RUNNER CALLS FOR BROADCASTS WHEN KIDS DISAPPEAR.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The Emergency Alert System, created to warn Americans of impending nuclear attack, should be used to alert citizens to child abductions, Assemblyman George Runner says.

Runner has introduced legislation to allow law enforcement anywhere in California to alert television and radio stations to abductions within minutes of receiving a child-abduction call.

``The general public could hear immediately on the radio or television, the description and other important details about a child who has just been kidnapped,'' Runner said. ``The lives of a lot of children could be saved by using the emergency broadcast system.''

Nearly 2,000 child abductions were reported to law enforcement in California last year, including more than 650 in Los Angeles County, officials said.

Runner's proposal was patterned after systems in use in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. The Texas system is named the Amber Plan, after a 9-year-old Arlington, Texas, girl who was abducted from her home and slain.

Orange County has a pilot program.

Created in 1963 at the height of the Cold War, the Emergency Broadcast System changed its name in the 1990s to the Emergency Alert System, since it now incorporates cable and satellite systems as well as radio and broadcast television stations.

It is used hundreds of times a year around the United States to warn people of storms, toxic spills or other dangers.

The changes of the 1990s also changed the technology used to alert stations to an incoming message, and made less frequent the test message that became familiar to television watchers in the 1960s: ``This is a test. This station is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.''

Runner's resolution would make the Emergency Alert System available for use by law enforcement once it determines that an abduction fits certain criteria.

The criteria includes the prospect of imminent danger to the child or the likelihood the child could be taken across state or national borders.

The system would be less likely to be used in situations in which one parent kidnaps a child from the other parent, unless there is a threat of the child being harmed.

Lancaster sheriff's station officials support the plan.

``The longer we wait, the harder it is to apprehend the suspect and return the child safely,'' said Sgt. Darrel Brown, who is also an Antelope Valley Union High School District board member.

Broadcast warnings might lead a kidnapper into releasing the child for fear of being caught, officials say.

The resolution must pass the Assembly Safety Committee before being sent to the Assembly floor. Runner he said he expects the resolution to go to the floor in about six weeks, before being passed on to the governor for his approval.