Ohio Amber Alert: How notification system will change in 2024

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A change has been made to the way Ohioans will receive Amber Alert notifications, in a move law enforcement believes could be vital to locating missing children.

The Ohio Amber Alert Advisory Committee announced last week that Wireless Emergency Alerts, one channel through which Amber Alerts are broadcasted, are now capable of transmitting 360-character messages in Ohio. The messages could previously only contain 90 characters.

The traditional 90-character messages were limited to basic vehicle information and notifications for users to check local media outlets for additional details. The increase in characters allows public safety officials to provide more in-depth details on suspects, victims, vehicles and any other important information.

The change also enables a URL that can redirect the device user to Ohio’s Amber Alert website or social media. Once redirected, the user will be able to see all information regarding the Amber Alert as well as any available photos.

“The 90-character message was very limited,” said Ronald Raines, a captain with the Ohio State Highway Patrol and member of the Ohio Amber Alert Advisory Committee. “We’re making it easy for people to have access to that information, and not just easy access, but immediate access. They won’t have to turn on their radio station, they won’t have to go turn on the news, they’ll have it at their fingertips.”

The Ohio State Highway Patrol provided an example of the new 360-character messaging format wireless device users can expect to see:

AMBER Alert: Columbus OH. 2008 red 4-door Honda Civic OH ABC1234. Victim, 3, white male, brown hair, blue shirt, blue shorts. Suspect, John Doe, 41, white male, blonde hair, red shirt, jeans. Last seen at 1234 Main Street, Columbus. If you see the child, suspect or vehicle, please call 911 or 1-877-AMBER-OH. https://www.ohioamberplan.org.

Raines said the Amber Alert Advisory Committee is a group of people who are partners and stakeholders in the Amber Alert process. The committee meets four times a year – meetings are open to the public. 

“We review all the different alerts that occurred in the previous quarter,” Raines said. “We talk about what went well during the Amber Alert activation and figure out if there’s different ways we can improve.”

The character increase was made possible due to increased technology by both wireless carriers and wireless device manufacturers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency made enhancements to wireless emergency alerts in December 2019, including the character increase. Increasing the character count in Ohio is something the Amber Alert Committee had been discussing over the past year, Raines said.

“There’s still other phones out there on the market, including some of the more popular ones, that still are not capable of carrying the 360 [characters],” Raines said. “So that’s something the Amber Alert Committee has looked at over time and said, you know, when is a good time for us to add the 360-character messaging.”

Any iPhone that is 5th generation or older is only capable of receiving the 90-character message. Devices using 4G LTE network technology and beyond are capable of displaying the 360-character message, while earlier networks are limited to displaying the 90-character message. A list of phone models and their emergency alert capabilities can be found here.

Both a 90-character message and a 360-character message will be sent out during an Amber Alert notification; users will only receive one depending on their device. 

Raines said Amber Alerts have led to the recovery of numerous missing children in Ohio. One example occurred in February 2021, when an Amber Alert was activated for the abduction of a 4-month-old in Columbus. The infant was taken while in a running car. After receiving the emergency message, two people saw the vehicle parked with the child still in the car. They contacted police and the child was safely recovered. 

An Amber Alert is an emergency broadcast message which aims to help locate missing children. The system was started in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to help find abducted children. Amber stands for America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to Amber Hagerman, 9, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Texas and then murdered.

For an Amber Alert to be issued, law enforcement must believe that an abduction has occurred, and that the child is in imminent danger. Amber Alerts are only issued for children 17 years old and younger.