Gratitude for Alert Motorists and a Woman from Texas

The abduction and subsequent recovery of an 11-year old Springfield girl last week conjures several emotions, including rage, elation and gratitude. It also offers an important reflection point about thinking big and working together as a community.

When initially hearing about this story as the Amber Alert was issued, many felt a deep rage. Rage that someone would bring physical or emotional harm to this or any person, let alone a defenseless child. As a parent, aunt, uncle, or just about any caring human being, this is a raw and natural feeling. And yet when we learned that she had been rescued and was back home with her family, it was hard not to be elated.

But the feeling we should all own is gratitude. Gratitude that neighbors, motorists and law enforcement acted swiftly and effectively to rescue her from what was surely the beginning of an all-too-real nightmare. Complete strangers called 911 to provide information, and others pursued the vehicle after recognizing it on the road. One neighbor even provided police with home surveillance video from the day before in which the suspected car was following, or casing, the little girl walking home from school.

It is worth focusing on this last emotion of gratitude because it runs deeper than to even those who went out of their way to potentially save this girl’s life. It is clear that the Amber Alert system was instrumental in allowing the public to open its collective eyes and inform authorities about the location of the kidnapper’s vehicle on the Mass Pike.

It is also worth recalling the horrific event that set the stage for the alert system that has saved more than 800 lives. In 1996, a 9-year old Texas girl was forcefully removed from her bicycle and thrown into a truck. Amber Hagerman’s body was found a few days later, less than four miles from where she was abducted—her murderer has never been caught. A mother from a neighboring town, Diana Simone, did not let Amber’s story end there. Rather, she introduced the idea of having law enforcement issue missing children alerts, modeled on weather alerts, thereby helping to establish what we now know as the Amber Alert system. Her innovation and dedication to helping others played a critical role in the safe return of the young girl from Springfield.

Provided that the justice system properly addresses this most recent perpetrator, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the Amber Alert system worked for this girl, and that a predator is off the streets.

As we wade through the noise of our daily lives, it can be easy to ignore the firehose of information coming at us. But when you see the next Amber Alert, whether by text, television or radio, consider following the lead of those heroes in Western Massachusetts and pay attention. Close attention. Lives are literally at stake.