The Endangered Person Advisory is an innovative system to immediately notify law enforcement and the public about missing person cases not meeting the criteria for an AMBER Alert. For over a decade, Amber Alerts have proven to be a valuable tool that have saved the lives of hundreds of children. However, AMBER Alerts do not address cases involving children where police have no evidence of an abduction, adult kidnap victims, missing Alzheimer’s patients or children lost near water or cliffs. The Endangered Person Advisory System gives police a formal action plan to safely recover missing children who do not fit the AMBER Alert criteria, or adults because no systematic recovery plan exists.

How is an Endangered Person Advisory started in South Dakota? A missing person is reported to their local law enforcement agency. During investigation of the missing person case, local law enforcement will determine if the missing person is endangered and might be aided by an Endangered Person Advisory.

The Activation of the Endangered Person Advisory plan can only be requested by South Dakota law enforcement agencies using the following criteria:

• Do the circumstances fail to meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert? (If they do meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert, immediately follow the protocol to issue an Amber Alert).

• Is the person missing under unexplained, involuntary or suspicious circumstances?

• Is the person believed to be in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, environment or weather conditions, in the company of a potentially dangerous person or some other factor that may put the person at risk for serious bodily injury or death?

• Is there enough descriptive information that could assist the public in the safe recovery of the endangered person?

Click on the button below to view the South Dakota Child Abduction Amber Alert Poster.

Click on the button below to see an example of questions that will be asked if you are a law enforcement agent reporting a child abduction or if you were a witness to a child abduction.
 

Question Examples