(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/29/2024) Rep. Graham Filler (R-St. Johns) introduced a House bill that would add missing children with special needs to the reasons to be able to send out an America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, or AMBER, Alert. 

HB5919 would allow for the criteria to issue an AMBER Alert to include all missing children with special needs. The criteria currently is for an AMBER Alert to be issued when there is evidence or suspicion that a child is abducted. 

“Michigan’s current Amber Alert system is too limited in scope. We need to ensure that when a child with special needs goes missing we can immediately mobilize all resources necessary to help find them,” Filler said. 

The bill comes after a special needs child disappeared in Clinton County last year. 

WLNS reported in October 2023 that Jermain Jones was found dead in the Looking Glass River nearly 24 hours after being reported missing from a rural area near Grand Ledge.  

Law enforcement found the body near where Jones was last seen. 

Nearly 500 people assisted in the search. 

The AMBER Alert system puts out urgent bulletins across a geographic region from television and radio broadcasters, Michigan State Police, and electronic bulletin boards controlled by the Michigan Department of Transportation. 

Law enforcement must request an AMBER Alert from the Michigan State Police to alert a geographic region through the Wireless Emergency Alert system. 

Filler said the bill would give first responders the tools they need to act quickly when a child that faces unique dangers goes missing. 

“This measure is about saving lives and giving families hope when every second counts,” he said.