15-04-2025
What is an Ashanti Alert? What to know about the missing person notification
If you see an Ashanti Alert in Oklahoma, it's a sign that there may be a missing person in your area.
The alert has been in place since 2018 and is used nationwide. Similar to other notification systems like AMBER, Silver and Kacey alerts, Ashanti Alerts are sent out to those in the area to help locate an individual.
Here's what the alert means and many others like it.
The Ashanti Alert is used to notify about missing individuals who meet the following criteria:
Individual(s) is over the age of 17
Individual(s) has special needs or circumstances
Individual(s) is endangered or have been involuntarily abducted or kidnapped
Ashanti Alerts function like AMBER, Silver and Blue alerts as they are administered by local law enforcement agencies.
The Ashanti Alert system is named in honor of Ashanti Billie, who was a 19-year-old woman who disappeared on Sept. 18, 2017, in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
After two weeks of being missing, authorities located her body over 350 miles away in Charlotte, North Carolina. Due to the distance traveled since her abduction, authorities worked to find a state, regional, or nationwide missing persons alert system that focused on individuals over the age of 17.
Local, state and federal officials can activate an Amber Alert to quickly notify the public that a child has been abducted.
The first Amber Alert program started in 1996, when Dallas-area radio and TV stations began using the federal Emergency Alert System to quickly broadcast news of child abductions.
That effort came in response to the case of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who had been abducted and killed in Arlington, Texas earlier that year. Soon after, AMBER, for 'America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response,' became part of federal and state laws.
Not every missing child gets an alert, however. A case must meet the following guidelines to ensure it's used appropriately, according to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety:
There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred
The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger
The law enforcement agency 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 to assist in the recovery of the child
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
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: What is an Ashanti Alert? What to know about the missing person ping
