The child must be younger than 18 years of age and must be believed to be abducted and in danger of serious bodily harm or death. To determine that the child is in danger, police say the process can take hours or even days of investigative work by the police agency investigating the case. There must also be enough descriptive information to believe the broadcast will help, including information such as possible suspects, a suspect vehicle description and possible license plate numbers. Finally, the request must be recommended by the appropriate law enforcement agency.
One role of the Indiana State Police is to ensure the four criteria mentioned above are met before an Amber Alert is approved for broadcast.
On a positive note, this was the first Amber Alert request received by the Indiana State Police this year; an improvement over last year, when 10 requests were made resulting in one Amber Alert activation and the successful recovery of the missing child.
