Must an Amber Alert in South Dakota be issued within a certain amount of time?

While it is encouraged to issue Amber Alerts as quickly as possible to maximize chances of recovering an abducted child, there is no formal requirement to do so within a certain amount of time in South Dakota.

America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, or AMBER, notifies the public of abducted children via TV and radio broadcasting, highway signs, cellphones and the internet.

Each state determines its own criteria for issuing an alert. In South Dakota, the request must:

Come from a law enforcement agency.

Provide credible evidence that an underage child has been abducted.

Demonstrate that the child is in danger of harm or death.

Include enough descriptive information to assist in the recovery of the child.

These criteria align with the minimum guidelines established by the federal government in 2003, which states can adopt voluntarily.

AMBER was created after the 1996 abduction and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman in Texas.