Emergency Alert Program History

The Virginia General Assembly established the Commonwealth‘s AMBER Alert Plan in 2003. AMBER stands for America‘s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. For those child abduction incidents that fulfill the AMBER Plan activation criteria, radio and television stations immediately interrupt programming to broadcast information using the EAS, a system typically used for weather or other civil emergencies. Today, the Virginia AMBER Alert also includes notification via Wireless Emergency Alerts, social media, electronic message boards, and an array of other communications systems.

The plan is simple — to alert the public as quickly as possible to a child abduction in hopes of gaining information which will lead to the safe recovery of that child and capture of the abductor. More information on the national AMBER Plan is available at https://amberalert.ojp.gov.

The AMBER Alert Plan is named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old Arlington, Texas girl who was abducted in 1996 while riding her bicycle. Sadly, her body was found four days later. In response to community concern following this tragedy, the Association of Radio Managers, with the assistance of Texas law enforcement, created the first emergency alert plan designed to expedite search and recovery efforts for abducted children.

Virginia’s Critically Missing Adult Alert Program, also known as the “Ashanti Alert,” was established by the Virginia General Assembly in 2018. A “critically missing adult” is defined as an adult (1) whose whereabouts are unknown; (2) whose disappearance (including abduction) poses a credible threat to the health and safety of the adult as determined by a law-enforcement agency.

This plan is available for use by all Virginia law enforcement agencies and can be used as a primary alert plan or as a supplement to a regional plan. An Ashanti Alert provides the news media of Virginia with an opportunity to contribute to the communities they serve. This alert also includes notification by means of social media.

This alert is named for Ashanti Billie, a 19-year-old Maryland woman who was abducted from her place of employment in Norfolk, Virginia. An alert was not issued during the search for Billie as her case did not fall under the three alert categories that existed at the time: AMBER, Senior, and Blue. Her remains were found two weeks later in North Carolina; her abductor was later identified and charged in her death. In 2019, a bill creating the National Ashanti Alert was signed into federal law.

The Virginia Critical Operation for a Disappeared Child Initiative (CODI) Alert Program is an alert system designed to efficiently inform the public of information regarding a missing child whose disappearance poses a credible threat, as determined by a law enforcement investigation.  The Virginia State Police has established the following standards and procedures by which a law-enforcement agency shall verify that a child is critically missing and submit an alert request.

The Virginia Missing Person with Autism Alert Plan was created by legislation in the 2020 General Assembly. In accordance with the alert criteria, this plan can be activated for an individual (1) whose whereabouts are unknown; (2) who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as defined in § 38.2-3418.17; and (3) whose disappearance poses a credible threat as determined by law enforcement to the safety and health of the individual.

This plan is available for use by all Virginia law enforcement agencies and can be used as a primary alert plan or as a supplement to a regional plan. A Missing Person with Autism Alert allows the news media of Virginia an opportunity to contribute to the communities they serve. This alert also includes notification via use of social media.

The Virginia Senior Alert Plan was created in 2007 by the Virginia General Assembly. The alert program provides a valuable tool for Virginia law enforcement agencies to help locate a missing “senior adult,” who is over 60 years of age and suffers a cognitive impairment, including a diagnosis of Alzheimer‘s Disease or dementia, to the extent that he/she is unable to provide care to him/herself without assistance from a caregiver, and whose disappearance poses a credible threat as determined by a law-enforcement agency to the health and safety of the adult.

This plan is available for use by all Virginia law enforcement agencies and can be used as a primary alert plan or as a supplement to a regional plan. A Senior Alert provides the news media of Virginia with an opportunity to contribute to the communities they serve. This alert also includes notification via use of social media.

The Virginia Blue Alert was established in 2011 by the Virginia General Assembly to aid in the location of a suspect who has killed or severely injured a law enforcement officer, or of a law enforcement officer whose disappearance while on duty has put that officer’s life at risk.

An activation of this alert requires confirmation by the Virginia State Police that (1) a suspect has not been apprehended; (2) the suspect may be a serious threat to the public; and (3) sufficient information is available to disseminate to the public for assistance in locating the suspect. The Virginia Blue Alert may also be activated when the Virginia State Police has been notified by a law enforcement agency that a law enforcement officer is missing while on duty under circumstances warranting concern for his or her safety.

This plan is available for use by all Virginia law enforcement agencies and can be used as a primary alert plan or as a supplement to a regional plan. A Virginia Blue Alert provides the news media of Virginia with an opportunity to contribute to the communities they serve. This alert also includes notification by means of social media.