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On Wednesday, October 30th, 1996,

representatives from about 20 North Texas law enforcement agencies

and the Association of Radio Managers held a news conference at Dallas City Hall to unveil a new joint effort.

With the abduction of Amber Hagerman, we had enough of a description that it could have been helpful.

Arlington Police Chief David Cuncle said, referring to the vehicle whose driver

snatched the nine-year-old girl more than ten months earlier in his city.

Amber was kidnapped in Arlington in January of 1996 and later found murdered.

If we had this type of program in place, the lawman continued, we could have gotten

the word out. Perhaps, Chief Kunkle suggested Amber's life would have been saved. Garland police,

who were also in attendance, might have said the same thing about the kidnapping and killing

of eight-year-old Kim Nguyen

three years earlier had they spoken in front of the television and newspaper microphones

clustered atop the podium.

Kim's was another case that included a relatively specific vehicle description.

This new emergency broadcast plan named for Amber Hagerman,

which was to go into effect immediately,

called for North Texas police agencies to alert local radio stations via fax

when the disappearance of a child is confirmed as an abduction, after which the station

will promptly interrupt programming to provide a description of the missing child and the vehicle

in which they were abducted. The confirmed part was vital, at least in concept, to keep false

...