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Missing Children

Amber Alert Hellas

National Coordinating program for the timely and valid notification of citizens in cases of disappearance/abduction of minors

Amber Alert Hellas is the National Coordinating Program for timely and valid notification of citizens in cases of disappearance/abduction of minors, which is activated by the Organization "The Smile of the Child" with the approval of the Greek Police.

Amber Alert Hellas comprises the immediate, valid and detailed information of citizens about a minor disappearance incident only a few minutes after the authorities or the Organization "The Smile of the Child" have notified about it. To achieve this, a wide group of bodies - private and voluntary - participate in the program, each of them communicating the details of the missing child and some other basic information through all means available, such us TV and radio spots, Facebook posts, SMS messages, announcements on airport screens, etc.

"The Smile of the Child" launched Amber Alert Hellas in Greece in 2007.

In which cases Amber Alert Hellas is activated

The cases of disappearances of minors for which Amber Alert Hellas can be activated should be assessed overall and have one of the following characteristics:

Early age of the child / children
Clear signs indicating that the life or health of the child may be at risk
Suspicions indicating a possible abduction or abduction of the child
Activating the system will help identify the child
Police decision that the activation of the alert will by no means endanger the child

How we can all be actively involved

We can all actively participate in the process of locating a missing child by registering in the AMBER ALERT HELLAS service on our mobile phone.

Valid for all mobile subscribers

In specific, you will only need to send your postal code to register, either the one of your residence or your office In case of a disappearance of a minor near your area, you will receive a message with the details and the description of the missing child by SMS.

Registration in AMBER ALERT HELLAS

Send your SMS with your postcode to 116000 from your mobile phone. (simple SMS charge)
You will receive a reply SMS (free of charge for the subscriber), which will confirm your subscription to the AMBER ALERT HELLAS Service.
Every time AMBER ALERT HELLAS gets activated, each registered subscriber receives a message with the details and description of the missing minor (without charge for the subscriber)

Unsubscribe from AMBER ALERT HELLAS

Send your SMS to 116000 from mobile phone with a simple “no”. You will be automatically unsubscribed from the AMBER ALERT HELLAS Service. (simple SMS charge)

Brief History of AMBER ALERT

Amber Alert was created in 1996 as a powerful legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, a bright little girl who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas and brutally murdered. The tragedy shook and angered the local community. Residents contacted radio stations in the Dallas area and suggested that they air special newsletters so as to help prevent similar incidents in the future.

In response to the citizens' demand for child safety, the Dallas / Fort Worth Association of Radio Managers, in collaboration with local police authorities in North Texas, created an innovative early notification system with the purpose of finding child victims of abduction. Statistics lead to the conclusion that time is the biggest enemy in incidents of kidnapping minors.

The Amber Alert program is coordinated by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children of the Organization “The Smile of the Child”, a member of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, that is based in Washington. The program is a voluntary partnership of police authorities, media and other entities (private and state, telecommunication companies, etc.) with the aim of prompt activation and display of emergency bulletins/messages in the event of the abduction of a minor, when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the victim is in imminent danger. In April 2003, Amber Alert was established as a National Program for dealing with such incidents in the U.S.A.