Nevada looks to statewide Amber Alert

Nevada Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins wants to establish a statewide notification system for child abduction cases -- a concept urged by the Smart family whose 15-year-old daughter was found nine months after being taken from her Utah home.

Perkins, D-Las Vegas, said Thursday that while some local law enforcement agencies already have procedures for issuing such alerts, there is currently no communication between counties.

The bill, to be introduced in the Assembly by Monday, will outline procedures for issuing the notifications, known as Amber Alerts, as well as the requirements for such a notification.

Under the bill, once police determine a child has been abducted and is in danger they notify radio stations, which send out information about the victim and assailant. The information can be broadcast and sent to all law enforcement agencies around the state.

The information also would go to the Nevada Department of Transportation, which would post it on reader boards along the state's highways.

Perkins, Henderson's deputy police chief, said every law enforcement agency he has contacted expressed support for the proposal, which wouldn't cost them any money to implement. The bill doesn't mandate participation.

Perkins had proposed the bill before the session started last month, but said he just got it back from bill drafters.

Ed Smart, the father of 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart, is pushing for such legislation and criticizing Congress for failing to pass it on a national level. Language detailing nationwide alerts is part of a much larger bill currently in negotiations in the House of Representatives.

Elizabeth Smart was reunited with her family Wednesday, nine months after being kidnapped from her bedroom in a Salt Lake City suburb.

Amber Alerts are named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl abducted in Arlington, Texas, and later found murdered. The Justice Department credits the alerts for helping in the rescues of at least 34 children since 1996.