Muskoka Amber

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Canadian Code Amber Ticker

American Code Amber Ticker

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one out of five girls and one out of ten boys will be sexually abused before they reach the age of 18.

The following statistics are taken from the United States.

There are over 800,000 children reported missing each year.
Most abductions are done by luring children to a vehicle rather than taking them by force.
Half are 4-11 years of age, 74% are girls.
The FBI receives over 2000 missing child reports every day.
One child goes missing every 40 seconds, every hour, every day, 365 days per year.
According to NISMART, there are over 55,000 non-family abductions each year.

What is the AMBER Plan?

The AMBER Plan is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies and broadcasters to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases.

This is the same concept used during severe weather emergencies. The goal of the AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and safe return of the child.

CodeAmber.org was established in August of 2002 to extend the reach of every Amber Alert to the World Wide Web. Please, add the Code Amber Ticker to your site today. You could help save a child's life.

What is an Amber Alert?

Each program establishes its own AMBER Plan criteria; however, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children suggests three criteria that should be met before an Alert is activated.

law enforcement confirms a child has been abducted
law enforcement believes the circumstances surrounding the abduction indicate that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death
there is enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, and/or suspect’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help

If these criteria are met, alert information must be put together for public distribution. This information can include descriptions and pictures of the missing child, the suspected abductor, a suspected vehicle, and any other information available and valuable to identifying the child and suspect.

How does it work?

Upon receipt of an Amber Alert from Law Enforcement Authorities anywhere in the world, day or night, the CodeAmber ticker will be updated immediately on our server.

During an Amber Alert all of the relevant details provided by the reporting Authority will be scrolled in the Code Amber ticker window.

The information will include the location of the abduction and contact information for the reporting Authority as well as links (if available) to images of the abductee, suspect composites and any other details provided by the reporting Authority.

How can people help?

You may be thinking that someone in a geographic location other than the immediate Alert area could not be of any help.

We include a link in each Alert which allows anyone to email the details of the Alert to anyone and everyone they know in the Alert area.

For example: If you are in London and you see an alert for Anchorage Alaska you will be able to email the alert to anyone you know in Anchorage by simply clicking a link in the Alert Ticker and entering their email address.

And Now Us, Here in Muskoka

Our area is serviced by only a few radio stations, and no TV stations except for Barrie to the south and relay stations to the north. What happens if One Of Our Area Kids was abducted? Just getting the Police to respond would take roughly 10-30 minutes depending upon your location in Muskoka or Haliburton. That doesn't suggest that our Police Agency is not good, just that we are so wide spread with many miles between us and help.

The following words are taken from the Code Amber Web Site:

"The tragic events leading up to the death of 11 year old Carlie Brucia in Florida shocked and angered us all. The devastating video of her apparent abduction should have sent a wake-up call to parents and teachers everywhere. How can a child, gripped with fear, respond in a situation like this?

The Safety N.E.T Kids video teaches exactly what a child should do in this situation to avoid abduction. If Carlie had learned these techniques they may have saved her life."

Could these pointers have helped the victims in the case of the recent Toronto abductions and murders?

Go Here for More Information and to visit our Safety NET Kids page.

Do you have a digital camera? If you do, today and I mean today and every month hereafter, take a picture or two of your kids, and save them to disk. Send them to your family and ask them to store them, just in case that you and/or the Police need them. Think how much time could be saved as the picture could be e-mailed everywhere.

Now, what do we do if one of our Children falls prey, and how do we get something activated quickly? Here we need everyone's assistance.

Once you call the Police and describe, in as much detail as you can, the occurrence;

I would suggest calling the local Volunteer Fire Department. They are made up of caring people, just like you, ready to assist in almost any emergency, and the volunteers can get to roadway intersections quickly, looking for the vehicle or whatever else you have been able to remember;

And then start printing those pictures we spoke about earlier and get them into everyone's hands, as fast as you can!

If you know your child has been abducted, demand that an Amber Alert be issued. (that gets the abduction onto the local stations as well as possibly activating the flashing signs far to the south and north of our area, and you need every shred of assistance possible. How long does it take you to get to Toronto, or North Bay, or to Algonquin Park? About the same time as the perpetrator!

Let us all do everything possible to ensure the safety of our children. If you can think of something that we should say on this page, e-mail it to us. The following is taken from the words of the designer of the current Code Amber Poster.

"In my day, children played freely, adults were there to help, not hurt, and children were always looked after. Now it seems they live in fear of strangers and adults, and that should never be."

Kids are abducted everywhere, not just in Toronto, or Detroit, or Los Angeles, or Texas, (where the Amber Alert System was started). Let's make damn sure we know what to do, and when to do it, if we ever need it!

OLDER KIDS, TEENAGERS:
while not immune to abduction by strangers in school yards, they do fall victim via the Internet Chat Rooms, and other similar contacts.

Never, never give out personal information unless you are absolutely sure who you are speaking with, like your friend next door.
Never ever fall into the trap of describing yourself to anyone, especially those who seem deeply interested in you.
Never respond to people in chat rooms etc. asking you to undress, touch yourself, or do anything that you would not normally do in the full view of your parents and other family members.
Never ever make a date to meet a contact you met on-line. You might never see your home again!

PARENTS:

Never allow the computer to be located where you cannot see it, and make sure you watch from time to time.
Be aware so that you can see if your child changes screens or things on screen seemingly disappear when you get close.
Understand some of the chat room, Instant Messenger lingo, such as PAW, (Parents are Watching).
Take an active interest in your child while they use the computer.
Want to or need to know what all those acronyms and short sayings mean? This Web Site has a rather extensive "dictionary" and a place where you can type in the acronym and get an "English" translation. http://www.lingo2word.com/

The American Website contains far more material than the Canadian Counterpart. While the hyperlink directs you to the American site, there is a link to the Canadian site on that page.

If you wish to be contacted when an Amber Alert is issued in the Muskoka Area, or in the event we post information regarding a missing and/or endangered person, please e-mail us. If you wish to receive all Canadian Amber Alerts, please click on the Code Amber "ticker" displayed above.

Visit Our Forums. Let Us Know What You Want to See, or Start a Thread. Hopefully Others will Join In.
Did you know we also have a Chat Room?

The Muskoka Web Site Contact Information

From the Local Greater Toronto Calling Area:	416-540-1478
From the Local 705 Calling Area:	705-766-0345
Fax from all of the US or Canada:	888-461-6666
E-Mail	tracash@canada.com
AIM Instant Messenger	TracashServices
Skype	Tracash2

Known Local Supporters of www.CodeAmber.org	Contact Information
Tracash Services, Dorset	705-766-0345

Please consider supporting this endeavor in Muskoka. See the Safety Net Kids in Muskoka Page to order a DVD. You may purchase a copy from us at $25.00 CAD plus shipping and applicable taxes to your Canadian Address. $15.00 of your payment pays for your DVD and the remaining $10.00 less all the fees charged by the credit card companies will be used with other funds to purchase more DVD's to be given away to schools and libraries. Use the numbers above to order your copy by phone.

We accept any valid MasterCard, VISA and American Express card, or you can make payment using PayPal.

If you wish, you can support us by credit card or cheque. Please know and understand that we are not a charitable organization and cannot issue tax receipts. That being said, we do guarantee that the majority of your support will be used to purchase additional DVD's with a small percentage assisting to offset the web-site hosting costs.
If you wish to support us, make your cheque/money order payable to:
"Tracash Services, (Safety NET Kids DVD Programme)".
You can also donate using PayPal

We also have an "Endangered and/or Missing Persons Page, for those wishing to post a picture and description of a missing family member etc.

The following is meant to let you know that there are ways for web sites to determine who you are. The third line of copy within the sign is intended to be humorous and nothing else.