One of the best ways the public can assist law enforcement in locating endangered missing people in South Dakota is through participation in one of two statewide plans designed to aid law enforcement in the safe recovery of missing citizens.Those two plans are the statewide AMBER ALERT plan and the ENDANGERED PERSON ADVISORY plan.

The AMBER ALERT plan is designed to rapidly broadcast information to the public about abducted children whose lives are in danger of bodily harm or death. The AMBER ALERT plan is only used for serious child abduction cases. It should not be used for runaways or custody disputes unless the circumstance is life-threatening to the child.

The criteria for declaring an AMBER ALERT is as follows:

• The request to declare an Amber Alert must come from a Law Enforcement Agency.

• There must be credible evidence that a child under 18 years old has been abducted.

• There must be evidence that the child is in danger of bodily harm or death.

• There must be enough credible and useful information from eyewitnesses or other sources that could assist in the safe recovery of the child and arrest of the suspect.

The ENDANGERED PERSON ADVISORY plan is designed to rapidly broadcast information to the public about missing persons who are endangered. The plan may be used for seriously endangered children or adults and is not limited to abductions.

Criteria for an ENDANGERED PERSON ADVISORY are:

• The request to declare an Endangered Person Advisory must come from a Law Enforcement agency.

• Do the circumstances fail to meet the criteria for 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?