GWMO urges introduction of missing children alert system

Apr 12, 2018 News

The Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) is urging Government to seriously consider using the Amber Alert System, similar to what the US has, to help find missing children faster.
The AMBER Alert System began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children.
AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, TX, and then brutally murdered.
Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation.
According to the GWMO, reflecting on the increase of missing persons being killed in sister CARICOM nations, including Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Jamaica, it is critical for Guyana to implement a missing persons alert system, drawing from the Amber Alert System that has been successfully utilized by the United Stated of America for the past 11 years.
The GWMO said it first sent this recommendation to Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, on February 27th, 2017. The body said that on March 14th, 2018, it again wrote to Ramjattan to reconsider implementing a missing alert system.
“We strongly believe that the adaptation of the proposed system will result in an increase of missing children being found at a faster pace, deter potential perpetrators; not to mention, create a coordinated response from all government agencies, stakeholders and the general public. The GWMO is grateful that the Vice-President and Minister of Public Security have positively responded in support of the system.”
The implementation of this system will aid in the development of a more accurate safety mechanism to protect the nation’s people.
“The positive change will mitigate the crime rate and distress within the country. The level of cooperation among our people as the concern and participation of everyone is needed for the success of this system. In this manner, a social change would be enacted.”
Pointing to young children in other nations who were taken too soon, the organization disclosed that they were snatched without a trail, leaving their communities devastated and in fear.
“Every parent awaits the return of their children with the hope, prayers and belief that they are still breathing. This wasn’t the case for the families of these kids who were found dead after being missing.”

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