.Authorities
said the first three hours are also the most important in recovering an
abducted child. In that time, an abductor could be well past Tijuana, authorities noted.

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