On AMBER Alert Anniversary, Bellone Offers Tips to Keep Children Safer

On the anniversary of AMBER Alert Awareness Day, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone is encouraging parents to take advantage of tools designed to keep their children safer.

“Suffolk County can help parents protect their children from those who would harm them or in any kind of emergency,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said. “Utilizing these steps can make all the difference between a safe or tragic outcome.”

Tuesday, January 13 marks the 19th anniversary of AMBER Alert Awareness Day, which honors the day nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted while riding her bicycle in front of her family’s home in Arlington, Texas, and found murdered two days later.

In recognition of this day, County Executive Bellone is encouraging parents to:

· Sign up for a Smart911 profile. Smart911 is a service that allows residents to create a free safety profile for their household that includes any information they want 9-1-1 and first responders to have in the event of an emergency. Then, when anyone in that household dials 9-1-1 from a phone associated with their Safety Profile, their profile is immediately displayed to the 9-1-1 call taker, providing additional information that can be used to facilitate the proper response to the proper location. At a time when seconds count, Smart911 provides details that could impact response the second an emergency call is placed, which could be the difference between life and death.

· Determine a password with your children. If you ever need to send someone to pick them up or when an emergency happens, they can ask that person for the password to ensure it is safe to go with them.

· Be aware of how much information about your child is available. Do not add their names to backpacks or post information about them, including name, address or school on social media websites which can be viewed publicly.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the first three hours are the most critical when trying to locate a missing child. When a child is reported missing it can take an hour or more just to distribute a current photo to law enforcement officers in the field.

Smart911 is available to all Suffolk residents, who can sign up for the free service here: https://www.smart911.com/smart911/login.action

Introduced more than four years ago by Rave Mobile Safety, Smart911 is active in 38 states and more than 1,000 communities.