Chinese Amber Alert

by+Li+Zhuoxi

On May 15， 2016， Chinese Childrens Safety Emergency Response （CCSER） officially began operation. The project is a collaboration between Chinas Ministry of Public Security （MPS） and Alibaba Group to report information and help find missing and trafficked children across the country.

Searching for and rescuing abductees has always been a concern. Cases involving missing children are particularly difficult to solve because of lack of evidence， high frequency of occurrence in areas with more floating population， and late police reports only filed long after the parents fail to find the lost kids. The establishment of a system enabling the public react timely is a serious need.

A similar system in the United States is known as the “Amber Alert.”

A Chinese-version Amber Alert has been established as a platform for police authorities， with participation of 5，000 officers， to publicize announcements to and from provincial， municipal， and county governments. Information on missing children is first posted on mobile apps， such as MPSs official Weibo （microblog） and Auto Navi Map， and then spread to stakeholders in the areas the children were lost， so that more people can get accurate info from the authorities quickly and assist the police in catching the perpetrators and bring the victims home.

MPS began trial operation of the platform on May 9， 2016， officially launched it on May 13， 2016， and a short time later a missing girl was rescued.