Amber Alerts bring solace to tragedy

We all know the noise. The buzzing noise that erupts from your phone, one that has helped stop abduction of children. Amber Alerts have saved lives for over 20 years, becoming the silver lining of a horrible tragedy.

In 1996, Arlington’s Amber Hagerman was abducted and killed, the case still unresolved. In the aftermath of the slaying, the Amber Alert program was created to help stop another Hagerman case from happening.

Not only did it succeed, but it became a crucial tool in abduction cases nationwide. Many websites and apps integrate Amber Alerts into their functions, like Facebook and Waze, creating resources that not only help, but also save lives.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children says Amber Alerts have helped over 800 kids nationwide since its inception. From 2005 to 2015, the program had a 95.3 percent success rate. Last year, all but eight of the 224 reported-missing children were recovered safely.

“It just got bigger and bigger and better and better,” Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told the Star-Telegram. “It became an unbelievable phenomenon.”

Hagerman deserves justice, but until then, we can find solace in Amber Alerts and the many children’s lives they have saved.

This story was originally published August 30, 2016 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Amber Alerts bring solace to tragedy."