[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24044]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            A CHILD IS MISSING ALERT AND RECOVERY CENTER ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 3, 2008

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, thank you for your 
leadership in bringing this very important bill to the floor. I support 
this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. This bill is good and 
it is necessary.
  The bill is sponsored by Mr. Klein and has bi-partisan support. It 
has 21 cosponsors, including the following Judiciary members: Chairman 
Conyers, Chairman Scott, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Cohen, 
Mr. Johnson, Ms. Sutton, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz.
  A child goes missing every 40 seconds. The successful recovery of 
missing children often requires a quick response. In 1997, Sherry 
Friedlander, the founder of A Child is Missing (ACIM), saw the need for 
a rapid-response program to persons who go missing, especially in 
situations that do not involve abductions. In response to this need, 
she established ACIM, a national non-profit organization that offers 
free assistance to law enforcement 365 days of the year, 24 hours per 
day. The program is not limited to children, but extends to elderly 
persons (suffering from senility or Alzheimer's), mentally challenged 
or disabled individuals and college students.
  When law enforcement receives a call regarding a missing person, the 
first-responder can immediately call ACIM for help. The officer 
provides critical information to ACIM, such as the person's age and 
description and the last time/place seen. ACIM uses that information to 
record a message that, within minutes, is sent via phone to 1000s of 
locations within a radius of the last sighting of the person. Through 
their computer mapping system, ACIM also can identify ``hot spots,'' 
such as water or wooded areas.
  ACIM complements the Amber Alert program by providing different 
services. While Amber Alert focuses on children who are abducted, ACIM 
covers all ``persons'' who go missing, including situations where 
criminal intent may not be at issue. Amber Alert uses television and 
highway signs to broadcast information about the abducted child and the 
related vehicle, while ACIM uses a rapid response telephone alert 
system and covers cases where there is no vehicle involved. The ACIM 
notification system often can respond more quickly than the Amber Alert 
program.
  ACIM would use the requested money to operate and expand the existing 
ACIM office in Florida, to develop Regional Centers for on-site 
training and communication with local law enforcement, to maintain and 
expand their computer and phone technologies, and to assist the 
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the AMBER Alert 
Coordinator, and appropriate law enforcement agencies with training.
  H.R. 5464 authorizes $5 million annual grants for 2009 through 2014 
to A Child is Missing Alert and Recovery Center (ACIM) to assist law 
enforcement in the rapid recovery of missing children and other 
individuals.
  I support this bill and I urge my colleagues to support it also.

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