LIVONIA, Mich. – An Amber Alert issued Monday morning for two infant boys kidnapped from the city of Livonia was one of only two active Amber Alerts in the U.S. that day.
On Monday, Aug. 21, police were looking for two 14-day-old boys who were reportedly taken by “two females,” whose identities were not immediately known or provided. The babies were believed to be taken by the suspects from a hotel.
The children were located as of 10:15 a.m. the same day, according to Detroit police. Any identifying information has been removed from this article.
The Livonia Amber Alert issued for the missing brothers was one of only two Amber Alerts active in the entire country as of Monday, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which lists all active Amber Alerts. The boys’ alerts were technically separated into two listings, but we’ve counted them as one since they are from the same situation.
Another alert was active for Keshawn Williams, a 15-year-old boy who went missing from Cleveland, Ohio on June 17. Williams was believed to have been with a companion whose identity is unknown. A black Jeep SUV with a temporary license plate was also involved.
While there are certainly many more than three children missing throughout the U.S., their situations must meet certain criteria in order for an Amber Alert to be issued.
Amber Alert criteria
The “Amber” in Amber Alert is short for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. Since 1996, this tool has been used to quickly spread the word about serious child-abduction cases so community members can help with the search.
Here are the government’s guidelines for issuing an Amber Alert:
- Law enforcement must confirm an abduction prior to issuing an alert.
- Police must determine that child is at risk for serious bodily harm or death before an alert is issued.
- Law enforcement must have enough information to believe that an immediate broadcast to the public will enhance the efforts of police to locate the child and suspect.
The Amber Alert system is used in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Native American territories, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 27 other countries, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says.
Here are the specific circumstances in Michigan that would allow law enforcement to activate the alert system:
An endangered missing person under 17 years old is reported to law enforcement, and one or more of the following circumstances exist:
- The child suffers from a severe mental or physical disability that greatly impairs the child’s ability to care for him/herself.
- The child is a victim of stranger or acquaintance kidnapping. Stranger kidnapping is defined as a child being taken against his/her will by a stranger. Acquaintance kidnapping is defined as a child being taken against his/her will by an acquaintance of the child or the child’s family.
- The child is in the company of a person who has a confirmed criminal history of child abuse/neglect, sexual assault, domestic assault, a crime involving the victimization of children, or has made statements of intent to harm the missing child, or is suicidal.
- The child has been abducted by a non-custodial parent whose parental rights have been terminated.
The Amber Alert system cannot be activated for a runaway child or a child who is a victim of a parental abduction involved in a civil dispute.