News Story:
A California state senator has created a new bill that would create a new Black Alert system for missing black children and young women. Per the bill and the news story, the new system would be a system similar to the current Amber Alert system. So in effect creating a duplication of the Amber Alert system and doubling the state funds to create and run the new system.
The reason that the creator, Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) stated this was that the current Amber Alert does not properly cover the black population base. He stated in a KCRA 3 interview, “Young African American girls are listed more likely as runaways versus missing, and even those who are being exploited sexually are listed as juvenile prostitutes. And as we all know, someone under the age of 18 cannot consent to selling sex, so just the labels that they put on them just makes law enforcement far less inclined to look for them,”
Now, if that statement is true, I 100% believe some people need to lose their jobs at the Amber Alert system. There should not be any reason, even if the child of any color or race is a runaway or a prostitute that the system isn’t sending out the alert message. Hell, that system may be the reason a crime is being stopped and a child is being saved. Why not fix the broken system that is already in place and remove anyone that is not doing their job?
Another issue is that according to the way the story was written, it won’t change the fact that the Amber Alerts are not being sent. It sounds like the real location of the alerts not going out is at the local ground level. The officers or reporting agencies that first receive the request of the missing child or young woman. Why would the Black Alert go out if that is the location of the real issue?
There should be no reason to have two systems that do the same exact thing to be funded by the taxpayers. The current system needs to be fixed so it truly benefits the public regardless of age, color, race, or etc. This is why California spends so much money that could be used for other problems.
