Mayor Smith visits state budget chair to discuss financial needs

Mayor Smith visits state budget chair to discuss financial needs - Bayonne, New Jersey Local News Bayonne Now - NJ.com:

"Mayor Smith visits state budget chair to discuss financial needs
by Bayonne Now

Mayor Mark A. Smith announced that he met this week with Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald, chair of the NJ General Assembly Budget Committee.

Smith said, 'I sought this meeting with Assemblyman Lou Greenwald to make him aware of Bayonne's needs during this time of economic difficulty. As Mayor, I know that Bayonne depends on a positive relationship with state officials to get the policies and assistance we need to move forward.'

Smith continued, 'Lou Greenwald has had a distinguished record as Budget Chairman and as a sponsor of important legislation. I look forward to continuing to work with him on issues of concern to Bayonne.'

The mayor added, 'Assemblyman Greenwald will be helpful in the coming days as Bayonne seeks partners to assist with the redevelopment of the Peninsula and other important projects.'

Smith said that Greenwald would be returning to Bayonne in the near future.
Greenwald has sponsored legislation to lower auto insurance rates, and a bill to extend eligibility requirements for veterans to receive the Distinguished Service Medal.

Greenwald was the author of legislation creating the Amber Alert system, through which reports of abducted children are broadcast quickly on television and radio. He sponsored a law revising the state's charity care formula to provide greater reimbursement to hospitals. Greenwald also led the effort to establish a nationally designated cancer center in southern New Jersey.
Greenwald is serving his seventh term in the Assembly."

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Father, baby shot in head, coroner says ...

SUNHERALD TV: Father, baby shot in head, coroner says (Updated 4:15 p.m.) - Featured Story - SunHerald.com:

"BILOXI -- Romeo Smith, 30, and his four-month-old daughter both died of a gunshot wound to the head, Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove confirmed this afternoon.

Biloxi police have identified Barbara Starr Smith, 29, of Vine Street, as the woman accused in a double slaying that began at one apartment complex and ended at another.

The suspected shooter is related to the male victim, according to state marriage records. Smith turned herself in at the Biloxi Police Department, directing investigators to the baby's location at Woodland Towns apartments on Irish Hill Drive."

Biloxi police issued an Amber Alert through a national-crime data base and some
Biloxi-area residents reported being notified by telephone. The announcement
went out over a neighboring city's dispatch system as an alert for a missing
child and a woman in a Chevy Trailblazer suspected of shooting the baby's father
and mother.

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New Jersey's attorney general has ordered training of the county prosecutors on the states Amber Alerts System

State orders changes in child abduction cases
Courier-Post staff

New Jersey's attorney general has ordered all county prosecutors to designate "child abduction response team leaders" to oversee missing-child cases.

The directive is to take effect on Jan. 1, said Attorney General Anne Milgram.

The team leaders -- two per county -- will receive standardized training for conducting missing child investigations, said Milgram. They will work with the State Police missing persons unit and other law enforcement agencies.

"Time can be lost and opportunities wasted when law enforcement responds to a report of a missing child without a plan," Milgram said. The new program "will ensure that there is a response plan carefully put together by trained law enforcement officers," she added.

Experts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have begun a weeklong training session for new leaders.

Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton, an early advocate for the team approach, said Milgram's order "will put New Jersey in the forefront of ensuring the safety of our children."

State Police will continue to be immediately notified of Amber Alert requests from local police departments. However, the State Police, in turn, will notify team leaders in the county that submitted the request.



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Vermont State Police to test state's Amber Alert system on 12/4/2008

Vermont State Police will test the state's Amber Alert system on Thursday morning.

This will be only the third test of the system since it was installed several years ago. Activation responsibilities have moved from offices in Waterbury, to offices in Rockingham, so police want to make sure there are no glitches.

Vermont's Amber Alert system has only been used once, during the search for Brooke Bennett this summer. State Police say that incident revealed some glitches that have now been fixed.
"One of the benefits that came out of that was we were contacted by a number of different entities, including CCTA, the post office, the postal service and a couple of others who actually want to be on the direct activation list, so they want to get that information first and they will distribute it amongst their people," said Vermont State Police Lt. Mark Lauer.

Police plan to run the test Thursday 12/4/08 at around 10 a.m. It will look like a real alert, except that there will be a note at the end and beginning indicating it is a test.

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What exactly constitutes an Amber Alert in North Carolina? Can anyone ask law enforcement to issue one?

Q. What exactly constitutes an Amber Alert in North Carolina? Can anyone ask law enforcement to issue one?

A. State law sets the requirements for when an Amber Alert can be issued. All of the following conditions must be met:

□ The child is 17 years or younger.

□ The child is believed to have been abducted.

□ The child was not taken by a parent (unless the child is in danger).

□ The child is not believed to have left on his own (a runaway, for instance).

□ The abduction was reported to and is being investigated by a law-enforcement agency.

Amber stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. The acronym was derived in honor of Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and killed in Texas in 1996.

North Carolina's Amber Alert system is a voluntary cooperative effort among state media broadcasters, local and state law enforcement, the N.C. Department of Transportation, and the N.C. Center for Missing Persons. The center issues the alerts at the request of law enforcement.

The highway signs help to immediately notify people of a criminally abducted child in their area. The Amber Alert hot line is 800-522-5437.


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Murder charge filed in Michigan Amber Alert case

The Associated Press: Murder charge filed in Michigan Amber Alert case:

Murder charge filed in Michigan Amber Alert case

SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — A Saginaw man was charged Wednesday with fatally beating his wife in an incident that sparked a brief nationwide search for the couple's missing children.

Jose Olguin, 35, was charged with open murder and carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, according to Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael Thomas.

The murder charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The weapon charge has a maximum sentence of five years.

Olguin is charged with fatally beating his wife, 32-year-old Erica Olguin. Her body was found Monday at the family's Saginaw home.

The weapon involved in the charges was a hammer, Thomas said.
Olguin remains in custody at the Saginaw County Jail.

The Olguins' three young daughters were reported missing late Monday and were the subject of a nationwide Amber Alert. The girls were found safely with Jose Olguin around noon Tuesday in Shiawassee County, which is near Saginaw.

James Piazza, Olguin's court-appointed attorney, declined comment Wednesday afternoon.

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Attorney general: Beware Amber Alert phone scam

Attorney general: Beware Amber Alert phone scam News Updates Kansas.com:

Kansas Attorney General Steve Six is warning residents to be wary of a phone scam using the name of the Amber Alert program to defraud people.

The caller claims money is being raised to upgrade the Amber Alert program and that donations may be made by cash, credit card or check. The Kansas Amber Alert program is not soliciting money from the public, Six said.

Law enforcement officers in Osage County reported the scam, but it may be taking place in other parts of the state as well, he said. People receiving donation requests over the phone should investigate charities and fund-raising drives before giving.

They can learn more at http://www.ksag.org/files/shared/Charitable.Giving.pdf.

"Oak Forest tests red light cameras to catch child ..."

"Oak Forest tests red light cameras to catch child ...":

Oak Forest tests red light cameras to catch child abductors


Oak Forest police are believed to be the first in the country and perhaps the world to successfully test the village's red light cameras to locate vehicles identified in an Amber Alert.

The test allows for police to search in real time for wanted vehicles involved in child abductions or other serious crimes.

Oak Forest police are testing red light cameras to see if they can aid in Amber Alerts.

Art Vassy, SouthtownStar Officials in the police department are calling the feature a 'priceless tool for law enforcement.'

On Nov. 14, the department entered an Oak Forest squad car's license plate number into the computer system of Gatso USA, the company that manufactures the cameras used in Oak Forest.

Once the cameras identify the targeted vehicle, a text message is sent to police department e-mail accounts along with an image of the vehicle captured on camera.

'They (police) have a secure portal of software to the whole system that allows them to control this feature. The idea is speed is of the essence. Within seconds our cameras are looking for a license plate number.'

Noble said the company is making the Amber Alert feature available immediately. It will be rolled out over next three months in several Illinois communities.

Gatso has contracts with Oak Forest and Homewood in the south suburbs as well as Streamwood, Hanover Park, Lake Zurich and just recently Waukegan."

States Disagree On Amber Alert Criteria / - Waco, Temple, Killeen Weather and News Authority

States Disagree On Amber Alert Criteria / - Waco, Temple, Killeen Weather and News Authority:

Despite a federal law meant to create a uniform system, an Associated Press review finds wide variations in the criteria for issuing Amber Alerts from one state to the next, which can heighten the tensions among authorities when a suspect crosses state lines.

The AP examined Amber Alert records from all 50 states and found that some barely keep track of the alerts they've issued, let alone whether they worked.

A few states don't have anyone designated to oversee their programs.

The poor record keeping makes it difficult to tell whether investigators have ever missed a chance to safely recover an abducted child because of differences in the state laws and their application.

Twelve states refuse to put out an alert when a parent calls police amid a custody fight, while others see that as a legitimate reason to enlist help from the public.

Twelve states issue Amber Alerts for adults with mental or physical disabilities, while other states save their bulletins solely for abducted children.

Amber Alerts were created in 1996 after the murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington.

The city developed a system in which police work with broadcasters to put out bulletins on abducted children, similar to severe weather warnings.
Soon, states began creating their own Amber Alert systems, and Congress established its own law in 2003."

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