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Child missing alert

89 replies

DennisA · 07/06/2022 12:52

My Family and I were recently on holiday in Florida, a child went missing and an state wide alert was issued to all Mobile phone users with details of gender, age and description amd where they were last seen.

Can you raise this idea with your Local MP and your local Police Commisioner to raise the profile of the need for a similar service to be created by either the government, the regional police forces, the Home office and the <obile phone networks with some urgency.

Children go missing every single day and no one is addressing the issue or raising the concern. If a State like Florida can do it, then we can.

My local MP said it was an issue with GDPR but I pointed out to him, the GDPR rules applied when we were in the EU, now that we are not we can create our own rules and I can't see why a system like they have in Florida has anything to do with GDPR where a missing child is concerned.

Social media is also a fantastic medium, recently my Granddaughters dog bolted and was "Lost". We engaged with the Local lost Dog Rescue Facebook group in Aylesbury and within 12 hours he was spotted by Dog walkers and was reunited with my Granddaughter.
The response from Dog Walkers in Aylesbury was overwhelming.

If we can be that affective where a dog is lost, just imagine how affective we could be if a child goes missing.

OP posts:
MintJulia · 07/06/2022 13:37

I've already opted in to the local version of this. It's been active for a couple of years.

Needmorelego · 07/06/2022 13:35

@Justkeeppedaling I assume Local Authority/Local Council, The Government, the police. Whatever is relevant to the situation I suppose.

DennisA · 07/06/2022 13:31

The authorities would issue the alert, not individual people,?

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Justkeeppedaling · 07/06/2022 13:26

@Justkeeppedaling I assume 'they' would be the relevant local authorities for the situation

Doesn't really answer my question. Do you mean the Local Authority (capital letters), or other random local authorities (lower case).

Maybe something people could subscribe to if they wanted to, otherwise, it's the thin end of the wedge.

I think there's some similar alert system for countries likely to experience tsunamis. Japan maybe. I don't know how it works though.

BarryKentPoet · 07/06/2022 13:14

I signed up years ago but have never had an alert as no children have ever gone missing in my local area.

Needmorelego · 07/06/2022 13:14

@Justkeeppedaling I assume 'they' would be the relevant local authorities for the situation.
I would have thought it would be that if a child going missing it would start with a 999 phone call to the police to report them missing. If then needed the police would then contact the phone companies (Vodafone, O2 etc) and request an emergency message is sent to all available numbers.
That's how I imagine it works. I don't actually know.

BarryKentPoet · 07/06/2022 13:13

The UK has an opt-in version www.lancashire.police.uk/faqs/missing-people/what-is-child-rescue-alert/

Justkeeppedaling · 07/06/2022 13:09

They don't need your phone number to send out these alerts. They hold no information at all on you for them

Who is "they"?

DennisA · 07/06/2022 13:08

I think a system similar was being tested on the Isle of Wight but not sure for what service?

OP posts:
DennisA · 07/06/2022 13:06

They have your number already

OP posts:
Needmorelego · 07/06/2022 13:05

I am sure I read that something like this was (or is being) tested along with phone alerts for things such as severe weather warnings or major incidents such a a terrorist attack.
As far as I know it would be that a message would be sent to all mobile phones in an area automatically. You wouldn't have to register your phone number or details or anything because it would automatically go to all numbers.
I'm not aware if it has been successfully tested though.

Namechangeforthis88 · 07/06/2022 13:04

We now have UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Wickywickyyow · 07/06/2022 13:03

They don't need your phone number to send out these alerts. They hold no information at all on you for them.

Justkeeppedaling · 07/06/2022 13:00

a) I don't think "the authorities" should hold your number just in case a missing child is reported
b) even if "the authorities" did hold my number, I'd be worried that this would lead to random texts reminding me to be a good citizen
d) which "authorities" are we talking about? Who would send the texts?
d) judging by our local FB pages, by far the huge majority of missing children turn up after a few hours of gaming at their mates - there are lots of these false alerts round here. Which isn't to dismiss the huge anxiety and fear felt by the parents, nor the fact that some children go missing for far more serious reasons, but I wouldn't want to receive text for every missing child that FB tells me about. "The boy who cried wolf" springs to mind - I'd ignore the messages, and miss the crucial text about a child who really has gone missing, in a serious way.