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Child
kidnap alerts could interrupt national TV programmes whenever a
youngster is snatched, it will be announced today.
Kate McCann,
mum of missing
Madeleine, was due to be a special
guest at the launch of Child Rescue Alert.
The
project, being unveiled on
International Missing Children's Day,
will mean police across the country can "press the CRA button" if a
child under 18 is thought to have been abducted.
Individual police forces have had the powers to trigger such alerts in
the past but the new scheme will be co-ordinated nationwide.
A senior
police source said yesterday: "Research in the States shows that 75% of
children abducted by strangers are dead within four hours.
"If a
CRA is put out, it means we believe we may have just hours to save a
child's life.
"If the
alert is nationwide, broadcasters have agreed to put it out immediately.
Coronation Street, if it's on at the time, will be interrupted." It will
be backed by the missing persons bureau at the National Policing
Improvement Authority's London head office. The CRA, based on the US's
Amber system, will also link with existing set-ups in other European
countries.
And its
launch will highlight the plight of children abducted by a parent or
relative, with 1,000 such cases every year in this country. |
