Amber alert
a public alert system that spreads information about missing persons by using the broadcast media and electronic billboards on highways.
a public message or announcement that uses this system.
Contemporary Examples
The Amber Alert system will then decide whether to issue an alert.
West Virginia Heathers: Was Skylar Neese Murdered by Her Best Friends? Caroline Linton December 18, 2013
When the two couples returned home, they saw the Amber Alert issued for Anderson and called police.
Hannah Anderson Found! Five Things to Know About the Kidnapped Teen August 10, 2013
And so we set up surveillance cameras, we have the Amber Alert, we put more police officers on the street.
Why Child Killers Love Small Towns Marcia Clark May 25, 2009
noun
(US & Canadian) a notification to the general public, such as by commercial radio or electronic traffic-condition signs, regarding an abduction of a child
noun
an emergency broadcast or notification system used when there has been an abduction, esp. of a child
Examples
The decision to declare an Amber Alert is made by the law-enforcement organization investigating the abduction.
Word Origin
named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who in 1996 was kidnapped from her Arlington TX neighborhood while riding her bicycle and found dead four days later
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