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D.C. Alert System

AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) is a notification program to help locate missing children believed to have been abducted. The Emergency Alert System (formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System) is used to alert the public via television and radio in the event of an AMBER Alert. 

The AMBER Alert System began in 1997 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed up with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children quickly. AMBER stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. It is a notification program to help locate missing children believed to have been abducted. The Emergency Alert System (formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System) is used to alert the public via television and radio in the event of an AMBER Alert.    Other states and localities have since set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the United States. Today 46 of the 50 states have implemented Amber Alert plans.

On April 30, 2003, The President of the United States signed the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003 into law. This Act described the national coordination of state and local AMBER Alert programs, including guidance for how AMBER Alerts should be issued and disseminated.