Don't be alarmed
Toolbox
By Cristina Kumka Herald Staff - Published: December 4, 2008
The Vermont Department of Public Safety will conduct its third full scale test of the Amber Child Abduction Alert system today at 10 a.m., prompted by a transfer of authority over the system from Vermont State Police dispatchers in Waterbury to dispatchers in Rockingham.
The point of a real Amber Alert and a test is one in the same — to make sure state public safety personnel take the proper procedures to make the public fully aware of a child abduction.
Electronic message boards on Interstate 89, mass e-mails to all media outlets, and an activated Emergency Broadcast System and Vermont Lottery Notification System will notify the public first of a test, then of specific details about a fictional abducted child, a fictional suspect wanted for that abduction and a fictional vehicle on the run, said State Police Lt. Mark Lauer, who has been in charge of the state's Amber Alert system since 2005.
Today's 45-minute Alert is a practice run that will include a mock carjacking involving a fictional child at an undetermined location in the Bellows Falls area, Lauer said.
The test is part of training for Rockingham dispatchers who will take over all responsibility for the alert system for the first time by the end of this month, the result of a "cost-saving measure" to eliminate the Waterbury dispatch office by Vermont State Police, Lauer said.
"The headquarters will no longer have that function," he said.
Lauer said the responsibility for issuing an Amber Alert would be handled smoother in Rockingham than it was in Waterbury.
"Depending on the time of day, headquarters dispatch only had one person (on the phones) and one person in the building at the time," Lauer said.
"At times, there was no one to help. In Rockingham, it will be more than one person."
Seven to eight dispatchers will now be responsible for disseminating all information electronically when there is a real abduction.
The dispatch's first test on how well they can handle the new job will be today.
Two Amber Alert tests have been performed in Vermont since 2003. The only real alert issued in Vermont was for 12-year-old Brooke Bennett of Randolph earlier this year but it wasn't without flaws.
The state Agency of Transportation wasn't notified and didn't post the alert on numerous highway message boards.
Both Lauer and John Zicconi, spokesman for AOT, said the error won't happen again — for the test today or in the future.
"After that took place we got together," Zicconi said. "We've gone over the details" prior to today's test, he said.
In addition to the improvement with AOT this year, the Chittenden County Transportation Authority bus line, the U.S. Postal Service, the Burlington International Airport and Vermont rest areas have all asked to be alerted, following the Bennett abduction, Lauer said.
Although the Amber Alert issued for Bennett didn't assist in finding her kidnapper, more than 400 abducted children nationwide have been found with the help of the public alert, according to Lauer.
For more information or to register your cell phone to receive an alert, go to www.dps.state.vt.us/vtsp/amber.
Contact Cristina Kumka at cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com.
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