“[US] Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that – as the nation observes National AMBER Alert Awareness Day – the Justice Department has partnered with Facebook and Bing to expand the reach of the AMBER Alert system,” the release said.
The AMBER Alert system launched in 1996 is an early warning system that helps find and return abducted children across the United States.
“Finding an abducted child and returning him or her to safety depends on a fast response. The more vigilant citizens we have on the look-out, the better our chances of a quick recovery,” Holder said.
Since its launch, the AMBER Alert system has helped to rescue more than 700 abducted children through radio announcements, highway signs, wireless notifications, and Web posts, according to the US Department of Justice.
AMBER stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was named after the abducted and murdered 9-year-old girl Amber Hagerman back in 1996.
