State Wide Test of AMBER Alert System on Jan. 13

The Montana Department of Justice will be conducting a statewide test of the AMBER Alert System. The test, set to go off at 10 a.m. on Jan. 13, will be an end-to-end live system test and should include cell phone alerting as well.

Montana’s AMBER Alert system is activated to alert the public when law enforcement believes a child has been abducted and that the circumstances could be life threatening. Since Montana’s AMBER Alert Program was established in 2003, there have been 32 AMBER alerts issued. Seven of them were for abductions that occurred in other states or Canada. Strong public participation in the program made it possible to locate all 47 children the alerts were issued for. Tragically, four of the victims were found deceased.

The Montana Amber Alert system uses two types of cell phone notifications. The first type broadcasts a loud tone and sends a short text message. Every cellular phone in the AMBER Alert area should receive a message, as long as the alert setting has not been disabled on the phone. Any customer that has not disabled the alert, but is not receiving test notices should contact their cell phone carrier.

The second type of alert comes from CodeRED and allows for a more detailed AMBER Alert to be distributed, including photographs. The Department of Justice (DOJ) began using CodeRED to issue Montana’s Amber Alerts and Missing Endangered Persons Advisories (MEPAs) last summer, thanks to a generous donation by the Town Pump Foundation. In order to receive these alerts, cell phone users must download the free CodeRED app available at: ecnetwork.com/codered-mobile-alert-app/

Montana’s AMBER Alert system is effective in large part because of the dedicated partnership among Montana law enforcement, the Montana Broadcasters Association and media, the Montana National Weather Service, and several state agencies including the Montana Department of Justice, the Montana Department of Transportation, the Montana Department of Administration, the Montana Lottery and Montana’s citizens.