MUP: The Serbian Amber alert system will be called "Find me!"

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dr. Danilo Stevandić, held a meeting of the working group for the introduction of a system for urgent notification of the public about the disappearance of a minor, known in America as Amber Alert, reports N1.

At the meeting, the steps taken so far to establish this system, which will be called "Find me!" in Serbia, were discussed.

Stevandić pointed out that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has developed an Instruction on the behavior of police officers in the event of a report of the disappearance of a minor and the method of urgent public notification, which defines clear and precise steps for activating and functioning the system, it was stated in the Ministry of Interior's announcement.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications and the Office for Information Technology and Electronic Administration of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, as he indicated, work has begun on the development of a platform for urgent public information.

Stevandić specified that, according to the criteria agreed upon so far, citizens should be informed about the disappearance of a minor by means of an SMS message, interruption of television and radio broadcasts, as well as signs on the highway, airport, bus and railway stations.

The working group for the introduction of the "Find me!" system was formed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Bratislav Gašić, in February. Its composition includes representatives of several relevant ministries, the Center for Missing and Abused Children and the "Astra" association.

How successful is the system?

Nine-year-old Amber Hagerman from Texas was kidnapped and murdered in 1996. The killer was never found.

Since her murder, the family has been fighting to keep the Amber Alert system alive. By 2005, it was established in America.

According to data from the European Center for Missing Children in 2019, the new system brought about a 97 percent success rate in finding children.

According to a 2021 report by the US National Center for Missing Children, 254 times the system was launched in America, and 252 times children were returned home.

Last year, according to official statistics, 1523 children were reported missing in Serbia, and 1518 were found.

The murder of Tijana Jurić in July 2014 was the reason that in Serbia launched a campaign to introduce an Amber Alert - video sports are made, institutions are written to introduce the system, it is explained how the system works in other countries.

More than a million people have supported the campaign so far.

AE/N1/amberalert.eu/missingkids.org

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