Post by lace on Dec 20, 2005 13:41:11 GMT -5
From: "FromWhispersToRoars Admin" <fromwhisperstoroars@yahoo.com>
Subject: Please Review an Email I sent to Assistant Attorney General Regina B. Schofield
To: "George Bush" <president@whitehouse.gov>, "Laura Bush" <first.lady@whitehouse.gov>
Dear Mr. President and First Lady Laura Bush,
Enclosed is an email sent to Assistant Attorney General Regina B. Schofield. It is in reference to the Amber Alert System and it's recent uselessness in protecting the children. I hope you too will take the time to read this and possibly speak with her about it.
Thank you and God Bless.
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To Assistant Attorney General Regina B. Schofield,
I am a concerned citizen who would like some of your time. I am writing in reference to the Nation Amber Alert System. I am very confused about how it is supposed to be run, who is trained to use it and why there isn’t one command center for all alerts to be sent through? I have read the 2004 report to the White House and it paints a pretty picture of how well the Amber Alert System is working. But I have also read the newspapers and seen the many children murdered because it failed. When the system works we all give out a collective sigh or relief, but when it doesn’t we flood our homes with tears and become angry.
I have 2 cases I want to bring up as points of reference. First is Aliyah Myrick. A beautiful 19 month old little girl who was kidnapped and subsequently murdered by her own father. Below are excerpt from several article I would like you to read:
“Aliyah Myrick was last seen with Darius Myrick about 9 p.m. Thursday when he took his daughter from the house where she lived with her mother, police said.
The child's mother told police that Myrick, 32, had made threatening statements toward the child, referring to her as Satan's child. The mother was worried that Myrick intended to harm the child, police said.
Myrick was arrested in July and charged with criminal trespassing after he'd been asked to leave the house where the girl was taken. There was a warrant out for his arrest on that charge, police said.
As Aliyah Myrick's mother grieves, she says police didn't take her seriously enough fast enough, and that's why the 19-month-old girl is dead.
Lanetta Myrick told News 5 she is angry that a 911 dispatcher told her to stop chasing her husband after he allegedly snatched their little girl from her Thursday night. While Lanetta followed him in a car, a dispatcher told her police wouldn't respond if she was engaged in a high-speed chase. ** The man had an ACTIVE Warrant.
Lanetta also can't understand why it took six hours for an Amber Alert to be issued after she frantically called 911 and said her husband, Darius, took the girl. She told the dispatcher her husband had mental problems.
They failed me and my baby, and I'm trying to figure out why, when my baby's life was in your hands, why you didn't take it seriously," Lanetta Myrick said. Aliyah's body was discovered in a Mount Auburn park about noon Friday.”
Are you as angry over the death of this child ,as much as we the public are? Did you cry for this baby the way we all have and still are. Every life taken because of an inept Amber System is one life too many.
According to the DOJ’s own Frequently Asked Questions on AMBER Alert it states: “How are AMBER Alert appropriations spent?
To date, the Department of Justice has utilized almost $12 million of appropriated funds to create a national network and provide the states and territories with training and technical assistance to develop and enhance their AMBER Alert plans.”
How much of it has been used on these systems, especially training? As I stated in Aliyah Myrick's case the 911 Dispatcher caused a 6 hour delay in the Amber Alert for this child being broadcast while she played Lawyer. It is NOT the job of the Communications Officer to make that type of decision. That belongs to the Officer’s sent to respond to this call. Was she properly trained for this position? Did she get any training on the Amber Alert System? Will there be an investigation by your Office? I ask since you are the new National AMBER Alert Coordinator.
And if it is a National network why isn’t there ONE central location for ALL Amber Alerts to be sent to? And then Broadcast through Television, Radio, Wireless and Internet for that region and those who want to receive Amber Alerts no matter what state they are in? I’m not trying to be rude but these are questions many citizens are asking and demanding answers.
When President Bush signed the Protection Act of 2003 into Law he said:
“ When a child is reported missing, that case becomes the matter of the most intensive and focused efforts by law enforcement. Entire communities join in the search. And through unrelenting efforts, many children have been saved.
Amber Alerts have become an increasingly important tool in rescuing kidnapped children, by quickly getting key information about the missing child and information about the suspect out into the public through radio broadcasts or highway signs or other means. An Amber Alert adds thousands of citizens to the search in the crucial early hours.
At present, statewide Amber Alert systems exist in 41 states. The bill I will sign this afternoon authorizes matching grants to those and other states to help ensure that we have effective Amber Alerts wherever they are needed. ”
“No child should ever have to experience the terror of abduction, or worse. No family should ever have to endure the nightmare of losing a child. Our nation grieves with every family that has suffered unbearable loss. And our nation will fight threats against our children. “
As you see on April 30, 2003 he stressed then how important this network is to the future and safety of all children. And yet we still wait. I understand no system is perfect but this one is in grave danger of failing the future of this nation.
Cary Ann Medlin, 8, Tennessee; Nicole Parker, 8, California; Chris Byers, 8, Arkansas; Sherrice Iverson, 7, Nevada; Amanda Brown, 7, Florida; Christina Long, 13, Connecticut; Michelle Vick, 14, Washington; Samantha Runnion, 5, California; Maryann Measles, 13, Connecticut; Polly Klaas, 12, California; Amber Hagerman, 9, Texas; Adam Walsh, 6, Florida; Megan Kanka, 7, New Jersey; JonBenet Ramsey, 6, Colorado; Sarah Lundy, 13, Florida; Danielle Van Dam, 7, California. Carlie Brucia, 11, Florida; Jessica Lunsford, 9, Florida; Dylan Groene, 9, Idaho, Dru Sjoden, 22, North Dakota. Now we add Aliyah Myrick 19 months old, Ohio and Taylor Behl 17,Virginia.
This list goes on and each were found murdered. How can we as a nation call this a success? I have seen the statistics and find the odds are still not in our children’s favor.
The second case I bring up is that of Taylor Behl. A 17 year old College student who vanished September 5, 2005. On September 10,2005 I found one article about her missing but never saw or received an Amber Alert. She was gone, her car was gone and yet the public had no idea. How can an Amber Alert be effective if no one gets it? On October 5,2005, one month since her disappearance, Taylor was found murdered. As it stands right now she is scheduled to be buried on what would have been her 18th Birthday.
Is this how we protect our future, our children. The Amber Alert system, as of today, has all 50 states with an Amber Plan. But not 100% participation using it. Where is Maine’s, Wyoming’s. How are these states getting funding for their Amber Plan when they haven’t even moved on it. Not to mention many do not have an Amber Alert site for active alerts, where to find one or their own ticker with constant information on the missing child.
Have you ever been to Michigan’s Amber Alert Site? You can spend hours clicking on their different Amber topics and never find a location for an Alert. But the different links do bring you back to your original page, each time. This is what I call a runaround. This must change and now. I know this is long but I feel the need to fully express my thought’s and those of John Q. Public.
How many need to die before the States are forced to get off their Plans and make them a reality? This program has been up long enough now to have the major flaws worked out of it. So why are the children still waiting to be protected? How much longer will this take. And what will it take, one more child, two, twenty or more. One is One too many.
On June 13,2005 you posted on the Department of Justice site that: "AMBER Alert is a proven success and has helped rescue more than 200 children nationwide. More than 80 percent of those recoveries have occurred since AMBER Alert became a nationally coordinated effort in 2002. With 50 statewide AMBER plans now in place, we are meeting President Bush's goal of a National AMBER Alert network. As the new National AMBER Alert Coordinator, I am committed to ensuring that we have a strong and seamless network in place to protect our children."
--Regina B. Schofield,
Assistant Attorney General
Office of Justice Programs
I for one am keeping you to that promise.
Thank you for your time and I implore you fix these flaws before more innocent children, who could be tomorrow’s Doctors, Astronauts and Presidents, are silenced before they have a chance to speak. I await your response.
Sincerely,
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