Connecticut Amber Alert System Friends Facebook

The state's Amber Alert program has turned to a giant social media network to broaden its awareness among Connecticut residents.

It's now on Facebook.

The official address is www.facebook.com/AMBERalertCT and it was activated on Thursday. Facebook users are able to sign up to receive state-specific Amber Alert bulletins through Facebook's News Feed feature. In all, 53 Facebook Amber Alert pages have been created for each state, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington D.C.

Typing ''Amber Alert Connecticut'' in the Facebook search box will also guide users to the page. 

Those receiving an alert can also share it with their Facebook friends.

''Law enforcement is excited about this new partnership that will supplement all our other Amber Alert partnerships,'' says State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance. ''Having a Facebook Connecticut page means we have a much larger blanket of security.''

Connecticut imposed its Amber Alert program in 2002 and at the time it was the fifth state to have such a system. The program is a voluntary partnership between the State Police, the Connecticut Chiefs of Police Association, the Connecticut Broadcasters Association and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

The DOT will post Amber Alerts on its message boards while media outlets get the word out through print, broadcast or electronic means.

Amber Alert partners estimate that Facebook increases the audience by a half-billion people.

''Everyone at Facebook feels a responsibility to help protect children,'' says Facebook Lead Security and Investigations Counsel Chris Sonderby, a former federal prosecutor and father of two. ''Our hearts go out to the families of the missing and our gratitude goes to the officers, volunteers and other Amber Alert partners who work tirelessly to bring them home. We are hopeful that the announcement offers these dedicated officials another useful tool to find and safely recover abducted children.''

The addition of Facebook to the Amber Alert program coincides with the 15th anniversary of the abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman in Texas. After Amber was kidnapped, local media and law enforcement teamed up to assist in the search for her, laying the groundwork for the formal Amber Alert program.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the national Center for Missing and Exploited Children play a big role in overseeing the Amber Alert program.

Laurie O. Robinson, the assistant U.S. attorney general for Office of Justice programs, says the addition of Facebook is ''another way the public can join with us to bring home missing and abducted children.''

''We each can play our part by being aware and responsive to Amber Alert postings that we will now see on Facebook." 

On Friday morning, folks were busy ''liking'' the Connecticut Amber Alert Page. By 11:30 a.m., the friend total was 1,235, ranging from a worker at the state Capitol to a University of New Haven police officer to a stay-at-home mom in East Hartford.  The friend total was changing about every 60 seconds throughout the morning.

Average people doing average things but paying attention are saving lives and reuniting families,'' says NCMEC President Ernie Allen.

Vance said Connecticut residents should keep in mind that Amber Alerts are serious business.

''In a nutshell, an Amber Alert posting is truly an emergency,'' Vance says. ''Strict criteria are followed when al alert goes out, so people should take something like this very seriously. Facebook gives us a much wider audience to find a missing child.''