From The Tribune staff reports
MONTGOMERY — Alabama’s Missing Senior Alert has been expanded to include those 18 or older who suffer from a mental or physical disability. The Missing and Endangered Person Alert will go into effect on June 1.
The Missing and Endangered Person Alert is now one of four alerts the state may issue for missing people. The other three are an AMBER Alert, which is issued for children ages 17 and younger who are abducted and believed to be in danger, an Emergency Missing Child Alert, which is issued for children ages 17 and younger who are missing and believed to be in danger, and a Blue Alert, which is issued for peace officers who are missing, injured or killed and the at-large suspect is believed to be a threat to the public.
Governor Kay Ivey signed into law the expansion in order to include those who are at risk of bodily harm or death. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s (ALEA’s) Secretary Hal Taylor said the Alabama Fusion Center has faced challenges with issuing alerts for those who are too old to meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert or an Emergency Missing Child Alert and too young for qualify for a Missing Senior Alert.
“We appreciate Governor Ivey and the Legislature’s support in working with us to ensure some of the state’s most vulnerable individuals who are reported missing are found as quickly as possible,” Taylor said.
Alerts are issued by the Fusion Center, a unit of ALEA’s State Bureau of Investigation, after local law enforcement makes a request for an alert.
