Arkansas Senate Bill 371 passes, Morgan Nick Foundation shares impact

Yahoo

22-04-2025

ALMA, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — An Arkansas Senate Bill intended to establish a standardized reporting system for missing children who do not meet the minimum reporting criteria to issue an Arkansas AMBER Alert, has been signed into law.
The bill, SB371, was signed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday.
According to the Arkansas State Police's AMBER Alert Plan, the following criteria must be met to issue an alert:
There is a reasonable belief by law enforcement that an actual abduction has occurred.
Law enforcement believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.
The abducted child is under 18 years of age.
The child's name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction Flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.
However, the Morgan Nick Foundation says while they understand the necessity of maintaining reporting criteria for AMBER Alerts, it leaves many circumstances as to why a child may go missing uncovered.
'It's a very detailed list that is a requirement to meet before you can put out an AMBER Alert. The reason is because if we didn't do it that way, we would have just an influx of constant AMBER Alerts, which would then cause people to become immune to the seriousness of it,' said Genevie Strickland, Assistant Director of the Morgan Nick Foundation.
Strickland says a majority of the cases they deal with don't qualify for an AMBER Alert.
'So, it's not as simple as just saying that kids are running. People tend to see a lot of just runaways. There are so many extenuating circumstances to that, things that are going on at home, things that are going on at school, things like kids that are meeting people online, they're being lured away, they're being trafficked,' Strickland said.
Through SB371, a multitude of circumstances will now be covered by requiring the Arkansas State Police to create and maintain a 'missing endangered child advisory system.'
According to the legislative text, for any child under the age of 18, the following circumstances will allow a report to be made in the system:
When the disappearance of the child appears to be unexplained, involuntary, or suspicious.
When it is suspected but not confirmed that the child was abducted.
When the child has been diagnosed with a developmental disability or pervasive developmental disorder, or physical, mental, or cognitive impairment, or when the child may otherwise be in danger due to age, health, weather conditions, presence with a potentially dangerous person, or other circumstances.
Strickland says seeing state senators create legislation of this kind is relieving.
'It's just a way to really put focus on those kids that don't meet the AMBER Alert. But it's still serious. It's serious when any child is missing,' Strickland said. 'I know it's never going to be any kind of closure for Colleen, but it certainly does help towards going into the future with greater safety and greater kind of bans in Arkansas to protect our kids.'
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