Facebook and SAPS team up to help fight the scourge of vulnerable missing children

Dennis TJanuary 30, 2020

30 2 minutes read

Have you seen this missing child? Please retweet, please share’. This has become something of a phenomenon in South Africa in recent years. And now Facebook and the South African Police Service have partnered to bring the social networks missing childrens alert – the Amber Alert – to South Africa. Amber stands for ‘America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response’. It was named in memory of Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas, in 1996.

SA will become the first African country to utilise the alert, which is already in use in countries around the world, including the US, the UK, France, Russia, Australia, Ecuador and Canada. Emily Vacher, Facebook’s director of trust and safety, explained that alerts would only be sent in critical circumstances, where the safety of the child was at risk.

She explained that once a missing persons case had been opened at a police station, the police would then draft an e-mail to Facebook’s global security centre, and within 15 minutes, Facebook would distribute an Amber Alert to people within the affected area, calling them to action.

“We want them (the public) to see it as an opportunity, they are in a position to help a missing child and they have the opportunity to do so, all they have to do is read the alert, and remain aware of their surroundings.

“I hope this never gets used, because that means a child has gone missing. I hope the public becomes aware of what an Amber Alert means and that they come together to take action if they ever see an alert. We also hope this will spark conversations between parents and their children, police and their communities, to keep children safe,” said Vacher. Vacher said they partnered with South Africa because of the commitment shown by various NGOs and the national police service towards children.

“There are incredible NGOs in child safety, and this is an issue that is talked about. It has worked, it is addressed and we thought it would be an excellent tool to assist law enforcement incase they ever need it, to be able to share that content with the child’s community,” she said.

Due to the nature of the alert and its use of location services to determine which people an alert is sent to, Vacher explained that Facebook’s automated systems would pull in check-in services information and location services to determine who to target. But, she said, Facebook would not override and send alerts to people who had blocked their location services from their social media experience.

“We certainly do not want the alerts to be unwelcome, so we will never do that,” she said. Vacher urged parents and guardians to act immediately, if they ever suspected children went missing. It is important to mention to the public, never wait when a child goes missing… Every minute is so critical, it’s so much more important that the parent alert the police, even if it’s a mistake,” she said.

In other news – Salamina and Howza Mosese play the Celebrating Love Quiz – Video

Salamina and Howza met in 2006, and have been married for 11 years. They have a daughter and are expecting their second child. In our Celebrating Love Quiz, they share their passion for travelling and for each other.