SPOKANE, Wash. — While it may seem like you see emergency notifications for missing people pop up on your phone often, most of them are not Amber Alerts, according to Washington State Patrol.
Phones across Spokane received an ‘Amber Alert’ on Tuesday evening about an 8-year-old girl who was abducted by her father while getting off the school bus in Spokane Valley.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Police find girl who was abducted in Spokane County
Less than an hour later, she was found safe and police arrested her father, 40-year-old Reginald Kinsey.
Washington State Patrol said the reason the alert was so successful in helping find the girl was because of the very specific information shared in the message.
WSP said it can be a challenge to issue Amber Alerts because they need to give useful information to the public in a quick amount of time.
“That’s why our small group is the subject matter experts for alerting in Washington because we want that quick turnaround,” said Carri Gordon, Program Manager for WSP Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit.
Gordon’s team decides when to send out an Amber Alert, which must meet very specific criteria.
“So, there are four criteria, it has to be children, so 17-years-old and younger, and there has to be some indication that the child has been abducted,” Gordon said.
The child must also be believed to be in danger of serious injury or death and there must be specific details available, such as a license plate, to share to get credible leads.
There have been a few times WSP has used the Amber Alert system for other things besides Amber Alerts, but it is rare, and only for when a child’s life is in serious danger.
However, in most cases, Amber Alerts cannot be used for runaways or children who are lost.
According to WSP, Spokane County Emergency Management issues emergency alerts for missing persons, which is not done in any other part of the state.
WSP said it does not agree with this practice.
“So, when a child goes missing or runs away, sure, they’re in danger or at risk, and we want to notify the public, but we just can’t use that system,” Gordon said.
Washington State Patrol said it’s against issuing non-Amber Alert missing persons alerts to phones because it could cause people to experience ‘alert fatigue’ and turn off the alerts.
Gordon said because of the high stakes nature of Amber Alerts, it’s crucial the public continue to receive the notifications and use the information to help police bring home children who have been abducted.
“Please don’t turn off that function,” she said.
COPYRIGHT 2025 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.