Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. I'm Robin Colbert and this is Madison Forum.
I guess this morning is Melissa Marchin. She is the
Amber Alert and Missing Person's clearing House coordinator for the
State of Wisconsin. Melissa, thank you so much for joining
me this morning. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thank you for having me and you, if.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You don't mind, before we get into the Amber Alert
and the Missing Person's clearing House, if we can do
a little bit of your backstory here. I think you
have a fascinating story how you got involved with this.
You started out working for the state right out of
high school as a janitor.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good for you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah. Yes, I've been forwarded a lot of opportunities in
public service which I've greatly appreciated. That brings me to
today is the Amberwerk coordinator.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, and you know what, I wouldn't you know. There's
nothing wrong with being a janitor whatsoever. It's just while
you've really climbed the ladder to success here for the state.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
And so when did you get involved with working with
a Department of Justice and DCI.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Sure. I started with DCI back in nineteen ninety seven
and I was a criminal analyst for many years, and
then in twenty twenty one there was an opportunity for
the Amber Alert coordinator position and so I interviewed and
got that position and I've been in that ever since.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And if you can give a backstory, Melissa, did Amber
alert did at start in Texas or I want to
say it was a southern state where this all began.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yes, yep, the evolution of the Amber alerts did begin
in Texas after the abduction of Amber Hagerman. It was
January nineteen ninety six. She was just a nine year
old girl riding her bike in the afternoon, not far
from home when she was abducted. And in that case,
mother there were witnesses. There was no way to get
(01:58):
the information to the public in at family manner back then. Sadly,
her body was found four days later, and then her
family pushed for the creation of a program. So even
though her murder still remains unsolved, today we have fifty
states that have developed their own Amberler plans.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Wow, you know what, I guess I didn't realize that
that poor girl's murder was still unsolved. That's heartbreaking, But
her family must have some sort of pride to see
what has happened with what started evolved out of the
disappearance of their daughter. I'm guessing they probably had no
idea it would become the standard around the nation.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Absolutely, absolutely, and each plan throughout the nation is named
in her honor. The Amber and Amberlert actually stands for
America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response. Oh, it was law enforcement.
Yet it was law enforcement all the broadcasters who kind
of came together and said, how can we disseminate this
to our public so that they know when a child
(03:00):
it's been abducted and they can help. That's something interesting
that not many people are aware of.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You're correct, I had no I just assumed, well, it's
named after the little girl. But no, that makes sense too.
It worked out nicely. So now in ninety six this
came about in Texas. When did Wisconsin? Was it a
fairly quick process when state started saying, hey, this is
something we got to jump on board with.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, there's a lot of technology components that needed to
come into play and mechanisms and you know, to disseminate
to the public. So many including us, started our plan
in two thousand and three. So we've been doing this
for twenty two years and we've had actually sixty five
(03:44):
activations over that time.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yep, here in Wisconsin. It kind of averages out to
about two to three activations a year. Many times we're
able to find the children before we need to activate.
Others may not qualify, but we have been prideful in
geographic areas that are targeted to find our children, which
has been really helpful for the public and broadcasters.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, and with us sixty five activations here in Wisconsin,
of course, we're currently under an amber alert for the
Beaver Dam girl that has been missing since earlier this month.
But aside from hers, is there still an active one.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
No, Sophia Franklin is the only active amberlerk here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Because there's no time limit on them, right.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Correct, And actually with Elijah Booth case in several months,
but that was active for him.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, And the only way yeah, obviously either a happy
ending to the alert or unfortunately a grim discovery here now,
and boy has technology advanced over the years from two
thousand and three or in the mid ninety when this began.
And yeah, your go to would be radio stations are
(05:05):
key players here because driving around on the roads, you're
looking for a car. You want to get that information
out to the radio stations, television stations. But now we
have like social media and electronic billboard. Well we had
electronic billboards for a while now, but I mean it's
just exploded as far as how to get the information out.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It has, it really has. And with the technology of
the wireless emergency alerts on the cell phones, I mean
most people have a cell phone and they can be
notified immediately if there's an alert. So that has really
been a helpful advancement in technology.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And i'd imagine you know, you have a strict criteria
that you need to follow because you don't want to
cry wolf, you know what I mean, You don't want
to do it, and so then people as humans, we
tend to get used to it and don't take it
as seriously.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Right, we are concerned about oversaturation. We do want the
public to remain vigilant and actively looking for our missing children.
So we are careful in the criteria, which has remained
consistent in Wisconsin for us, it's seventeen years of age younger.
The child must be in dangers yours boldly harm or
(06:21):
death and there must be enough information about the child
suspect or vehicle that us notifying the public would result
in locating them.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And I know it seems like some questions will pop
up every now and again when we have alerts issued,
some questioning, well, wait, is that the criteria or how
does that fall under it as you said seventeen or
under Now, let's say you have a case of a
miner who may when we think of abduction, or at
least when I do, I think of snatched from the
streets or you know, taken from their home overnight or
(06:54):
something anywhere you can be swiped. Sure, but how about
a miner who is not an adult and able to
legally give consent, but willingly goes with someone they shouldn't
be with, as we're seeing with the certain cases, perhaps
the ongoing case right now, if they're in the company
(07:16):
of an adult, or how do you go about determining that.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
We look at everything involved in the case and what
the investigators know as as part of their investigation. We
look at everything and determine is that child in danger
of serious bodily harm or death? And if it meets that,
we are going to issue So that is commonly we
(07:41):
go through the criteria with the agency, we really look
at all of everything that's involved in the situation and
then we can alert on what has been meant for
the criteria.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Sure, and I know we were not getting into specifics
about any case is here, but the ongoing Amber alert
right now for the beaver damnteen Sophia Franklin, I can't
say I don't know that this girl and obviously that
is an unanswered question that she could be in harm
even though it appears she had willingly gone prior. We
(08:15):
don't know the circumstances up to her disappearance this time.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right, I'm not able to talk about that case.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Do you find child custody issues? Can this kind of
muddy the waters as well? Or I know we've had
alerts where you know you've had a parent that has
been involved the subject. It doesn't mean that they're not
in danger if they're taken by a parent.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Sure, that is true. In general, we do not use
our alerts for custody related disputes, but if there is
a danger to that child again of the serious voley
harm or death, we will issue to try to locate
that Ktto Faife and as far.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
As a success rate. How is Wisconsin's success rate for
its Amber alerts program.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Sure, in more than half of the Amber alerts that
we've activated for the amberlert itself has resulted in the
location of the child, So we really have a very
high success rate. We're really proud of, you know, our
broadcasters and all of our partners and citizens who kind
of come to the call and help report what they're
(09:25):
seeing so that we can find these children safe.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And I was just reading a little background on yourself,
Melissa and talking about the Jamie class case, and that
was a big case, a memorable success story for you.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yes, we had so many people working in conjunction with
us on that. It was just truly remarkable that that
is all Jamie she did that. That was amazing amount
of courage that she took to free herself.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah, sure did. And boy, what was it October November
December tenth. Yeah, it was like almost four months that
she had been missing it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, eighty eight days. Yeah, we were we're all hoping
for her to safely be found, and she was and
it was just a great day for her primarily, but
then for all the people you know, looking for her
and and praying for her and worrying for her. You know,
there's a lot of heart that goes into these.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Alert absolutely, and and it also reminds us that miracles
do happen a lot of us automatically we see these
things and we fear the gloom and doom just you know,
over the years, right, tragic cases that we've seen play out,
and this is just a good reminder. Well, I hate
to say it ended well because she lost her parents.
(10:50):
It's the poor young girl. I can't even fathom. But
it ended well. At least she was alive and she
is surviving this and so that was just an amazing
thing to see.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Now do you when you decide to put out the
amber alert, is it kind of like our weather alerts
where you focus some regionally first, or how do you
determine if they go statewide or do they all just
automatically go statewide.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
No, we do not issure amber alerts statewide unless we
have really good information that they've traveled to a destination
farther in the state. We are set up regionally through
our broadcasting systems to send the alert to regions in Wisconsin,
which has been helpful. And if we do get information
(11:38):
that they've traveled further, we can extend the AMBER alerts,
So that's been very helpful and not saturating people in
areas where they are probably not traveling.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Sure. Yeah, yeah, we've seen our current AMBER alert extended
now into Missouri along with Arkansas as well as it
remains active here in Wisconsin. And what is the like
the behind the scenes, the step by step, so in
how the alert goes into effect. I'd imagine a relative parent,
(12:10):
somebody of a loved one that is missing, or if
somebody's witnessed a child or somebody being abducted. Cops get
called first, and then is it the police department that
notifies you or how does it go Corrett?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
The local enforcement will reach out to our agency and
a supervisor along with myself will talk with the agency
about the circumstances for the missing child and we'll go
through the criteria and determine if it meets that criteria.
And then there's a lot of work to get all
of the information we need to disseminate, so all of
their identifiers, a photo, all those things you know sometimes
(12:48):
can take time. Sure, so we're working behind the scenes
together all the information together to disseminate out. I'll be
updating the website, will be having the National Center for
Mission Exploited Children to the WILLA, the Wireless emergency Alert.
Our broadcasters are pushing it out outdoor advertisers, a lottery.
(13:11):
There's a lot of people working behind the scenes to
make this a success and try to locate our children.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
And as we know, these things don't happen on the
clock nine to five, so I'd imagine it's a correct. Yeah,
it's a twenty four to seven operation. You've got to
be I mean, every we're human, everybody has to have
some reprieve and time on their own, but this thing
has to be monitored and dealt with twenty four to seven, right.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yes, yes, And myself and my coworker, we're a team
of two that help with many supervisors to talk over
these alerts and to give any assistance we can. And
I will say, if it does not mean an alert,
we don't stop there. We continue to assist by potentially
doing a different an alert or pushing the information out
(14:03):
to social media. So we are continually involved with the
Amber request with the missing child because things can develop
as time goes on, and while it may not meet
the requirements from the beginning. You know, there's always time
where things change, and we could issue an Amber alert.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
With I'm going to ask it. If you can't, that's fine.
It's a not result. It has to work its way
through the courts. But in Western Wisconsin with Lily Peters,
there had not been an alert issue there. Correct?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And can can you say why.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I'm not able to talk about specific instance such as that.
There were you know a lot of things happening very
quickly and people are really trying to get the information
and determine what the situation is, and that all is
very time sensitive, and it's you know, we have to
just make sure we have all the information.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, and please don't take it for why didn't you
do it? That's not at all my intent here, Melissa.
And if I'm trying to remember, just from the story coverage,
there had been kind of a lapse of time and
just some nuances of this case that didn't right away
screen Amber. I know there had been an attempt for
(15:25):
a Lily alert, but I believe that's kind of dormant, right.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So out of that case, in another case, we now
have the missing child alert, and that alert covers instances
where children are missing and they might not meet the
Amber alert criteria. So that has been helpful in our
children nine years of age or younger that are missing,
(15:51):
we can locate them and then in some cases children
who are seventeen years of age younger and unable to
return on their own or other circumstances, we can issue
that alert. So that has been helpful as well.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
And I think it's also important just to remind people
and dispel the thinking and thanks to movies and television
over the years that if you're a parent and you believe,
you don't have to wait twenty four hours before you
can reach.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Out, correct, correct, That was one thing I wanted to
say so badly today. Well, you do not have to wait.
You do not wait twenty four hours. Call lung person
immediately when someone is missing, especially a child, and we
can just start getting those resources ready to go and.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Deployed and commonplace anymore where parents have their children fingerprinted,
And it's probably a good idea too. I mean, who
wants to have to plan for such a thing, But
when you're in that chaotic situation, boy, that information goes
a long way, like having their height, weight, any birthmarks,
(17:00):
and you know, a picture to get out, you know,
to media and to get out and about. So it's
it's just a good practice. I'd imagine you recommend that
for families.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, yes, we always advise parents. I mean we're always
taking photos of our kids and drank kids. Usually we
have an updated photo. But it's always good to have
a photo, a recent one to be used so that
people are actually looking for the person as they look
today versus you know, a year ago or months ago,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
What about Melissa so seventeen and under the missing child alert?
What is it nine years or under?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
You said, yes, nine years of age or younger?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
What about amber alerts are just for children? What's the
alert if there's some twenty one year old woman, young
woman who you know? Yes, as I get old older,
I consider that a child now myself, But technically it
is not. So do we use Amber in cases like
that or no?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So no we don't. But what's good about Wisconsin is
we have the Missing Endangered Personal Alert and that covers
that encompasses all missing who do not qualify for another alert.
So that has been very helpful because that alert goes
out through the Wisconsin Crime Alert Network to people who
have signed up for it, to businesses, media, and it
(18:19):
really for the wide net, which is very helpful, and
that has been successful in locating you know, young adults
or all adults that may not meet the criteria of
another alert.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And I've seen over the past I think it's been
about a decade now where Silver Alerts and that works
out of a different agency than you are. You all
housed kind of in the in one department here.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
We are still housed within the divisional Criminal Investigation at
DJ and my partner, Sailor Sarah Palin, is the Silver
Alert coordinator, and that program has really just exploded with success. Yeah,
we have so many people that have noticed these vulnerable
(19:04):
sceners and reported them and actually it's been very life
saving in many cases.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yes, it has, and I see it and it's just
kind of it's sad, but it has become commonplace. I know,
on my way in to work, it's not unusual for
me to see on the electronic billboards or a new
Silver Alert listed. I guess we were paying more attention
to the impact of alzheimer and dementia and getting that
(19:31):
word out right away.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yes, and we appreciate that we really do.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, And has the Silver alert's been about has it
been about ten years?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Twenty fourteen? So just over okay, that's when it started.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
All right. And then we have as well the green alerts,
and this is primarily this is for veterans GRET.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
The green alert is for missing veterans at risk and
those are issued by the local law enforcement agencies. So
a citizen would report that to a local police farman
and they can put out a green alert in those instances.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Now, are there to do state by state? Every state
runs their own. Are there a lot of differences in
how state one state does it compared to Wisconsin?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Or I think the Amber alert is pretty standard across
the nation. I know that there are different Silver alerts
or endangered advisories that are put out that are worded
a little bit differently, but really encompass most all missing
people to try to alert the public and locate those.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, so you're the coordinator Amber alert and missing person's
clearing house? What is the missing person's clearing house?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Sure, the clearing house we coordinate with other states and
potentially missing persons, sometimes longer term cases where we're still
trying to make sure that those cases are out on
the website and social media and coordinating different responses. I
(21:13):
have a person and my team around you know, Wisconsin
that I can call in the middle of the night
if we have an amber and just work through that.
If it doesn't meet their amber, their clearing house, and
work through any resources they have that we might be
able to utilize and locating our missing people. So the
clearing the House also works with the National Center for
(21:33):
Missing Exploited Children on tips for missing children. We work
with them on training and all sorts of things to hopefully,
you know, educate the public and law enforcement on missing
persons in general.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
And every now and again you will will hear an
amazing case where some young girl, I think of it
not her name was Jamie Too out in California, and
of course Elizabeth's smart. I mean, sometimes a miracle does
happen and people are found after decades. It's just unreal.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Do you know offhand, Melissa, how many children from Wisconsin
we have listed as missing.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I don't have that number in front of me. I
know that last year, in twenty twenty four, they were
over two thousand children report and missing, So I mean,
that's a lot of kiddows that are going missing in
our state. Luckily, many are found fairly quickly, but for
(22:47):
those are not, that's when we kind of come into
play and try to do an alert if possible.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, and you don't differentiate or do you whether let's
say a subject is a known runaway, but you're not
for certain that this person did run away or is
it all just treated as missing?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
So for us, the alerts aren't intended for runaway children,
but if there's a component for danger and risk their lives,
we will issue. I'm very sensitive to all missing kids,
so we try to do whatever we can to locate
those kids with the resources we have.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And I read on your bio you're a you're a mother, grandmother,
so oh boy, your kids say no, you got tabs
on them twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Oh you should hear the stories.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Absolutely, But amber alert aside just for a runaway that
it's probably a runaway, does that then go under like
the missing person's report.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Missing and Dangered personal art. We could issue that for sure,
depending on you know, what it looks like. You know,
each each miss I think person case is different. And
you know, while people may you know, put them in
a category. It's really about the danger they might be
in when they're missing and us just finding them and
bringing them home.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, not so much how they came to be missing.
They could have willingly walked off on their own, but
yet they're in the world of trouble right now and
didn't realize what they were getting into. And that brings
to mind just boy, our eyes have really been opened
over the years about sex trafficking. Just what I used
to think back in the day. Oh, that's that's not
(24:33):
really going on here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Oh yeah, it is, right right.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Is there any sort of or I would imagine with
a seriousness of that that would fall under an AMBER
alert or endangered missing person alert or is there some
different sort of alert system for that.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
There's not a different alert for that. We have issued
Amber alerts, and like circumstances, you know, again, if they're
in danger of serious bolely harm or death, we're going
to issue looking at the totality of circumstances, of course,
but we're really going to try to do everything we
can to locate those individuals now.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
As far as anything on the horizon, i'd imagine, just
to keep the program running smoothly, you've got to constantly
sit back and review. Are there any changes in the
works going forward?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Not that I can see the Missing Chiddler with the
most recent change and that was you know, April twenty
twenty four, and that has been a great success for us.
We've located a lot of kids safely, so that's great.
I would say if there's something I could talk to
the public about. You're our greatest asset in finding missing
(25:50):
children and adults, and to sign up for our crime
alert network is one of the things you can do
to help bring them home safely. So we try to
really talk about at Wisconsin Crime Alert Network. It's a
free sign up at Wisconsin Crime alert dot w I,
d o J dot go and you can receive aw
(26:12):
missing personal alerts. You know, some automatically go off on
your cell phones. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I was just going to ask that and that happens. Yeah,
I thought Amber Alert whether I signed up or not,
it's kind of like some weather alerts, it's going to
come through.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yes, that is correct. But when you sign up for
the crime alart Network, you can you can choose to
receive them by email or even text message, so that's helpful.
We can still get them out to you in a
text when you're able to look and review it. That's
that's really helpful.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And when when the tips come in, because when Amber alerts,
it's always contact or call nine one one. So the
tip process or the sidings that all goes to law enforcement.
That doesn't go into uh, you guys don't have a
phone bank. That man's that or anything.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Correct that will be routed to directly to the local
law enforcement agency who's investigating that marchioness in person casey.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
And you know we're hearing, whether it be state or nationally,
a lot of programs under scrutiny, some cuts being made
or proposed. Amber Alert to the program. I'd imagine it's
paid for a combination of what state and federal funding.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
That's a good question that I don't know the I
know that I believe it's state funding. I don't want
to give in information, but we are under the Wisconsin
Department of Justice, and our agency funds this program, so
I have not had to worry about that.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Good.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So I think we're good.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I hope we don't get to a time where we
are debating whether a program like Amber Alert is necessary
or not, because over the years the success stories are. Yeah,
it defends the program itself.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Absolutely, it's been very, very successful.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And again, just as we're getting ready to wrap it
up here, I've been speaking with Melissa Marchant. She is
the Amber Alert and Missing Person's Clearinghouse coordinator here in Wisconsin,
based out of the Department of Justice. So you're here
in Madison, right, Yes, I am, yeah, and Wisconsin has
had its Amber Alert going now since oh, two thousand
(28:24):
and three, is that what you said?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yep, that's correct, So.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Twenty two years. It's amazing because it seems like it's
been around forever. Yes, and when you think of, you know,
twenty two years, just a couple of decades, that's really
not that long. But it's a very it's a vital
program that I think kids are taught about as soon
(28:47):
as they start going into school, which is again it's
kind of you don't want to, you know, scare them,
but you need to make them aware of just some
of the dangers that are out there.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Absolutely all right, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Well, Melissa, Yeah, if you have anything to add, do
it now, otherwise we're gonna call it a show.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Anything else you want, You're good. Yeah, I just wanted
to talk about the crime or network so people can
help us out. And I really appreciate everything New and
everyone else is doing to talk about the program and
making awareness for our missing children.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Absolutely, and again if you can give give out that
website for people to sign up for those alerts.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yes, Wisconsin Crime Alert dot Wi, DOOJ dot gov.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
All right, good deal. And again another thing we want
to hit home. Do not wait twenty four hours. That
is not required that you wait twenty four hours to
report somebody missing. You do it as soon as you
know what, you get to the phone and call police.
All right, listen March again, thanks so much you've been
listening to Madison Forum.
Good morning. I'm Robin Colbert and this is Madison Forum.
I guess this morning is Melissa Marchin. She is the
Amber Alert and Missing Person's clearing House coordinator for the
State of Wisconsin. Melissa, thank you so much for joining
me this morning. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thank you for having me and you, if.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You don't mind, before we get into the Amber Alert
and the Missing Person's clearing House, if we can do
a little bit of your backstory here. I think you
have a fascinating story how you got involved with this.
You started out working for the state right out of
high school as a janitor.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good for you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah. Yes, I've been forwarded a lot of opportunities in
public service which I've greatly appreciated. That brings me to
today is the Amberwerk coordinator.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, and you know what, I wouldn't you know. There's
nothing wrong with being a janitor whatsoever. It's just while
you've really climbed the ladder to success here for the state.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
And so when did you get involved with working with
a Department of Justice and DCI.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Sure. I started with DCI back in nineteen ninety seven
and I was a criminal analyst for many years, and
then in twenty twenty one there was an opportunity for
the Amber Alert coordinator position and so I interviewed and
got that position and I've been in that ever since.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And if you can give a backstory, Melissa, did Amber
alert did at start in Texas or I want to
say it was a southern state where this all began.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yes, yep, the evolution of the Amber alerts did begin
in Texas after the abduction of Amber Hagerman. It was
January nineteen ninety six. She was just a nine year
old girl riding her bike in the afternoon, not far
from home when she was abducted. And in that case,
mother there were witnesses. There was no way to get
(01:58):
the information to the public in at family manner back then. Sadly,
her body was found four days later, and then her
family pushed for the creation of a program. So even
though her murder still remains unsolved, today we have fifty
states that have developed their own Amberler plans.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Wow, you know what, I guess I didn't realize that
that poor girl's murder was still unsolved. That's heartbreaking, But
her family must have some sort of pride to see
what has happened with what started evolved out of the
disappearance of their daughter. I'm guessing they probably had no
idea it would become the standard around the nation.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Absolutely, absolutely, and each plan throughout the nation is named
in her honor. The Amber and Amberlert actually stands for
America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response. Oh, it was law enforcement.
Yet it was law enforcement all the broadcasters who kind
of came together and said, how can we disseminate this
to our public so that they know when a child
(03:00):
it's been abducted and they can help. That's something interesting
that not many people are aware of.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You're correct, I had no I just assumed, well, it's
named after the little girl. But no, that makes sense too.
It worked out nicely. So now in ninety six this
came about in Texas. When did Wisconsin? Was it a
fairly quick process when state started saying, hey, this is
something we got to jump on board with.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, there's a lot of technology components that needed to
come into play and mechanisms and you know, to disseminate
to the public. So many including us, started our plan
in two thousand and three. So we've been doing this
for twenty two years and we've had actually sixty five
(03:44):
activations over that time.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yep, here in Wisconsin. It kind of averages out to
about two to three activations a year. Many times we're
able to find the children before we need to activate.
Others may not qualify, but we have been prideful in
geographic areas that are targeted to find our children, which
has been really helpful for the public and broadcasters.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, and with us sixty five activations here in Wisconsin,
of course, we're currently under an amber alert for the
Beaver Dam girl that has been missing since earlier this month.
But aside from hers, is there still an active one.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
No, Sophia Franklin is the only active amberlerk here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Because there's no time limit on them, right.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Correct, And actually with Elijah Booth case in several months,
but that was active for him.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, And the only way yeah, obviously either a happy
ending to the alert or unfortunately a grim discovery here now,
and boy has technology advanced over the years from two
thousand and three or in the mid ninety when this began.
And yeah, your go to would be radio stations are
(05:05):
key players here because driving around on the roads, you're
looking for a car. You want to get that information
out to the radio stations, television stations. But now we
have like social media and electronic billboard. Well we had
electronic billboards for a while now, but I mean it's
just exploded as far as how to get the information out.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It has, it really has. And with the technology of
the wireless emergency alerts on the cell phones, I mean
most people have a cell phone and they can be
notified immediately if there's an alert. So that has really
been a helpful advancement in technology.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And i'd imagine you know, you have a strict criteria
that you need to follow because you don't want to
cry wolf, you know what I mean, You don't want
to do it, and so then people as humans, we
tend to get used to it and don't take it
as seriously.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Right, we are concerned about oversaturation. We do want the
public to remain vigilant and actively looking for our missing children.
So we are careful in the criteria, which has remained
consistent in Wisconsin for us, it's seventeen years of age younger.
The child must be in dangers yours boldly harm or
(06:21):
death and there must be enough information about the child
suspect or vehicle that us notifying the public would result
in locating them.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And I know it seems like some questions will pop
up every now and again when we have alerts issued,
some questioning, well, wait, is that the criteria or how
does that fall under it as you said seventeen or
under Now, let's say you have a case of a
miner who may when we think of abduction, or at
least when I do, I think of snatched from the
streets or you know, taken from their home overnight or
(06:54):
something anywhere you can be swiped. Sure, but how about
a miner who is not an adult and able to
legally give consent, but willingly goes with someone they shouldn't
be with, as we're seeing with the certain cases, perhaps
the ongoing case right now, if they're in the company
(07:16):
of an adult, or how do you go about determining that.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
We look at everything involved in the case and what
the investigators know as as part of their investigation. We
look at everything and determine is that child in danger
of serious bodily harm or death? And if it meets that,
we are going to issue So that is commonly we
(07:41):
go through the criteria with the agency, we really look
at all of everything that's involved in the situation and
then we can alert on what has been meant for
the criteria.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Sure, and I know we were not getting into specifics
about any case is here, but the ongoing Amber alert
right now for the beaver damnteen Sophia Franklin, I can't
say I don't know that this girl and obviously that
is an unanswered question that she could be in harm
even though it appears she had willingly gone prior. We
(08:15):
don't know the circumstances up to her disappearance this time.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right, I'm not able to talk about that case.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Do you find child custody issues? Can this kind of
muddy the waters as well? Or I know we've had
alerts where you know you've had a parent that has
been involved the subject. It doesn't mean that they're not
in danger if they're taken by a parent.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Sure, that is true. In general, we do not use
our alerts for custody related disputes, but if there is
a danger to that child again of the serious voley
harm or death, we will issue to try to locate
that Ktto Faife and as far.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
As a success rate. How is Wisconsin's success rate for
its Amber alerts program.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Sure, in more than half of the Amber alerts that
we've activated for the amberlert itself has resulted in the
location of the child, So we really have a very
high success rate. We're really proud of, you know, our
broadcasters and all of our partners and citizens who kind
of come to the call and help report what they're
(09:25):
seeing so that we can find these children safe.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And I was just reading a little background on yourself,
Melissa and talking about the Jamie class case, and that
was a big case, a memorable success story for you.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yes, we had so many people working in conjunction with
us on that. It was just truly remarkable that that
is all Jamie she did that. That was amazing amount
of courage that she took to free herself.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah, sure did. And boy, what was it October November
December tenth. Yeah, it was like almost four months that
she had been missing it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, eighty eight days. Yeah, we were we're all hoping
for her to safely be found, and she was and
it was just a great day for her primarily, but
then for all the people you know, looking for her
and and praying for her and worrying for her. You know,
there's a lot of heart that goes into these.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Alert absolutely, and and it also reminds us that miracles
do happen a lot of us automatically we see these
things and we fear the gloom and doom just you know,
over the years, right, tragic cases that we've seen play out,
and this is just a good reminder. Well, I hate
to say it ended well because she lost her parents.
(10:50):
It's the poor young girl. I can't even fathom. But
it ended well. At least she was alive and she
is surviving this and so that was just an amazing
thing to see.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Now do you when you decide to put out the
amber alert, is it kind of like our weather alerts
where you focus some regionally first, or how do you
determine if they go statewide or do they all just
automatically go statewide.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
No, we do not issure amber alerts statewide unless we
have really good information that they've traveled to a destination
farther in the state. We are set up regionally through
our broadcasting systems to send the alert to regions in Wisconsin,
which has been helpful. And if we do get information
(11:38):
that they've traveled further, we can extend the AMBER alerts,
So that's been very helpful and not saturating people in
areas where they are probably not traveling.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Sure. Yeah, yeah, we've seen our current AMBER alert extended
now into Missouri along with Arkansas as well as it
remains active here in Wisconsin. And what is the like
the behind the scenes, the step by step, so in
how the alert goes into effect. I'd imagine a relative parent,
(12:10):
somebody of a loved one that is missing, or if
somebody's witnessed a child or somebody being abducted. Cops get
called first, and then is it the police department that
notifies you or how does it go Corrett?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
The local enforcement will reach out to our agency and
a supervisor along with myself will talk with the agency
about the circumstances for the missing child and we'll go
through the criteria and determine if it meets that criteria.
And then there's a lot of work to get all
of the information we need to disseminate, so all of
their identifiers, a photo, all those things you know sometimes
(12:48):
can take time. Sure, so we're working behind the scenes
together all the information together to disseminate out. I'll be
updating the website, will be having the National Center for
Mission Exploited Children to the WILLA, the Wireless emergency Alert.
Our broadcasters are pushing it out outdoor advertisers, a lottery.
(13:11):
There's a lot of people working behind the scenes to
make this a success and try to locate our children.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
And as we know, these things don't happen on the
clock nine to five, so I'd imagine it's a correct. Yeah,
it's a twenty four to seven operation. You've got to
be I mean, every we're human, everybody has to have
some reprieve and time on their own, but this thing
has to be monitored and dealt with twenty four to seven, right.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yes, yes, And myself and my coworker, we're a team
of two that help with many supervisors to talk over
these alerts and to give any assistance we can. And
I will say, if it does not mean an alert,
we don't stop there. We continue to assist by potentially
doing a different an alert or pushing the information out
(14:03):
to social media. So we are continually involved with the
Amber request with the missing child because things can develop
as time goes on, and while it may not meet
the requirements from the beginning. You know, there's always time
where things change, and we could issue an Amber alert.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
With I'm going to ask it. If you can't, that's fine.
It's a not result. It has to work its way
through the courts. But in Western Wisconsin with Lily Peters,
there had not been an alert issue there. Correct?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And can can you say why.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I'm not able to talk about specific instance such as that.
There were you know a lot of things happening very
quickly and people are really trying to get the information
and determine what the situation is, and that all is
very time sensitive, and it's you know, we have to
just make sure we have all the information.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, and please don't take it for why didn't you
do it? That's not at all my intent here, Melissa.
And if I'm trying to remember, just from the story coverage,
there had been kind of a lapse of time and
just some nuances of this case that didn't right away
screen Amber. I know there had been an attempt for
(15:25):
a Lily alert, but I believe that's kind of dormant, right.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So out of that case, in another case, we now
have the missing child alert, and that alert covers instances
where children are missing and they might not meet the
Amber alert criteria. So that has been helpful in our
children nine years of age or younger that are missing,
(15:51):
we can locate them and then in some cases children
who are seventeen years of age younger and unable to
return on their own or other circumstances, we can issue
that alert. So that has been helpful as well.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
And I think it's also important just to remind people
and dispel the thinking and thanks to movies and television
over the years that if you're a parent and you believe,
you don't have to wait twenty four hours before you
can reach.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Out, correct, correct, That was one thing I wanted to
say so badly today. Well, you do not have to wait.
You do not wait twenty four hours. Call lung person
immediately when someone is missing, especially a child, and we
can just start getting those resources ready to go and.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Deployed and commonplace anymore where parents have their children fingerprinted,
And it's probably a good idea too. I mean, who
wants to have to plan for such a thing, But
when you're in that chaotic situation, boy, that information goes
a long way, like having their height, weight, any birthmarks,
(17:00):
and you know, a picture to get out, you know,
to media and to get out and about. So it's
it's just a good practice. I'd imagine you recommend that
for families.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, yes, we always advise parents. I mean we're always
taking photos of our kids and drank kids. Usually we
have an updated photo. But it's always good to have
a photo, a recent one to be used so that
people are actually looking for the person as they look
today versus you know, a year ago or months ago,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
What about Melissa so seventeen and under the missing child alert?
What is it nine years or under?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
You said, yes, nine years of age or younger?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
What about amber alerts are just for children? What's the
alert if there's some twenty one year old woman, young
woman who you know? Yes, as I get old older,
I consider that a child now myself, But technically it
is not. So do we use Amber in cases like
that or no?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So no we don't. But what's good about Wisconsin is
we have the Missing Endangered Personal Alert and that covers
that encompasses all missing who do not qualify for another alert.
So that has been very helpful because that alert goes
out through the Wisconsin Crime Alert Network to people who
have signed up for it, to businesses, media, and it
(18:19):
really for the wide net, which is very helpful, and
that has been successful in locating you know, young adults
or all adults that may not meet the criteria of
another alert.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And I've seen over the past I think it's been
about a decade now where Silver Alerts and that works
out of a different agency than you are. You all
housed kind of in the in one department here.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
We are still housed within the divisional Criminal Investigation at
DJ and my partner, Sailor Sarah Palin, is the Silver
Alert coordinator, and that program has really just exploded with success. Yeah,
we have so many people that have noticed these vulnerable
(19:04):
sceners and reported them and actually it's been very life
saving in many cases.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yes, it has, and I see it and it's just
kind of it's sad, but it has become commonplace. I know,
on my way in to work, it's not unusual for
me to see on the electronic billboards or a new
Silver Alert listed. I guess we were paying more attention
to the impact of alzheimer and dementia and getting that
(19:31):
word out right away.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yes, and we appreciate that we really do.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, And has the Silver alert's been about has it
been about ten years?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Twenty fourteen? So just over okay, that's when it started.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
All right. And then we have as well the green alerts,
and this is primarily this is for veterans GRET.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
The green alert is for missing veterans at risk and
those are issued by the local law enforcement agencies. So
a citizen would report that to a local police farman
and they can put out a green alert in those instances.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Now, are there to do state by state? Every state
runs their own. Are there a lot of differences in
how state one state does it compared to Wisconsin?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Or I think the Amber alert is pretty standard across
the nation. I know that there are different Silver alerts
or endangered advisories that are put out that are worded
a little bit differently, but really encompass most all missing
people to try to alert the public and locate those.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, so you're the coordinator Amber alert and missing person's
clearing house? What is the missing person's clearing house?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Sure, the clearing house we coordinate with other states and
potentially missing persons, sometimes longer term cases where we're still
trying to make sure that those cases are out on
the website and social media and coordinating different responses. I
(21:13):
have a person and my team around you know, Wisconsin
that I can call in the middle of the night
if we have an amber and just work through that.
If it doesn't meet their amber, their clearing house, and
work through any resources they have that we might be
able to utilize and locating our missing people. So the
clearing the House also works with the National Center for
(21:33):
Missing Exploited Children on tips for missing children. We work
with them on training and all sorts of things to hopefully,
you know, educate the public and law enforcement on missing
persons in general.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
And every now and again you will will hear an
amazing case where some young girl, I think of it
not her name was Jamie Too out in California, and
of course Elizabeth's smart. I mean, sometimes a miracle does
happen and people are found after decades. It's just unreal.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Do you know offhand, Melissa, how many children from Wisconsin
we have listed as missing.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I don't have that number in front of me. I
know that last year, in twenty twenty four, they were
over two thousand children report and missing, So I mean,
that's a lot of kiddows that are going missing in
our state. Luckily, many are found fairly quickly, but for
(22:47):
those are not, that's when we kind of come into
play and try to do an alert if possible.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, and you don't differentiate or do you whether let's
say a subject is a known runaway, but you're not
for certain that this person did run away or is
it all just treated as missing?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
So for us, the alerts aren't intended for runaway children,
but if there's a component for danger and risk their lives,
we will issue. I'm very sensitive to all missing kids,
so we try to do whatever we can to locate
those kids with the resources we have.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And I read on your bio you're a you're a mother, grandmother,
so oh boy, your kids say no, you got tabs
on them twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Oh you should hear the stories.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Absolutely, But amber alert aside just for a runaway that
it's probably a runaway, does that then go under like
the missing person's report.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Missing and Dangered personal art. We could issue that for sure,
depending on you know, what it looks like. You know,
each each miss I think person case is different. And
you know, while people may you know, put them in
a category. It's really about the danger they might be
in when they're missing and us just finding them and
bringing them home.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, not so much how they came to be missing.
They could have willingly walked off on their own, but
yet they're in the world of trouble right now and
didn't realize what they were getting into. And that brings
to mind just boy, our eyes have really been opened
over the years about sex trafficking. Just what I used
to think back in the day. Oh, that's that's not
(24:33):
really going on here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Oh yeah, it is, right right.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Is there any sort of or I would imagine with
a seriousness of that that would fall under an AMBER
alert or endangered missing person alert or is there some
different sort of alert system for that.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
There's not a different alert for that. We have issued
Amber alerts, and like circumstances, you know, again, if they're
in danger of serious bolely harm or death, we're going
to issue looking at the totality of circumstances, of course,
but we're really going to try to do everything we
can to locate those individuals now.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
As far as anything on the horizon, i'd imagine, just
to keep the program running smoothly, you've got to constantly
sit back and review. Are there any changes in the
works going forward?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Not that I can see the Missing Chiddler with the
most recent change and that was you know, April twenty
twenty four, and that has been a great success for us.
We've located a lot of kids safely, so that's great.
I would say if there's something I could talk to
the public about. You're our greatest asset in finding missing
(25:50):
children and adults, and to sign up for our crime
alert network is one of the things you can do
to help bring them home safely. So we try to
really talk about at Wisconsin Crime Alert Network. It's a
free sign up at Wisconsin Crime alert dot w I,
d o J dot go and you can receive aw
(26:12):
missing personal alerts. You know, some automatically go off on
your cell phones. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I was just going to ask that and that happens. Yeah,
I thought Amber Alert whether I signed up or not,
it's kind of like some weather alerts, it's going to
come through.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yes, that is correct. But when you sign up for
the crime alart Network, you can you can choose to
receive them by email or even text message, so that's helpful.
We can still get them out to you in a
text when you're able to look and review it. That's
that's really helpful.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And when when the tips come in, because when Amber alerts,
it's always contact or call nine one one. So the
tip process or the sidings that all goes to law enforcement.
That doesn't go into uh, you guys don't have a
phone bank. That man's that or anything.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Correct that will be routed to directly to the local
law enforcement agency who's investigating that marchioness in person casey.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
And you know we're hearing, whether it be state or nationally,
a lot of programs under scrutiny, some cuts being made
or proposed. Amber Alert to the program. I'd imagine it's
paid for a combination of what state and federal funding.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
That's a good question that I don't know the I
know that I believe it's state funding. I don't want
to give in information, but we are under the Wisconsin
Department of Justice, and our agency funds this program, so
I have not had to worry about that.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Good.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So I think we're good.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I hope we don't get to a time where we
are debating whether a program like Amber Alert is necessary
or not, because over the years the success stories are. Yeah,
it defends the program itself.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Absolutely, it's been very, very successful.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And again, just as we're getting ready to wrap it
up here, I've been speaking with Melissa Marchant. She is
the Amber Alert and Missing Person's Clearinghouse coordinator here in Wisconsin,
based out of the Department of Justice. So you're here
in Madison, right, Yes, I am, yeah, and Wisconsin has
had its Amber Alert going now since oh, two thousand
(28:24):
and three, is that what you said?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yep, that's correct, So.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Twenty two years. It's amazing because it seems like it's
been around forever. Yes, and when you think of, you know,
twenty two years, just a couple of decades, that's really
not that long. But it's a very it's a vital
program that I think kids are taught about as soon
(28:47):
as they start going into school, which is again it's
kind of you don't want to, you know, scare them,
but you need to make them aware of just some
of the dangers that are out there.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Absolutely all right, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Well, Melissa, Yeah, if you have anything to add, do
it now, otherwise we're gonna call it a show.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Anything else you want, You're good. Yeah, I just wanted
to talk about the crime or network so people can
help us out. And I really appreciate everything New and
everyone else is doing to talk about the program and
making awareness for our missing children.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Absolutely, and again if you can give give out that
website for people to sign up for those alerts.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yes, Wisconsin Crime Alert dot Wi, DOOJ dot gov.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
All right, good deal. And again another thing we want
to hit home. Do not wait twenty four hours. That
is not required that you wait twenty four hours to
report somebody missing. You do it as soon as you
know what, you get to the phone and call police.
All right, listen March again, thanks so much you've been
listening to Madison Forum.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!