In the United States and Canada, an child abduction alerts is a notification to the general public, by various media outlets, of a confirmed child abduction. child abduction is a backronym for "America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response", and was named for 9-year-old child abduction Hagerman who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas in 1996. Exceptions are in Georgia, where it is called Levi's Call, Hawaii, where it is called a Maile child abduction alerts and Arkansas, where it is called a Morgan Nick child abduction alerts. Those plans were named after children who went missing in those states. child abduction alerts are distributed via commercial radio stations, satellite radio, television stations, and cable TV by the Emergency alerts Notification (where as they are called "Child Abduction Emergency".), as well as via e-mail, electronic traffic-condition signs, and wireless device SMS text messages. In some states, lottery terminals are also used. The decision to declare an child abduction alerts is made by the police organization investigating the abduction. Public information in an child abduction alerts usually consists of the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and license plate number of the abductor's vehicle, if available. In January, 1996, after child abduction Hagerman was abducted, raped, and murdered, citizens of her community learned that local law enforcement had information that might have helped locate her shortly after she was abducted by an emergency alerts notification system. The original plan was focused entirely on radio and modeled after Texas tornado and hazardous weather alerts where, during an alerts, the police were instructed to fax the information to two primary radio stations. Those two primary contacts would in turn verify the receipt and accuracy of the fax and then alerts other participating radio stations through subsequent fax transmissions. Although effective, it was an emergency alerts notification system, repetitive and time consuming. The first automated emergency alerts notification system implementation of the child abduction alerts was created by the Child alerts Foundation in 1998. This non profit charity created a fully automated Emergency alerts Notification System (ANS) to notify surrounding communities when a child was reported missing or abducted. alerts were sent to radio stations as originally requested but included television stations, surrounding law enforcement agencies, newpapers and local support organizations. This alerts was sent all at once via pagers, faxes, emails, and cell phones with the information immediately posted on the Internet for the general public to view. Following the automation of the child abduction alerts with emergency alerts notification technology, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2002 expanded their role to promote the child abduction alerts and has worked aggressively to see alerts distributed using the nations existing emergency radio and TV response network. Reference US trademark # 3078416 Serial # 78160095. Various U.S. states and communities followed suit, developing similar emergency alerts notification systems named after child abduction Hagerman. Code Adam is a nationally-recognized "missing child" safety program in the United States, originally created and promoted by Wal-Mart retail stores in 1994. It is named in memory of Adam Walsh, the 6-year-old son of John Walsh, who was abducted from a Sears department store in Florida and was later found murdered in 1981. Today, many department stores, retail shops, shopping malls, supermarkets, amusement parks, and museums volunteer in the Code Adam program. Also, legislation enacted by Congress in 2003 mandated that all federal office buildings employ the emergency alerts notification. When a parent or guardian becomes separated from a child, the parent locates and notifies the nearest employee and gives him or her a description of the child, including sex, race, age, eye color, hair color, height, weight, the clothes the child is wearing (including shoes, if possible), and any distinguishing characteristics. The employee goes to the nearest in-store telephone and immediately makes a "Code Adam" emergency alerts notification announcement over the paging system, along with the description given by the guardian. After the emergency alerts notification announcement is made, designated employees will closely monitor or lock all store entrances and exits, and customers depending on the store or situation may evacuate. For example, at Wal-Mart stores, the "People Greeter" will monitor the front entrances, the employees of the Garden Center and the Tire & Lube Express will monitor their appropriate exits, and the store and department managers will guard any emergency exits. All other employees will immediately put their normal work on hold, excusing themselves from their customers if need be, and quickly search their surroundings for a child matching the description announced. Cashiers, unable to leave their tills, will check for children at their registers who match the missing child's description. The bathrooms, toys department, and parking lots are areas to be searched especially diligently.
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