IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 454
Encouraging the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice 
to include within the minimum standards established pursuant to the 
PROTECT Act a specific criterion for issuance of an alert through 
the AMBER Alert communications network. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 19, 2003
Mrs. JONES of Ohio submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Encouraging the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Depart-
ment of Justice to include within the minimum standards 
established pursuant to the PROTECT Act a specific 
criterion for issuance of an alert through the AMBER 
Alert communications network.
Whereas approximately 797,500 children are reported miss-
ing each year, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention of the United States Depart-
ment of Justice; 
Whereas 74 percent of abducted children who are murdered 
are dead within 12 hours of the abduction, and therefore 
a quick response is essential to the safe recovery of ab-
ducted children;
•HRES 454 IH 
Whereas local, State, and Federal law enforcement officials 
log countless hours in their commendable recovery efforts 
in each missing child case; 
Whereas law enforcement officials should be afforded every 
means available to help recover missing children; 
Whereas the America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Re-
sponse (referred to in this resolution as ‘‘AMBER’’) 
Alert communications network has led to the recovery of 
over 100 missing children since the network’s inception 
at the local level in 1996; 
Whereas the National Center for Missing and Exploited Chil-
dren and the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to 
end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 pro-
mote national coordination of the AMBER Alert commu-
nications network; 
Whereas more than half of the 100 recoveries made by the 
AMBER Alert communications network have been made 
since the national coordination efforts began; 
Whereas using the AMBER Alert communications network in 
the hours after a child’s disappearance makes the safe re-
covery of the child much more likely than if the network 
is not used, and therefore the network is an effective tool 
for the location of missing children in the crucial hours 
after a child’s disappearance; 
Whereas these facts demonstrate the importance of the new 
relationships between Federal and State authorities in 
developing and expanding the AMBER Alert communica-
tions network; 
Whereas an expansion of the criteria suggested by the 
AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice 
for local law enforcement officials to use when deciding
•HRES 454 IH 
whether to issue an alert through the AMBER Alert 
communications network would greatly aid in the safe re-
covery of missing children; and 
Whereas preserving the discretion of local law enforcement 
officials in deciding when to issue an alert through the 
AMBER Alert communications network also contributes 
to the safe recovery of missing children: Now, therefore, 
be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives encour-
ages the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department 
of Justice to include within the minimum standards estab-
lished pursuant to the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other 
Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 
2003 the following criterion for issuance of an alert 
through the AMBER Alert communications network: If 
law enforcement officials reasonably believe that a child’s 
welfare is in danger, such officials shall issue an alert 
through the AMBER Alert communications network if the 
child has been missing for 6 or more hours. A determina-
tion of reasonable belief that a child’s welfare is in danger 
shall not require specific knowledge of an abduction, but 
shall require facts tending to show that the child may have 
been abducted based on the particular circumstances.
Æ