Police and Facebook launch new missing persons system

  • 09/11/2017

New Zealand Police and Facebook are launching a new missing persons system, to quickly notify the public when a child or young person is missing and in danger.

The AMBER Alerts system was launched at Police National Headquarters in Wellington on Thursday.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said "There have only been a very small number of abductions involving children in New Zealand's history, but other situations, such as where a young child goes missing from home and is at serious risk of harm, occur more regularly."

New Zealand is the 14th country in the world to join Facebook's AMBER Alert system.

Mr Bush said the new system will allow Police to quickly contact the public, and it is worth having even if it saves just one child.

Police will send out an AMBER Alert if it is believed a child or young person who is missing is "at serious risk of harm and public assistance could help to locate them".

The alert will notify Facebook users in the targeted search area and will include the child's name, age and a photograph. The notification will appear at the top of their news feed but won't send directly to their phone, and they can then choose to share the alert with their friends.

There are 2.9 million New Zealanders active on Facebook.

Child abductions are extremely rare in In New Zealand, with only eight children remaining missing out of all missing children reported since 1932.

AMBER Alerts originated in the United States in 1996, named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was abducted and murdered in Texas. Her killer has never been identified.

The alerts are used across the United States and in 22 other countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Malaysia and Korea.

Newshub.