Lawmakers seek to overhaul Louisiana’s AMBER alert system

The alert was issued nearly three hours after the girls were reported missing. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said they did everything they could to issue the alert and this delay shows a systemic problem.

“Something is wrong,” Edwards said. “The system is broken. We have to try to fix it.”

Rep. Dixon McMakin sent a letter to Gov. Jeff Landry on Thursday urging the Louisiana State Police to work with lawmakers to simplify the process of issuing an AMBER alert.

“The idea is to review this process after we’ve just gone through one to see what happens, and I’m even hopeful that the governor might take this opportunity … to modernize this process and make it more efficient,” McMakin said. UWK.

The congressman criticized the current process, which requires police to download, print, fill out, scan and email AMBER Alert request forms to the Louisiana State Police. He argued that with technology like Google Forms, there is no reason the state shouldn’t modernize the process.

“Once you fill it out — and you have to fill out every single line so you don’t forget anything — it goes straight to the agency,” he said. “And then I’d like to see a response saying it was received, here’s your confirmation number and here’s the person who’s taking care of it.”

Unfiltered with Kiran The AMBER Alert request forms and evidence of calls and texts were obtained through a records request related to the delayed AMBER Alert for Erin, 3, and Jalie, 6. The little girls were kidnapped after their mother was brutally murdered in their home. A Tangipahoa Parish grand jury has indicted Daniel Callihan and Victoria Cox on four counts related to the murders and kidnapping.

MORE: Tangipahoa Parish grand jury indicts Callihan and Cox in murder and kidnapping case

Documents showed Lt. Elizabeth Russell completed and submitted the paperwork by emailing it at 10:16 a.m. The email sent to LSP included attachments with photos of the children. The image of the suspect vehicle came from the license plate reader, according to Edwards.

All fields were filled out except for the suspect description and the locations where the children were last seen. It is unclear if the problem is due to a lack of suspect description. The Louisiana State Police website said details were requested.

The statewide alert was not sent until 12:28 p.m., although call logs and emails show that several Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office employees had repeatedly checked with state officials responsible for distributing AMBER alerts.

“It looks like we are about to conduct an evaluation to see how we can make the process more transparent, efficient and effective, because we know that every second and every minute is crucial in this process.

“The state police informed me that there have been 21 Amber Alerts in the last 22 years, so an average of about one a year. So unfortunately, it will probably happen again as long as I live. I just think it will probably happen, and when it does happen, we need to be prepared so we don’t have these little glitches in the system.”

McMakin says he has spoken to LSP and the governor about his suggestions. He believes this is the perfect opportunity for Landry to form a task force to evaluate the state’s AMBER alert process.

“I still believe Louisiana could be a leader in modernization so we can become more efficient and effective.”

McMakin also confirmed that LSP is conducting an internal review of how the AMBER Alert process was conducted on June 13. LSP said they tried to issue the AMBER Alert as quickly as possible.

“In the event of an AMBER alert, LSP works diligently to gather factual information from the investigating agency in order to disseminate the information to the public as quickly as possible,” said LSP Trooper First Class William Huggins.

The AMBER Alert System, developed in 1996, is an early warning system for searching for abducted children. It is now used in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Indian Country, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and internationally in 31 countries.

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