Amber Alert bill to be introduced

Jace Radke and Erin Neff

Friday, March 14, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, is expected to introduce an Amber Alert bill to the Legislature either today or Monday, raising the possibility that the abducted children information system could be operating by this summer.

Perkins, a deputy police chief in Henderson, served on a state task force to examine the potential for a Nevada Amber Alert, and his bill is the final step in formalizing the system, Senior Deputy Attorney General Brian Kunzi said.

"The plan is written and approved; we're just waiting for the implementation," said Kunzi, who is the director of the Nevada Missing Children's Clearinghouse. "We are now starting the training that all the law enforcement agencies across the state will need to use the system.

"With 17 counties, many of them rural, it's going to take us a while to tie everyone together with this system, but we hope to have it going by the end of June."

Under the bill, once police determine that a child has been abducted and faces harm or death, radio and television stations are notified and information is broadcast. Nevada Department of Transportation reader boards would also be used to send out information.

Perkins' bill will allow the use of the system in cases involving children under the age of 18, and the child's parents would have to consent to using the system and would have to provide a description.

"It's been brought back to the fore after the discovery of Elizabeth Smart," Perkins said.

Smart was found near her Utah home this week after being abducted last June.

Amber Alerts are named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl abducted in Arlington, Texas, and later found murdered. The alerts are already used on a statewide basis in 39 states, and the Justice Department credits the alerts for helping in the rescues of at least 34 children since it was first introduced in 1996.

Perkins' bill also provides Good Samaritan exemptions from liability for Nevada broadcasters.

Perkins said roughly 12 counties in Nevada, including Clark and Washoe, have the basic infrastructure in place to enact the system. The bill would help all 17 counties utilize the system and communicate with each other.

"There are a lot of issues that have to be worked out," Kunzi said. "There are many different cities and municipalities that have to be brought into the loop."

Technology may be a challenge in some of the state's rural communities, Kunzi said.

"You may have only two phone lines with the Hawthorne Police, and they could become inundated with calls," Kunzi said. "Before we go to the public and say the system is ready we want to take care of those kinds of issues."