Pennsylvania

Upper Merion Police Review Amber Alert Process in KOP Mall Kidnapping Case

While a baby who was kidnapped from the King of Prussia Mall Thursday was eventually found safe, many viewers reported they received the Amber Alert notification on their phones around four hours after the kidnapping. NBC10 investigated why the notification took so long to be sent out.

Upper Merion Township Police Chief Tom Nolan told NBC10 the recovery of 7-week-old Ahsir Simmons was a quick success but there may have been a delay in the Amber Alert process.

“Our dispatcher may not have notified the State Police through the exact protocols that they want which could potentially have slowed the process down,” Chief Nolan said.

Chief Nolan says the dispatcher may have put the words “Amber Alert” into a standard missing persons advisory even though the official process is more complex. Dispatchers are supposed to submit data to a national system and then directly contact state police.

In the state of Pennsylvania, sending out an Amber Alert is a process with at least three steps. Local authorities notify the state police, the state police notify the National Center for Missing Children in Washington, DC, and then the National Center for Missing Children sends the alert to phones.

Before law enforcement officials issue an Amber Alert they must first believe an abduction occurred and that the child, under the age of 17, is in imminent danger. They also need enough descriptive information to assist in a recovery. Chief Nolan insisted those criteria were quickly met on a local level.

"I know that the Amber Alert that went out through the Upper Merion Police Department went out to all surrounding jurisdictions in Montgomery County within the first few minutes," he said.

Pennsylvania State Police told NBC10 their watch center was first contacted at 7:45 p.m. Thursday but it took an hour for them to obtain appropriate pictures and information. They then activated the Amber Alert at 8:48 p.m. With that activation, State Police notified the National Center for Missing Children in DC which sent the alerts to phones, a process that took about 45 minutes.

While the official Amber Alert push may have been delayed, Chief Nolan says a huge response on social media proved to have a major impact in finding the baby with thousands of people sharing video and photos of the suspect and child on Twitter and Facebook.

“This case here, I think, just really reflects how important it can be,” Chief Nolan said. “And probably more than any of us imagined.”

 

Contact Us