There are emergency alerts for children, seniors and adults with some disabilities, but for law enforcement, there's a big gap. And now, a North Carolina woman's death has local law makers calling for a new alert system for missing adults.
If you're 17 years old or 65 years old, go missing and you're possibly in danger, there is some kind of alert that goes out, but if you're 18 or 64, then there is nothing even close to a statewide or regional alert system, but now there's an effort to create one.
The movement comes from Stamford Representative Patricial Billie Miller. Her cousin, Ashanti, went missing in September of last year and was feared in danger.
She was found 11 days later in North Carolina.
"Ashanti will never get married. Her parents will never have grandchildren because she was an only child,” Rep. Patricia Billie Miller said.
Police say there is a hole in the system. Everything from digital billboards and television, to cell phones and delivery drivers receive notifications for an Amber Alert. And a Silver Alert at least tells local media that a senior or someone with a disability is missing, but for an adult who may have been abducted, there's nothing.
“I think what we’re talking about here is really bringing that to another level, to the over 18 in those similar situations, which again, I think is a small probably amount of call volume," said Farmington Chief of Police Paul Melanson.
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Connecticut U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal already recieved unanimous passage for the Ashanti Alert Act in the U.S. Senate. He is now lobbying for the House to pass it.
“The protections for children and seniors are good and we should have it for people who are 18 to 64 years old. That’s the gap in the current law,” Senator Blumenthal said.
Congress has two weeks to pass the Ashanti Alert Act or else Senator Blumenthal has to start from scratch next year.
