Before September 1st, Alabama had no statewide alert in place that could notify the public if an adult went missing, unless that adult was mentally or physically disabled.  Now, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency can push a Missing and Endangered Persons Alert for any missing adult at risk of bodily harm or death, whether they have a disability or not.

“We are constantly analyzing our processes and procedures to improve and better serve the citizens of Alabama,” ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor said – continuing “Our Fusion Center has recognized a need to expand this alert criteria and we’re very thankful for the support of Governor Kay Ivey – and also the Legislature who continuously work with us to enhance the tools and resources we have.”

The Alabama Fusion Center is a unit within ALEA that’s responsible for issuing Amber Alerts, Emergency Missing Child Alerts, Blue Alerts and Emergency Missing Persons Alerts.

In a news release, the agency specified that none of its alerts require a person to have been missing for a certain amount of time, despite misconceptions that a person must be missing for 24 hours before law enforcement can help. The release advised Alabamians to notify law enforcement immediately in any situation regarding a missing child or adult.

ALEA launched a new high-speed notification system called CodeRED in 2022, and citizens can subscribe to receive notifications in the case of missing persons or during emergency situations by texting “ALalerts” to 99411 or enroll online at alea.gov.