Attwooll MEP - Give Amber Alert Green Light

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 1st May 2008

Elspeth Attwooll MEP has signed a written declaration supporting proposals for an EU-wide alert system for missing children, modelled on the US Amber Alert system, which allows television broadcasts to be interrupted and notices flashed on motorway screens immediately after a child is reported as missing.

And now she is urging her fellow MEPs to add their signatures, as a written declaration in the European Parliament is "live" for only three months, requiring half of all MEPs to sign during this time if it is to become an official resolution.

The Liberal Democrat Member for Scotland said:

"I would urge my fellow MEPs to sign the declaration, as it is well worth looking into whether the successes of Amber Alert in the US can be replicated here if we were linked into a similar EU-wide early warning system for missing children".

ENDS

Notes:

The system would immediately supply to relevant news media, border authorities, customer and law enforcement agencies, details of:

-The missing child, with a photograph if available;

• Information relevant to the disappearance and/or the suspected abductor(s);

• A telephone number to call with information (116 000 where operational).