Google Joins Hands with the AMBER Alert Program to Locate Missing Kids

The US Department of Justice initiated the AMBER Alert Program in co-operation with several law-enforcement agencies, transport agencies, wireless service providers, and broadcasters to assist in searching for and recovering missing children. Serious cases of child abduction are handled by this program and information is displayed through various media.

Google has now joined hands with the AMBER Alert Program and is working in co-ordination with NCMEC or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to provide emergency alerts that could help locate these missing children and bring them home again. This feature is provided in Google Search and Google Maps on computers as well as mobile devices. If you are on the lookout for related information at a specific location where any child has been kidnapped then an AMBER Alert will be displayed on the results screen.

The alert will include all available details available at that time about the missing child along with additional information, if available. This additional information could be in the form of a description of the alleged abductor’s vehicle including color and model of the vehicle, etc. Google hopes that users will be able to provide vital help in searching for children featured on the alerts.

Google has stated that they are also joining hands with the Canadian Center for Child Protection and Missing Children Europe to provide this vital service for other countries. Google hopes to use all possible technical tools at their disposal to locate missing children, reduce child exploitation and provide improved reports to help the NCMEC.

The AMBER Alert feature from Google is an excellent feature that could help locate missing children and reunite them with their anxious families.