MACON, Ga. — Amber Alerts are crucial resources for law enforcement when a child is missing and considered in danger, but when a 2-year-old Macon boy was allegedly abducted early Wednesday by a man who allegedly killed three people, the Georgia Amber Alert system didn't work the way it was supposed to.
The system is supposed to get the alert out fast. In this case, it took more than seven hours to get that first Amber Alert sent.
To issue an Amber Alert, law enforcement has to go through several steps.
First, a local agency notifies the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and gives them information about the case.
Then, the GBI sends it to the state communications center run by Georgia State Patrol (GSP).
From there, a GSP dispatcher notifies the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to send out the Amber Alert broadcast.
GEMA is responsible for getting the alert on TV and radio broadcasts.
NCMEC pushes the alert to mobile phones, according to Georgia State Patrol.
That's went wrong overnight.
"It could have been a substantial help to us had it been put out in a timely manner," said Bibb Sheriff David Davis.
It wasn't, though.
The alleged shooting happened around 9:30 P.M, the abduction happened sometime after that.
Davis says his agency alerted the GBI around 12:30 a.m.
The GBI says they got the information to state patrol around 1 a.m., but state patrol didn't send the alert until around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, more than 7 hours later.
By then, Davis says, the suspect accused of kidnapping the 2-year-old may not have even been in Georgia anymore.
"By 8:00, 8:30, he was probably substantially out of Georgia," said the Sheriff.
Two-year-old King Crockett was found safe in Florida Wednesday afternoon, when Florida Highway Patrol spotted the suspect, Caesar Crockett's vehicle in their state.
They managed to get King to safety, but Caesar refused to leave his car. He was in an armed standoff with Florida law enforcement.
We spoke with the toddler's family Wednesday afternoon before the child was found safe.
Amber Smith and Libby Rutland both wanted to know why it took so long to issue that alert.
"If it was any other kid, it goes suddenly," said Smith. "Why was the delay so much with our relative?"
According to an emailed statement from state patrol, the answer is simple. Their dispatcher who was supposed to notify GEMA and NCMEC to push the alert never did that. GEMA and NCMEC weren't informed until the morning.
GSP called it "a major error on the part of the dispatcher" and said that dispatcher is now being investigated and could face internal discipline.
State patrol stressed this was their mistake, no other agencies are at fault.
State patrol also said they're working with the GBI to improve the notification process and adding training for communications staff to stress how serious Amber Alerts are.
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