WI- Well-meaning Amber Alerts stoke fear of a rare danger

3-11-2009 Wisconsin:

The story of a 17-year-old Elbow Lake girl kidnapped by her stepfather and stepbrother last weekend, allegedly at gunpoint, is another sad reminder of how profoundly a family can unravel. It also was a reminder to me to check a troubling hunch I've long had about Amber Alerts.

Minnesota authorities have issued 21 Amber Alerts, including in Elbow Lake, since the program began here in 2002; thankfully, all the children were recovered safely. Named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old Texas girl abducted and killed in 1996, the program's mission is to recover children from the most serious stranger, or "non-familial," abductions, using radio and TV stations, e-mails, billboards, highway signs and text messages.

So, how many of those 21 were classic stranger abductions?

None.

There is no question that most of the children were at risk, and a few were in terrible peril. A gun pointed at a child by a stepfather is still a gun.

My beef with Amber Alerts is that, in name and nature, they will be forever linked to the mythology of "stranger danger," creating unnecessary fear in parents of the "other" and masking the real and uglier dangers in front of our noses. Haunted by Amber Alert warnings, we've become a generation of parents who say: "No, you can't ride your bike to the park.''

Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va., agrees that the Amber Alert process is a sticky one. He points out that the alerts are just one tool used to recover children, and that 443 of them have been recovered safely nationwide thanks to Amber Alerts since 1996 (although far more were resolved without them). He added that such alerts are being issued more prudently today, and that there has been a move away from using the term "stranger."

Still, his own research points out just how murky the issue remains. Department of Justice figures report about 200,000 family abductions annually, many of them stemming from custody disputes. The psychological toll on the youngsters notwithstanding, hardly any parent in this group used threats (4 percent) or force (7 percent). Only 1 percent used a weapon.

Another 58,000 abductions are considered non-familial, although about 80 percent of the time, "this is someone the child knows," Allen said. Most children in this group are recovered within 20 minutes, but many return having been sexually or physically victimized. Included in the 21 Minnesota cases, for example, were four abductions by non-custodial parents, three by ex-boyfriends (one a non-compliant sex offender), two by men who were living in the same house as the child and three others by people who were known to the child.

What about classic stranger abductions? Exceedingly rare: About 115 a year nationwide, Allen said, from which two-thirds of the children are recovered safely.

But for practical reasons lost on most of us, Amber Alerts are generally issued for children in the first, or family, group. That's because officials are most likely to immediately know "who the abductor is, what they're driving, what relatives they may be heading towards," Allen said. Even then, he said, authorities often agonize over the decision, knowing they could face criticism if they issue an alert prematurely, or if they don't issue one and the case turns violent.

Fergus Falls Police Chief Tim Brennan said the Amber Alert in the Elbow Lake case was "certainly appropriate" and followed protocol. The girl was in the 17-and-under age group and authorities believed that she was in imminent danger. Brennan said that he knew "from the beginning" that the abductor was the stepfather, and that authorities "held off a bit longer than we wanted to because we were trying to develop information on the vehicle." The Amber Alert was issued about 12:30 a.m. last Sunday and cancelled 45 minutes later when the girl managed to call authorities. Her stepbrother and stepfather, against whom she had a restraining order, were jailed. You'd have had to read a small story inside this section a few days later to know that, though.

As a mom, I hope she gets all the help she needs to feel safe again. As a journalist, I hope we can figure out how to do a better job of focusing on the right dangers. When spring finally comes and the two sides of me are clashing, I hope I can set aside my own darkest fears and push my well-prepared kids out the door when it's time for a bike ride, with their helmets firmly attached. ..News Source.. by Gail Rrosenblum, Star Tribune