Legislation would expand Michigan Amber Alert system

Michigan State Police | Susan J. Demas

After the body of a 2-year-old child who had wandered off last year in Clinton County was found in a river, one Michigan lawmaker wants to expand Amber alert criteria in the state to allow alerts for children with special needs to be issued.

Amber alerts, named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who in 1996 was kidnapped while riding her bike and murdered, serve as emergency notification to mobile phone, TV programming and radio broadcasts advising the public that a child has been abducted, offering identifying information in the hopes the child can be found.

When Jermain Jones, 2, disappeared from his home in 2023, hundreds of people from the area searched for the Clinton County boy who was autistic and non-verbal. No Amber alert was issued at the time as authorities did not suspect the child was abducted.

Wandering is common for people with autism, and for children and vulnerable individuals, the behavior poses safety hazards.

A 2017 study out of Columbia University found that children with autism are 160 times as likely to die from drowning as the rest of the pediatric population as they are attracted to water. Almost 80% of deaths of children with autism examined in the study were attributed to suffocation, asphyxiation or drowning. 

Michigan’s Amber Alert Act is defined “as the official response to reports of child abductions,” and adds that “the Michigan Amber alert plan shall be activated only in accordance with the policies established by the department of state police.”

In 2017, Michigan State Police specifically tightened the criteria for eligible Amber alerts to strictly be used in instances of abductions of minors, offering a separate alert called an Endangered Missing Advisory that doesn’t utilize the Emergency Alert System and works to alert the media for their consideration for publication.

At the time State Police issued comments to the media addressing the need for alerts for missing children, but affirming the need to preserve Amber alerts for abducted children.

“Any time a child goes missing, it’s an urgent situation and we should all pay attention; however, in the case of child abductions the urgency is even greater,” Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, former director of the Michigan State Police, said in Legal News. “By tightening the standards for issuing an AMBER Alert we will ensure these alerts are utilized in only the most dire of circumstances to get credible, useful information out to the public in order to bring abducted children home safely.”

As the parent of young children, Rep. Graham Filler, R-St. Johns, said he hopes an adjustment in the law could help prevent another family from losing a child, especially a child who isn’t able to communicate or seek out help effectively.

“My mind and my soul changed when I had a kid, and you’ll do anything for that child,” Filler said. “I’m a dad and I can’t imagine what folks go through when a special needs child goes missing.”

Filler is not seeking reelection as the legislative year concludes at the end of the year and he’s not certain the bill could make its way through the legislative process this session. But because the bill, introduced last week has already stirred conversation, he’s hoping that if it doesn’t pass this year, it’s uncontroversial enough to receive approval next year after he’s gone.

The bill language is simple and doesn’t get into the definition of what qualifies under “special needs” he said. Filler hopes that the legislation would allow instances where an Amber alert could clearly save a life would be permitted without getting bogged down in specific definitions. He added that many people believe that cases like Jones’ are already eligible for an Amber alert, but are now realizing the limitations of the state law. 

“Individuals actually saw the wandering child, but didn’t know he was missing, didn’t know he was wandering and because of that, they didn’t report it or take the steps that an Amber Alert would tell you, [like calling] the police,” Filler said.  “If the Amber Alert had included special needs kids it could have saved a life maybe. I think that’s worth a minor change, to possibly save lives.”