Annual Report - AMBER Alert Europe

Annual Report
2014
amberalert.eu
The European Child Rescue Alert
AMBER Alert Europe
Rondpoint Robert Schuman 9
1040 Brussels
Belgium
Phone: +32 2 808 2159
Fax: +32 2 808 216
Email: info@amberalert.eu
Website: www.amberalert.eu
AMBER Alert Europe is registered in the EU
Transparency register: 488692317424-44
and is recognized by the Dutch government
as foundation with charitable status (“ANBI”)
RSIN: 852414183
Table of contents
1. AMBER Alert Europe
5
1.1 About Us
6
1.2 Membership and Structure
6
1.3 Ultimate Goal
7
1.4Background
7
1.5 Members AMBER Alert Europe
9
1.5.1 New Members
9
1.5.2 All Members
4 Facilitating and advising countries, members and partners
27
4.1 AMBER Alert Europe Police Expert
Group
28
4.2 Improve cross border police
cooperation
29
4.2.1 Sharing information
29
4.2.2 Pilot projects in Euregions
29
10
4.3 Training & technological innovation
30
1.5.3 Support 100+ Members
of the European Parliament
13
30
1.6 AMBER Alert Europe Board
14
1.7 Highlights 2014
15
4.3.1 Sharing best practices
4.3.2 Providing police expert training
regarding child alerting and
endangered missing children
30
4.3.3 Managing the development of
technology modules
30
31
2. Information Sharing
17
4.3.4 Researching the topic of
endangered missing children
2.1 Definitions
18
4.4 AMBER Alert systems in other countries 31
2.2 AMBER Alerts in 2014
19
4.4.1 Slovakia
31
2.3 Endangered missing children in 2014
19
4.4.2 Poland
32
4.4.3 Other countries
32
3 Expert Conferences and Events
21
3.1 Police Expert meeting in Hamburg – 22
February 2014
5. Media list and how it looks
Annex 1: Notarial Statement
3.2 European Parliament – September 2014 23
3.3 Expert Conference at the European
Parliament in Brussels – October 2014
23
3.4 Presenting AMBER Alert Europe at
other conferences and events
26
Annex 2: Financial Report 2014
33
01
AMBER Alert
Europe
Dedicated to the protection of endangered
missing children, AMBER Alert Europe provides
for training and cross-border coordination to law
enforcement. AMBER Alert Europe connects citizens
with law enforcement when the police believe
the public can help find the child.
1.1
1.2
About Us
Membership and
Structure
Dedicated to the protection of endangered
missing children, AMBER Alert Europe provides
for training and cross-border coordination to
law enforcement. AMBER Alert Europe connects
citizens with law enforcement when the police
believe the public can help find the child. AMBER
Alert Europe provides support in an advisory
and knowledge-sharing role to its members
and partners, who, together with the network of
connected citizens, are on the lookout when a
child goes missing across Europe.
AMBER Alert Europe is an international
not for profit-organization.
It is the biggest European citizen initiative with
3 million participants across the European Union.
AMBER Alert Europe is a
crowdsourced organization.
It receives donations in the form of government
grants, monies as well as in the form of services
(IT, communication) from companies and
individuals that, in the context of their Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) and/or their personal
engagement, are eager to contribute to the
protection of endangered missing children.
Key sponsors include: Netpresenter, Sentia, QNH,
Axon, Microsoft, Sanoma, Widgets, Google and
Bureau Brussels. These sponsors provide for: office
space, manpower, software and other operational
facilities.
6
AMBER Alert EU is backed by police missing
children experts, NGOs, law enforcement and
145+ Members of the European Parliament. It has
18 members in 13 countries, 4 of which are law
enforcement organizatons.
Members include police organizations, ministries
and NGOs (with police mandate on the topic)
from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland,
Czech Republic, Romania, Slovak Republic and
Greece. Its police expert group exists of over 20
people from 8 EU countries and is coordinated
by Charlie Hedges, renowned UK specialist in the
field of missing children.
AMBER Alert Europe is working closely with
organizations that issue or re-broadcast the
Canadian and US AMBER Alert as well as with
organizations active in this field in Russia and
Belarus.
AMBER Alert Europe’s Board and Advisory Board
are composed of a selection of experts from law
enforcement, academia, civil service as well as
civil society. (Advisory) Board membership is an
honorary position; (Advisory) Board members
do not receive a salary. Its operational team is
composed of people that are serviced by its
sponsors, as well as volunteers.
1.3
1.4
Ultimate Goal
Background
AMBER Alert Europe’s ultimate goal is to improve
the protection of endangered missing children in
Europe. This is achieved by providing training and
cross border coordination to law enforcement
and connecting citizens with law enforcement to
aid in the search for missing children.
When a child is abducted in one EU member state,
we need to make sure everyone is on the lookout
– citizens, press, police and border guards. In
the country the child went missing in, but also
on the other side of the border. Instantly. That is
what AMBER Alert Europe is trying to achieve.
One of the initial goals of AMBER Alert Europe is
to share knowledge and best practices on child
alerting systems with all parties involved. AMBER
Alert Europe does this by sharing information
on child alerts and urgent missing children,
organizing expert conferences, facilitating and
advising countries and partners and presenting
the initiative at several conferences and events.
AMBER Alert Europe works with police
organizations and NGO’s active in the field of
endangered missing children in order to establish
AMBER Alerts in all EU member states.
Interconnection of these systems is key in order
to allow easy cross-border alerting when a child
goes missing near a national or language border.
The goals of AMBER Alert Europe:
1. Save the lives of missing and abducted children
by engaging and informing the public when a
child goes missing.
2. Create, link and strengthen existing child alert
initiatives (also called AMBER Alerts).
3. Allow easy cross-border alerting when a child
goes missing near a (national or language) border.
The biggest
European
citizen sourcing
community
Everyone should profit from open borders.
Just not child abductors
Madeleine McCann (UK, missing in Portugal),
Mirco Schlitter (Germany) and Livia and Alessia
Schepp (Switzerland) – missing children cases
that clearly demonstrate the need for better
police cooperation and an AMBER alert system in
every EU member state – providing police with
the means to instantly alert all when they feel the
life or health of a missing child is at serious risk, for
example when it is abducted. Because no matter
how well the police search is organized inside an
EU member state - the border is always near, and
so very easy to cross.
Once an abducted child crosses the border,
the search often comes to a halt, sometimes
completely. For example, in the case of a young
German boy, who was abducted just kilometers
away from the border, the National Missing
Persons Bureau of the Dutch police were never
even informed.
7
AMBER Alert systems in Europe
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/rights-child/alert-mechanism/index_en.htm
Child alert used at least once
Countries without a child alert system
Other countries which have a child alert
system according to the EU
Strong European support
AMBER Alert Europe currently is the biggest
citizen sourcing community in the EU with 3
million people registered. Members include
police organizations, ministries and NGOs
(with police mandate on the topic) from the
UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Czech
Republic, Romania, Slovak Republic and Greece.
Working closely with organizations that issue or
re-broadcast the Canadian and US AMBER Alert
and with the organizations active in this field in
Russia and Belarus1.
28 EU countries. Only 7
active AMBER Alert systems
Despite the 2008 guidelines and several grants
from the European Commission, in 2014, only 12
EU member states have a child alerting system2,
only 7 of these are active (police operated child
alerting systems that have been used at least
once).
1 For a complete overview of all AMBER Alert Europe Members, please see: www.amberalert.eu/members.aspx
2 Child Alert Mechanism, European Commission DG Justice, http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/rights-child/alert-mechanism/index_en.htm
8
Citizen sourcing & privacy
AMBER Alert Europe uses citizen sourcing to
provide relevant authorities (this can be police
or ministry) in the EU member states with
technology that can be used to create or improve
the child alerting, working with organizations
such as Google, Facebook, Groupcall, Sentia,
MessageBird and Missing Children Society of
Canada who see it as a Social Responsibility (CSR)
they are eager to contribute too.
In improving the reach and effect of the AMBER
Alert, a key concern is privacy. Once a child
has been found, personal information on the
child such as name and photo should not
linger on the internet. That is why, in working
with IT innovators, focus is on development of
technology that allows for the complete removal
of all information on the missing child once it has
been found (also called privacy-neutral tools).
Hence, problems that may have occurred in the
past with the use of for example social media are
avoided. Most of the new technology is piloted in
the Dutch AMBER Alert system. The foundation is
currently working with the Slovak police to create
a national AMBER Alert provided by AMBER Alert
Europe launched on March 31st 2015. The Polish
police are working with us to further improve the
Polish Child Alert3.
In addition, AMBER Alert Europe is highly
committed to ensuring that missing children
information is only published after a privacy
check has been made by the relevant police or
ministry experts. To ensure no time is lost, a solid
working structure should be put in place. After all,
especially in the ‘life or death’ cases, every minute
counts.
Improving the democratic
legitimacy of the EU
The goals of the initiative are publicly supported
by 100+ Members of the European Parliament
from all EU member states and of all different
political groups. Even the most Euro-sceptic ones,
due to the non-controversial topic. This provides
the ultimate proof of the democratic legitimacy
of the EU, and a great case to restore European
citizens’ confidence and tackle rising discontent
with the European Union and its institutions
- one of the key tasks of the new European
Commission as defined by Mr Juncker in his
Opening Statement4.
1.5
Members AMBER Alert
Europe
AMBER Alert Europe believes European and
transnational cooperation is needed to cope with
the growing cross border nature of the problem of
missing children. We encourage all organizations
active in the field of child alerting to join us.
1.5.1New Members
In 2014 we added the following organizations to
our Member list:
ITAKA – Centre for Missing People, Poland
January 17, 2014
Ponimanie, Belarus
January 17, 2014
3 ‘Poland, Slovak Republic and the Netherlands to use the same AMBER Alert system’, 15 October 2014, http://www.amberalert.eu/News.aspx?newsid=60
4 ‘A New Start for Europe: My Agenda for Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change’, Jean-Claude Juncker, 15 July 2014, http://ec.europa.eu/about/junckercommission/docs/pg_en.pdf
9
ROCIT, Russia
January 17, 2014
Save the Children Romania
October 7, 2014
Omnibus, Greece
July 17, 2014
Groupcall Limited
November 11, 2014
Unicef Slovakia
September 9, 2014
APCD, Portugal
November 11, 2014
Missing Persons Center KGP, National Police,
Poland
September 9, 2014
Missing Children Society of Canada
November 28, 2014
1.5.2All Members
Currently, the following organizations are part of the AMBER Alert Europe platform:
10
Child Exploitation and Online
Protection Centre (CEOP), part
of UK policing (UK)
Missing People, UK missing
people charity, working with
CEOP on the UK Child Rescue
Alert (UK)
Dutch Missing Persons
Bureau, part of the Dutch
National Police (Netherlands)
AMBER Alert Netherlands,
working with the Dutch
police on the Dutch AMBER
Alert (Netherlands)
Missing Persons Centre KGP,
National Police, managing the
Polish Child Alert (Poland)
ITAKA, Centre for Missing
People, working with the
Polish police regarding the
Child Alert (Poland)
National Coordination
Mechanism of the Search for
Missing Children (NKMPPD),
part of the Ministry of the
Interior (Czech Republic)
Child Helpline at Slovak
Committee for UNICEF,
working with the Slovak
Police to create a Slovak Child
Alert (Slovak Republic)
Initiative Vermisste Kinder,
working closely with the
German police (Germany)
Salvati Copiii (Save the
Children Romania), Romanian
children’s rights NGO
(Romania)
Associação Portuguesa de
Crianças Desaparecidas
(APCD), Portuguese missing
children association (Portugal)
Omnibus, the Hellenic Centre
for Research & Action for
Missing Persons, scientific
NGO (Greece)
International Centre for
Missing & Exploited Children
(ICMEC), working closely with
the US AMBER Alert program
(US)
Ponimanie, Belarus NGO
focused on child protection
(Belarus)
ROCIT, providing technologies
to bring Russian missing
children home (Russia)
RijnmondVeilig, the crisis
alert platform of the
Dutch regional authority
of Rotterdam-Rijnmond
(Netherlands)
Groupcall have been selected
to provide the automatic
distribution system for the
Child Rescue Alert in the UK
Missing Children Society of
Canada, the only national notfor-profit organization that
actively searches for missing
and abducted children in
Canada
11
@AmberAlertEU @Amber_Alert @AmberAlert great
initiative to raise awareness & help save lives of missing
children
Marian Harkin - Member of the European Parliament (ALDE)
Showing my support for @amberalertEU, who are working
to set up a pan-European alert system for missing children
Catherine Bearder – Member of the European Parliament (ALDE/
Liberal Democrates, United Kingdom)
Help save Europe's endangered missing children with @
AmberAlertEU #SaveAbductedChildren
Emma McClarkin – Member of European Parliament (ECR/
Conservative Party, United Kingdom)
Pleasure to sign the petition for @AmberAlertEU campaign
to help save Europe's Endangered Missing Children.
Ian Duncan – Member of European Parliament (ECR/ Conservative
Party. United Kingdom)
I support the call for a pan-European network of child alert
systems and signed @AmberAlertEU petition @EuroLabour
Theresa Griffin – Member of European Parliament (S&D/ Labour Party,
United Kingdom)
12
1.5.3Support 100+ Members of the European Parliament
Over 100 Members of the European Parliament
publicly support the goals of AMBER Alert
Europe - from all EU member states and from
all different political groups. Even the most
Euro-sceptic groups are in favor due to the noncontroversial topic. This is also the ultimate proof
of the democratic legitimacy of the EU. A great
case to restore European citizens’ confidence and
tackle rising discontent with the European Union
and its institutions - one of the key tasks of the
new European Commission as defined by Mr.
Juncker in his Opening Statement5. Please visit
www.amberalert.eu/Members.aspx for a full
overview of MEPs that support AMBER Alert
Europe.
Petition
The 100+ Members of the European Parliament
have signed a petition with which they publicly
back AMBER Alert Europe’s call for improving the
protection of endangered missing children.
Child Alerting Memorandum to the EU
Since the new European Commission and
Parliament have started working in 2014, AMBER
Alert Europe brought their Child Alerting
Memorandum to the EU under their attention.
This memorandum contains recommendations
on an effective pan-European approach of the
cross border problem of endangered missing
children and child abductions. The memorandum
will continuously be updated.
Support Dutch Liberal Democrats
Europe needs a European AMBER Alert to save
more missing children. This was stated by Sophie
in 't Veld, Member of the European Parliament,
during a European election debate at Maastricht,
the Netherlands. In 't Veld is a Dutch Candidate
Member of the European Parliament for the
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
for Europe (ALDE) for the Dutch Democrats 66.
5 ‘A New Start for Europe: My Agenda for Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change’, Jean-Claude Juncker, 15 July 2014, http://ec.europa.eu/about/junckercommission/docs/pg_en.pdf
13
1.6
AMBER Alert Europe Board
AMBER Alert Europe consults its Board Members on regularly basis. They are actively involved in realizing the
goals and mission of the organization. In 2014 the Board of AMBER Alert Europe was composed of:
Board of Directors
Frank Hoen (The Netherlands)
AMBER Alert Europe & AMBER Alert
Netherlands
Henk Jansen (The Netherlands)
Independent Security and
Investigations Professional
Advisory Board
Caroline Humer (USA)
International Centre for Missing &
Exploited Children
Carole Bird (Canada)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Rinus van Schendelen (The
Netherlands)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Jo Youle (UK)
Missing People
Maurice Lenferink
Safety Region Rotterdam-Rijnmond
Charlie Hedges (UK)
Manager Missing and Abducted
Children Department, CEOP
Coming up
In 2015, new Members of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board will be presented. Also, Mr. Charlie
Hedges will leave the AMBER Alert Europe Advisory Board in 2015, because he will start at AMBER Alert
Europe as European Alert Coordinator.
14
2014
Highlights AMBER Alert Europe
6400+ likes on Facebook
1300+ followers on Twitter
25 AMBER Alerts
issued in Europe
17 Police Experts from 8 different
countries immediately joined the
Police Expert Group
MEP Kay Swinburne hosted
AMBER Alert Europe's information
booth in the European Parliament
20 delegates from Germany, Czech Republic and
the Netherlands, attended the Police Expert Event
in Hamburg
Together with MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld,
AMBER Alert Europe hosted the ‘Child
Alerting in the EU’ conference in the
European Parliament
Representatives from over
20 countries attended the
conference ‘Child Alerting
in the EU’ in Brussels
More than 3
million registered
members in the EU
100+ MEPs publicly
back AMBER Alert
Europe
10 new Member
Organizations
24 presentations given
at the ‘Child Alerting in
the EU’ conference
1739 endangered missing
children displayed on our
website
02
Information
Sharing
AMBER Alert Europe shares information on child
alerts and urgent missing children with their partner
organizations. To inform European citizens about
missing children in their country an always up-todate overview of all endangered missing children in
the EU is published on www.amberalert.eu.
2.1
Definitions
The AMBER Alert Europe website displays a
Google map with all endangered missing children
and active AMBER Alerts in Europe.
Criteria for an AMBER Alert
The decision to issue an AMBER Alert lies with
the police of an EU member state. Most member
states use the following criteria*:
- The victim is a minor (i.e. under 18 years of age);
- It is a proven abduction or there are clear
elements indicating that it could be a case of
abduction, and/or the health or the life of the
victim is at high risk;
- AMBER Alert Europe only displays endangered
missing children. The criteria for endangered
missing children are nationally assessed by
mandated entities. If a mandated entity qualifies
a missing child as endangered, the child will be
displayed on AMBER Alert Europe;
- AMBER Alert Europe only displays missing
children under 18 that are missing for less than
one month. We do this because there is a very
high number of missing children in Europe;
- The link to the public information will be
deleted once the child has been found or when
the child is missing for longer than one month.
Information is available which, once
disseminated, will allow the victim to be located.
Publication of this information is not expected to
add to the risk facing the victim;
For a complete overview of the list of websites
that are monitored on a daily basis, please see:
http://www.amberalert.eu/HowItWorks.aspx.
- There are good reasons to believe that the
perpetrator has crossed the border with the child
and/ or the abduction occurred in a region very
close to a border (or even several borders) that
can be an escape route for the perpetrator6.
75% of abducted
children killed
are killed within
3 hours
The criteria used to assess whether a child will
be displayed on AMBER Alert Europe or not:
- AMBER Alert Europe only uses information
made available to us by official sources from
law enforcement or other police mandated
organizations;
* Source: Child Abduction Murder study, Washington State
Attorney General's Office, 2006
6 The common criteria for launching a child alert, part of the Best Practices developed by the European Commission. Point 4 refers strictly to the launch of a crossborder alert. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/funding/rights/call_10014/ramc_ag_annex_5_2008_en.pdf
18
2.2
AMBER Alerts in 2014
In 2014, AMBER Alert Europe shared 25 AMBER Alerts that were issued in several EU Member States.
Month
AMBER Alerts
Country
January
2
Czech Republic (1), United Kingdom (1)
February
5
Belgium (1), Czech Republic (3), Ireland (1)
March
4
Czech Republic (2), the Netherlands (1), United Kingdom (1)
April
3
Czech Republic (1), France (1), the Netherlands (1)
May
2
Czech Republic (2)
June
0
July
2
Czech Republic (1), the Netherlands (1)
August
1
Ireland (1)
September
2
Germany (1), Czech Republic (1)
October
1
Czech Republic (1)
November
0
December
3
TOTAL
25
Czech Republic (3)
Table 1: Number of AMBER Alerts per month that were issued in several EU Member States
2.3
Endangered missing children in 2014
In 2014, AMBER Alert Europe shared 1739 cases of endangered missing children cases from EU Member
States, including Switzerland.
Country
AMBER Alerts
2013
AMBER Alerts
2014
Endangered missing
children 2013
Endangered missing
children 2014
Austria
**
**
0
0
Belgium
0
1
15
26
Table 2: Number of AMBER Alerts and endangered missing children cases that were displayed on www.amberalert.eu in 2013
and 2014
19
Country
AMBER Alerts
2013
AMBER Alerts
2014
Endangered missing
children 2013
Endangered missing
children 2014
Bulgaria
**
**
29
7
Croatia
**
**
266
306
Cyprus
0
0
0
0
Czech Republic
30
15
***
***
Denmark
**
**
0
1
Estonia
**
**
0
0
Finland
**
**
0
0
France
0
1
35
29
Germany
0
1
101
71
Greece
3
0
7
7
Hungary
**
**
386
519
Ireland
2
2
20
37
Italy
0
0
3
8
Latvia
**
**
12
7
Lithuania
**
**
0
0
Luxembourg
**
**
0
3
Malta
**
**
0
0
The Netherlands
3*
3
289
135
Poland
**
0
208
505
Portugal
0
0
0
0
Romania
0
0
31
43
Slovenia
**
**
0
0
Slovakia
**
**
0
0
Spain
**
0
2
5
Sweden
**
**
14
20
Switzerland
0
0
4
10
United Kingdom
0
2
***
***
TOTAL
38
25
1422
1739
Table 2: Number of AMBER Alerts and endangered missing children cases that were displayed on www.amberalert.eu in 2013
and 2014
*These AMBER Alerts were actively issued across European borders.
**No system available according to the European Union (source: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/rights-child/
alert-mechanism/index_en.htm)
***AMBER Alert Europe only displays active AMBER Alerts, no endangered missing children.
20
03
Expert
Conferences
and Events
In 2014 AMBER Alert Europe organized several
expert conferences for police, government and NGO
actively involved in the field of missing and abducted
children. Also, the AMBER Alert Europe goals and
mission were presented at various other international
conferences.
3.1
Police Expert meeting
in Hamburg – February
2014
In February an expert meeting for police
specialists from the different German states and
bordering countries took place in Hamburg
(Germany). The expert meeting was organized
by AMBER Alert Europe in cooperation with the
German NGO Initiative Vermisste Kinder.
Police Experts brought together
During the expert meeting police experts from
different German states, the Netherlands and
Czech Republic discussed AMBER Alert criteria,
technology, procedures and recent close-tothe-border cases. The police delegates signed a
Police Cooperation agreement, in order to clarify
the steps that need to be taken in their own
country (Germany, the Netherlands or Czech
Republic) in case of en endangered missing
person and to exchange contact details. As a
token of appreciation for their participation at
Police experts from the Netherlands,
Germany and Czech Republic attending
the expert meeting in Hamburg
22
the Police Expert meeting, all attendees received
a certificate.
Launch online advertising project
The German NGO Initiative Vermisste Kinder
presented their new online advertising project,
which is developed bij Stroër Media AG. With this
move, Germany follows the example of Google
US, which in 2012 launched its add-on to the
US AMBER Alert plan called Google AMBER Alert
/ Child Alert. However, in the US, Google only
displays AMBER Alerts if you use Google Search to
search for related information (such as the word
'missing'), or if you use Google maps at a location
a child was reported missing. The German AMBER
Alert takes this one step further: anyone in a
specific area will see the photo and description of
the missing child.
3.2
3.3
European Parliament –
September 2014
Expert Conference
at the European
Parliament in Brussels
– October 2014
In September, the AMBER Alert Europe team
presented its goals and ambitions in the
European Parliament at an info booth at the
Main Hall in the European Parliament. The info
booth was organized together with Dr. Kay
Swinburne, Member of the European Parliament
(European Conservatives and Reformists Group/
Conservative Party).
One of the most Eurosceptic
people I know in my
constituency of Wales once
told me that if one good thing
comes from Europe, it is
AMBER Alert.
Kay Swinburne - Member of European Parliament
(ECR/ Conservative Party, United Kingdom)
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
were invited to visit the info booth to discuss the
situation of endangered missing children in the
EU. Over 100 MEPs signed the AMBER Alert Europe
petition to improve the protection of endangered
missing children. By signing the petition, they
publicly back AMBER Alert Europe in her call for
a pan-European network of AMBER Alert systems
(see section 1.5). Furthermore, the AMBER Alert
team drawn attention to the ‘Child Alerting in the
EU’ conference, which was organized by AMBER
Alert Europe.
On October 15, 2014 AMBER Alert Europe, together
with Member of the European Parliament Sophie
in ‘t Veld, organized the expert conference ‘Child
Alerting in the EU: saving the lives of endangered
missing children’ at the European Parliament in
Brussels. For more information, please see www.
amberalert.eu/event.
Police and ministry representatives of over 20
countries
The conference brought together police and
ministry representatives of over 20 countries
actively involved in the field of child alerting and
endangered missing children, as well as topic
owners at the European Parliament, European
Commission, international organizations, such as
Europol, Interpol and Frontex, and relevant NGO's.
Speakers at the conference
Keynote speakers at the conference included
Sophie in ‘t Veld, Member of the European
Parliament and vice-chair of ALDE; Wil van
Gemert, vice-president Europol; Claudio Kavrecic,
Head of Air Border Sector Frontex; Caroline
Humer, Program Director ICMEC; Frank Hoen,
Founder AMBER Alert Europe.
Expert speakers and moderators of the expert
sessions included Alain Barbier, Interpol Deputy
Special Representative to the European Union;
Caroline Humer, Program Director ICMEC; Alain
Remue, Commanding Officer Missing Persons
23
Unit, Belgian Federal Police; Mirosław Kaczmarek,
Deputy Inspector, Polish National Police; Petra
Binkova, Czech Ministry of Interior; Irma Schijf,
Team Leader Missing Persons Bureau, Dutch
National Police; Carlo Schippers, Behavioral
Expert at National Missing Persons Bureau,
Dutch National Police; Charlie Hedges, Manager
Missing and Abducted Children Department,
CEOP; Michael Dejozé, Project Manager EMROD;
Lars Bruhns, Chairman Initiative Vermisste Kinder;
Amanda Pick Executive Director, Missing Children
Society of Canada; Charles Tannock, Member of
the European Parliament; Goswijn Thijssen, Head
of Media Buying Solutions Benelux & Nordics,
Google; Joris Geertman, Business Director, KPN
Consulting; Frank Hoen, Founder AMBER Alert
Europe.
Police only work group
At the conference, there were several work
groups, exclusively for police experts. In these
workgroups police experts presented their
view on the improvement on the protection of
endangered missing children. Also, police experts
had the opportunity to discuss specific cases with
their colleagues.
Police Expert Honorary Award 2014
Alain Remue, Commanding officer Missing
Persons Unit of the Belgian Federal Police, has
been awarded the Police Expert Honorary Award
2014. The missing children expert received
the award during the ‘Child Alerting in the EU’
conference. This reward, offered by AMBER
Alert Europe, is a special honorary award that
recognizes outstanding police experts for their
significant contributions to finding endangered
missing children.
The award was handed over to Mr. Remue by his
UK counterpart Charlie Hedges, Manager Missing
and Abducted Children Department at CEOP,
part of the UK National Crime Agency.
‘Members Only’ conference dinner
On October 14 AMBER Alert Europe hosted a
conference dinner for all members of AMBER
Alert Europe. New members were introduced
at this dinner. Also AMBER Alert Europe’s goals
and vision for the upcoming year have been
presented at this dinner.
Conference on Child Alerting
in the EU, European Parliament
Brussel, October 15 2014
24
25
3.4
Presenting AMBER
Alert Europe at other
conferences and
events
In 2014, the AMBER Alert Europe approach was
presented during several conferences and events
in Europe, for example:
Meeting Dutch Missing Persons Specialists –
May 2014
AMBER Alert attended the meeting of the Dutch
Missing Persons and presented its mission to the
police experts in the field of missing persons.
Launch enhanced Child Rescue Alert UK –
May 2014
On May 20, the UK launched its enhanced Child
Rescue Alert. AMBER Alert Europe attended the
press launch of the improved child abduction
system.
Mobile Convention – May 2014
AMBER Alert Europe presented the AMBER Alert
Europe platform at the Mobile Convention in
Amsterdam. This is the leading event in Northern
Europe that offers broad insights into the future,
mobile landscape and showcases the business
possibilities of new technologies and applications.
Inno Event – May 2014
Founder and President of AMBER Alert Europe,
Frank Hoen, presented the AMBER Alert platform
and addressed the future of the AMBER Alert
initiative at the Inno Event in Amsterdam. The
Inno Event was organized by The Future Group.
Representatives from several technological
26
companies share their thoughts on current and
future developments.
Google Serve Day – June 2014
On June 27 the AMBER Alert Europe team
attended the Google Serve Day. AMBER Alert’s
mission and goals were presented at the Google
team. Following this detailed presentation, the
Google team worked with the AMBER Alert team
to improve the search for endangered missing
children.
National Missing Persons Day – June 2014
AMBER Alert presented its goals and vision at the
National Missing Persons Day organized by the
Dutch National Police. Attendees were mainly
Dutch police experts in the area of missing
persons.
3.4.7 Social Media Week – September 2014
AMBER Alert Europe presented its goals and
vision at the Social Media Week in Rotterdam in
September 2014.
04
Facilitating and
advising
countries, members
and partners
AMBER Alert assists relevant authorities in EU
member states to create and/ or further improve
a national AMBER Alert system in line with the
2008 best practices provided by the European
Commission.
4.1
AMBER Alert Europe
Police Expert Group
AMBER Alert Europe calls for the appointment of
a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for endangered
missing children on a national level. This person/
department is to be appointed as SPOC by the
relevant authorities in each EU member state,
and is the first point of contact for other EU
member states when a child goes missing and
might have crossed the border. This is also the
first point of contact for sharing of police expert
best practices and relevant documents on the
topic of endangered missing children.
police expert network in October 2014. This
group allows missing children police experts to
quickly and informally contact their colleagues in
other EU member states.
Coming up
The Police Expert Group will be leaded by Mr.
Charlie Hedges from January 2015. Mr. Hedges
is a renowned police expert from the UK. He will
join the AMBER Alert Europe team as European
Alert Coordinator.
As a first step towards this SPOC structure, AMBER
Alert Europe has launched an informal European
When a child is missing and in danger, it is
essential that action is taken quickly to recover
them. Knowing who to speak to in another
country simplifies and speeds up actions to
locate and recover the child.
Charlie Hedges - Manager Missing and Abducted Children Department, CEOP,
United Kingdom)
28
4.2
Improve cross border
police cooperation
AMBER Alert Europe helps improve cross
border police cooperation to ensure an AMBER
Alert crosses the border just as easily as a child
abductor:
4.2.1 Sharing information
media and citizens in the area (maximum of 50 km
regarding official EU standards) are immediately
informed and on the lookout. As an exemplary
project, this pilot serves as a best practices
for finding missing children across borders by
engaging citizens.
To support missing person police experts and
departments across the EU, information on active
AMBER Alerts and other endangered missing
children is made centrally available on the AMBER
Alert website (information that has been made
public by police only).
AMBER Alert Europe calls for protocols to ensure
that when a child is at risk in a border area or the
police suspect that the child may have crossed
the border, the police in the other country are
informed immediately in order that the media
and the public can be informed.
4.2.2 Pilot projects in Euregions
Coming up
In 2015, AMBER Alert Europe will continue
working on cross border police cooperation by
using the Meuse-Rhine Euregion project as an
exemplary pilot project as a best practice for
finding missing persons.
In September 2014, AMBER Alert Europe initiated
a Euregional pilot project for missing persons in
the Meuse-Rhine Euregion. This pilot is intended
to develop border protocols to ensure that when
someone goes missing in a Euregion, police,
Joining forces with AMBER Alert Europe is the
next step in further improving the Polish Child
Alert system and helping to extend the reach of
a Polish Child Alert
Marek Dzialoszynski, Chief Commander of Police in Poland
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4.3
Training & technological
innovation
AMBER Alert Europe is the European expert center
in the field of endangered missing children and
child alerting.
4.3.1 Sharing best practices
AMBER Alert Europe Examples shares best
practices, for example through an online portal:
the AMBER Alert Europe Police Expert Group
(see section 2.3.1); and through conferences: the
Police Expert meeting in Hamburg (see section
2.2.1) and the ‘Child Alerting in the EU’ conference
(see section 2.2.3).
Coming up
In 2015, AMBER Alert Europe will continue
sharing best practices. In 2015 AMBER Alert will
for example coordinate the Police Expert Group
(see section 2.3.1).
4.3.2 Providing police expert
training regarding child alerting
and endangered missing
children
AMBER Alert Europe provides and facilitates
expert training in the area of child alerting and
endangered missing children. Examples of these
are the police expert meeting in Hamburg (see
section 2.2.1) and police exclusive work groups
at the ‘Child Alerting in the EU’ conference (see
section 2.2.3).
Coming up
In 2015, AMBER Alert Europe will continue
providing and facilitating expert training in the
field of endangered missing children. This will
be coordinated by Mr. Hedges, who will join the
AMBER Alert team in January 2015.
4.3.3 Managing the
development of technology
modules
AMBER Alert Europe manages the development
of technology modules through citizen sourcing
and facilitates the sharing of these and other
relevant technological innovations, as well as
standardized communication protocols. For
example, AMBER Alert Europe continuously
innovates the AMBER Alert platform by adding
new tools, such as online advertising and the
Google Child Alert. For a complete overview of
all aspects of the AMBER Alert Europe platform,
see section 4.
Coming up
In 2015 AMBER Alert Europe will be working with
Facebook and Google to explore additional ways
to issue AMBER Alerts7 and increase the reach of
these child abduction alerts even further.
For example, a Google Child Alert system will be
active in the EU Member States. This expected
to be launched in 2015. The Google child alert
7 In some countries alternate names are used, such as Child Rescue Alert (UK), Child Alert (Belgium), Alerte Enlevement (France), etc.
30
4.4
AMBER Alert systems in
other countries
system is based on Google Public Alerts – which
are designed to show Google users emergency
notifications provided by authoritative sources.
AMBER Alerts are automatically displayed if
citizens use Google Search or Maps. With the
Google Child Alert (also called Google AMBER
Alert in some countries), citizens see an AMBER
Alert if they search for related information in a
particular location where a child has recently
been abducted and an alert was issued. This
AMBER Alert component is already active in the
US. Together with other organizations, AMBER
Alert Europe contributes to the developments in
Europe.
4.3.4 Researching the topic of
endangered missing children
AMBER Alert Europe researches and contributes
to research of other organizations on the topic
of endangered missing children. AMBER Alert
makes this centrally available for all EU member
states. For example, at the ‘Child Alerting in
the EU’ conference (see section 2.2.3), recent
findings were shared with police and ministry
representatives of over 20 countries.
Coming up
In 2015, AMBER Alert Europe will continuously
contribute to research on child alerting and
endangered missing children.
AMBER Alert Europe helps creating an active
AMBER Alert system in all EU member states
assisting relevant authorities in EU member
states to create and/ or further improve a national
AMBER Alert system in line with the 2008 best
practices provided by the European Commission8.
In October 2014, AMBER Alert Europe announced
that Slovakia and Poland are both going to roll
out the same AMBER Alert system as is used in
the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, this AMBER
Alert system is used by the police to instantly alert
12 million people when a child goes missing and
is feared to be in immediate danger. The system
uses any available media - including TV, radio,
highway signs, text messages, email, website
banners, advertising screens, PC screensavers,
smartphone apps and social media - and is used
about 120 times a year for both AMBER Alerts and
other endangered missing children cases. Both
Slovakia and Poland are working together with
AMBER Alert Europe to create/ further improve
their national AMBER Alert system.
4.4.1 Slovakia
In the Slovak Republic, the Slovak Police Force
and UNICEF Slovakia (Linka detskej istoty), have
teamed up with AMBER Alert Europe to work
towards rolling out a similar AMBER Alert system
in their country on March 31st 2015.
8 Written declaration on emergency cooperation in recovering missing children (PE405.176v01-00), adopted by the European Parliament, 21 April 2008, calling
on Member States to introduce a child alert system and to reach cooperation agreements, allowing cross-border alerts to be triggered, and also calling for the
development of a common organization to provide assistance and training to national bodies http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//
NONSGML+WDECL+P6-DCL-2008-0036+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN
31
AMBER Alert Europe advised the Slovak Police
Force and UNICEF on the implementation and
facilitated the contacts between the Slovak and
the Dutch police. Also, AMBER Alert Europe will
provide the AMBER Alert technology to Slovakia,
free of charge.
with the Polish Police, AMBER Alert Europe will
help improving the current Polish Child Alert
system with her knowledge about the AMBER
Alert technology, free of charge.
Coming up
AMBER Alert Europe, the Slovak Police Force and
the NGO Child Helpline are planning to launch the
Slovakian AMBER Alert system on March 31st 2015.
The system will be the first cross-border AMBER
Alert system that insures that not only Slovak,
but also endangered missing children and child
alerts in neighboring countries, are automatically
displayed on the AMBER Alert Slovakia website.
AMBER Alert Europe also advised the Czech
ministry of the interior and the United Kingdom
during the creation of their improved child alert
system.
4.4.2 Poland
AMBER Alert Europe advised the Polish National
Police on the implementation of the Polish
national Child Alert system. AMBER Alert Europe
also facilitated the contacts between the Polish
and the Dutch police.
In 2014 the Polish National Police signed an
agreement with AMBER Alert Europe to work
together in further improving the Polish Child
Alert system which was launched in November
2013. Together with AMBER Alert Europe the
Polish police plans to extend the current platform
with new technological options as already being
used in for example the Netherlands, to further
broaden the reach of an AMBER Alert. The Polish
Child Alert is managed by the Center for Missing
Persons KGP of the Polish Police.
Coming up
AMBER Alert Europe will continue to advise the
Polish police on the improvement of the Polish
Child Alert and facilitate the contacts between
the Polish and the Dutch police. In cooperation
32
4.4.3 Other countries
Thanks to the AMBER Alert Europe’s close
cooperation with her members (see section
1.6) when a child goes missing in Europe, it can
quickly be brought to the attention in the other
countries as well, if the police feels the child
might have traveled abroad.
Coming up
The next year, AMBER Alert Europe will actively
help creating an active AMBER Alert system in all
EU member states assisting relevant authorities
in EU member states to create and/ or further
improve their national AMBER Alert system.
05
Media list and
how it looks
An AMBER Alert reaches millions of people
within minutes. When an AMBER Alert is issued
by the police, the picture of the AMBER Alert
child is instantly visible everywhere via dozens
of different media.
TV and radio
There are agreements in place with major TV and radio broadcasters,
for example the Dutch NOS, ANP, SBS and RTL. As soon as an AMBER
Alert is issued, it goes on air (during TV programs for example as a
tickertape or as an extra news flash in the first commercial break). The
news flash is automatically and digitally prepared for the TV and radio
stations.
Highway signs
If information on the car of the abductor is available (such as license
plate numbers), an AMBER Alert is also automatically published on
digital highway signs.
Google Child Alert
AMBER Alerts are automatically displayed if citizens use Google Search
or Maps. With the Google Child Alert (also called Google AMBER Alert
in some countries), citizens see an AMBER Alert if they search for
related information in a particular location where a child has recently
been abducted and an alert was issued. This AMBER Alert component
is already active in the US. There are also developments in Europe.
Online banners and advertisements
People surfing the web, playing a game on their mobile phone or
using apps are informed immediately and proactively of a missing
child through online advertisements. Anyone in a specific area will see
the photo and description of the missing child.
Large TV screens (Digital Signage)
AMBER Alerts automatically appear on large TV screens in for
example supermarkets, cinemas, indoor children playgrounds, day
care centers, swimming pools and sports centers. For example,
download the Dutch AMBER Alert for large screens: http://www.
amberalertnederland.nl/HelpUs.aspx?lang=en#beeldkrant.
34
SMS with photo
When an AMBER Alert is issued, subscribers immediately receive an
SMS text message. With a link to the AMBER Alert mobile website,
people can see a ‘missing’ notice featuring a photo of the child.
For example to register for the Dutch SMS Alerts: http://www.
amberalertnederland.nl/HelpUs.aspx?lang=en#mobiele_telefoon.
PC Pop up
When an AMBER Alert is issued, a pop up message with the AMBER
Alert notice immediately appears on tens of thousands of PCs. This
pop up message is not stopped by pop up blockers. For example,
download the Dutch PC pop up: http://www.amberalertnederland.nl/
ReceiveAlert.aspx?id=1&lang=en.
Facebook
AMBER Alerts are also issued via various Facebook pages. The official
Facebook page of AMBER Alert Europe is https://www.facebook.com/
AMBERAlertEurope. The site gives users information regarding AMBER
Alerts in Europe and other current news.
Twitter
AMBER Alerts are also displayed via Twitter. AMBER Alert Europe uses
the following Twitter-account: https://twitter.com/amberalerteu. By
following this account, users receive information regarding AMBER
Alerts and other current news.
Apps
With an AMBER Alert App, users receive a push notification when an
AMBER Alert is issued. For example, the Dutch AMBER Alert App is
available for iOS and Android and the German AMBER Alert App also
(iOS and Android).
35
Website Pop ups and banners
On many major news sites, including the Dutch telegraaf.nl and
uitzendinggemist.nl and on thousands of other websites, a pop up
screen or banner with the picture of the missing or abducted child
automatically appears when an AMBER Alert is active and someone
visits this website. For example, please download the Dutch AMBER
Alert Website Alert or the AMBER Alert Banner.
PC Screensaver
Active AMBER Alerts are also displayed via a screensaver – intended
for schools, libraries and other organizations that have a lot of PCs in
screensaver mode part of the day. The screensaver also shows current
missing children posters. For example to download the Dutch AMBER
Alert screensaver: http://www.amberalertnederland.nl/ReceiveAlert.
aspx?id=1&lang=en.
E-mail with printable poster in attachment
When an AMBER Alert is issued, users immediately receive an email
Alert. This E-mail Alert often includes a picture of the missing child.
Please register for the AMBER Alert Europe E-mail Alert: http://www.
amberalert.eu/HelpUs.aspx#subscribe. In the Netherlands for example,
this email also has an attachment containing a printable AMBER Alert
notice which can be posted in shops, community centers and schools.
To register for the Dutch E-mail Alert, please click here: http://www.
amberalertnederland.nl/ReceiveAlert.aspx?id=1&lang=en.
AMBER Alert Poster
When the police issues an AMBER Alert, citizens can forward, display
of print out automatically generated posters with the picture of
the missing child. In case of a Dutch AMBER Alert, the poster can
be downloaded here: http://www.amberalertnederland.nl/HelpUs.
aspx?lang=en#poster.
RSS Newsfeed
With the AMBER Alert RSS newsfeed organizations develop their own
applications displaying AMBER Alerts, such as existing advertising TV
screens in large fast-food chains. The AMBER Alert Europe newsfeed:
http://feed.amberalert.eu/rssext.xml.
36
Mobile Website
AMBER Alerts are automatically displayed via a mobile website. When
there is an active AMBER Alert, this website automatically displays
a photo of the missing child. An AMBER Alert SMS Alert message
often contains a link to a mobile website. For example, visit the Dutch
mobile website: www.amberalert.nu.
Missing Children Map
On the AMBER Alert Europe website, there is a Google map with all
endangered missing children and active AMBER Alerts in Europe. On
the website of its members in the Netherlands and Germany, a similar
Google map of endangered missing children shows the missing
children in those countries.
Screens in Public Transport
When an AMBER Alert is issued, the photo of the missing child is
automatically displayed on TV screens in public transport (e.g. buses,
trains). For example, download the Dutch AMBER Alert for screens
in public transport: http://www.amberalertnederland.nl/HelpUs.
aspx?lang=en#beeldkrant.
Railway Stations / Airports
When an AMBER Alert is issued, the photo of the missing child
is directly shown on large screens in airports, railway and metro
stations in Europe. For example, to display Dutch AMBER Alerts
in airports, railway and metro stations, please visit: http://www.
amberalertnederland.nl/HelpUs.aspx?lang=en#beeldkrant.
Railway Personnel
When an AMBER Alert is issued, all employees of the Dutch National
Railways immediately receive a message with a photo of the
missing child on their handheld computers. To register your entire
organization for AMBER Alerts in Europe, please visit: http://www.
amberalert.eu/HelpUs.aspx#organizations.
37
Supermarkets /Cinemas
When an AMBER Alert is issued, the photo of the missing child is
instantly visible on large TV screens in shopping malls, supermarkets
and cinemas. For example, download the Dutch AMBER Alert for
screens in public spaces: http://www.amberalertnederland.nl/HelpUs.
aspx?lang=en#beeldkrant.
Police
AMBER Alerts are also disseminated to the police via various networks,
including mobile phones, PCs, TV screens and the C2000 network. To
register your entire organization for AMBER Alerts in Europe, please
visit: http://www.amberalert.eu/HelpUs.aspx#organizations.
116 000 Hotline
The 116 000 is the European hotline number reserved by the
European Commission for missing children. This number is connected
to the national organization that is specialized in dealing with these
cases. For more information, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/
fundamental-rights/rights-child/hotline/index_en.htm.
38
01
Annex
Notarial Statement
02
Annex
Financial
Report 2014
AMBER Alert Europe is a not-for-profit
organization under Dutch Law. The financial
report of 2014 is in Dutch.