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President Bush Signs Amber Alert Bill; Tough New Advertising Campaign from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Aired April 30, 2003 - 15:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Surrounded by once kidnapped children, President Bush signed into law the Amber Alert bill in a special rose garden ceremony today. The wide ranging package of child safety measures a victory for child welfare advocates and families who have pushed for a national Amber Alert system for quite some time.
Our Suzanne Malveaux joining us from the White House with details on how things went. It was an emotional moment there after that bill was signed, wasn't it Suzanne?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly was, Miles. And it was actually really a beautiful ceremony in the rose garden. The president signing -- it's called the Protect Act of 2003, and it really gives the federal government a role in the Amber Alert system. It is landmark legislation. It's aimed at protecting children, establishing an alert system when they are either missing or abducted.
Some of the highlights of this legislation include designating a coordinator at the Justice Department to ensure that programs on state and local levels are consistent, that they are implemented in a meaningful way. It also provides $30 million in resources from the Justice Department, the Department of Transportation to those Amber Alert programs, as well as providing training programs for law enforcement and TV and radio broadcasters to appropriately use the emergency alert system to track those abductors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every person who would think of abducting a child can know that a wide net will be cast. They may be found by a police cruiser or by the car right next to them on a highway. These criminals can know that any driver they pass could be the one that spots them and brings them to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And, Miles, in attendance in the ceremony, families of children who were kidnapped or missing. Elizabeth Smart, she is the Salt Lake City teenager who was kidnapped from her bedroom last June, recently reunited with her family, with her parents, she was there with her parents. Also, a pair of teenage girls from Lancaster, California, who were abducted. An Amber Alert went out and they were actually rescued some 12 hours later. A success story -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Suzanne, we have to ask and wonder at the same time if some of these tragedies might have been averted if this hadn't been in place some time ago. It was delayed and there was a lot of politics involved. Give us a quick sense of why that happened.
MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely, Miles. It's a very good point. There was a lot of politics here, a lot of criticism that this was not made nationwide earlier, that there are some states that did not adopt this program. But you have to realize that it is a voluntary program through locals and statewide officials, law enforcement, as well as broadcasters, who partner up and decide that they are going to use the emergency alert system to actually warn the community that perhaps a child has been abducted or a child is missing.
One of the concerns is that there would be an abuse of that system. That is one of the reasons why this was not implemented sooner. But overwhelmingly passed in both the House and Senate and Congress. It was really a no-brainer for many of the lawmakers who decided they'd go ahead and go forward with this. And of course the publicity in all of the cases, particularly Elizabeth Smart's case, that really pushed this along -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The Smart family using their leverage at that time, too. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much for joining us live from the White House.
A new national Amber Alert law isn't the only positive news for child welfare advocates today. There's also been an announcement of a tough new advertising campaign that comes from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The campaign focuses on sex abuse, and was crafted by a couple who went public with a family trauma in order to help others. CNN's Kathleen Koch with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLORA GATER: If you think about it, pedophiles go where the children are.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The ads designed by Paul Gater (ph) and his wife, Flora (ph), are powerful and personal.
PAUL GATER: I've chosen someone who looked pretty close to the perpetrator and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to go and sit in the photographer's car and just cry.
KOCH: The perpetrator who sexually assaulted their 9-year-old daughter, a kids' club counselor at a St. Thomas hotel they visited in 2000.
F. GATER: Angry, sad, shocked, stunned...
KOCH: And unsure where to turn, until they called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
P. GATER: They leaped to our aid in a number of unbelievable ways. It felt like we had angels with us.
KOCH: The camp counselor was eventually tried and convicted. And the parents, who own a Virginia ad agency, motivated to create a campaign to call attention to the problem and to the resources available.
F. GATER: We had a duty to step forward and -- not only for our daughter's sake, but we know from what happens (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there are going to be hundreds of other kinds of little victims, thousands probably over America suffering in silence.
KOCH: The center says this is the first time parents have come forward to so publicly tackle the problem of child sex abuse, reported only 35 percent of the time.
ERNIE ALLEN, CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE: The research indicates that one in every five girls and one in every 10 boys will be sexually victimized in some way before they reach the age of 18.
KOCH: The pointed ads will initially be released in "USA Today," before running later in other publications.
ALLEN: The reality is, because these people are willing to put themselves on the line, thousands, hundreds of thousands of other children in other families are going to be safer and are going to be less likely to suffer what they've suffered.
KOCH: Paul (ph) and Flora (ph) say the campaign has helped their daughter and their family to heal.
P. GATER: My daughter said to me, "I think I've been given a chance to make a difference in people's lives." And as a result of everything we're doing, she's a strong girl, and we're a strong family as well.
KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Falls Church, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Advertising Campaign from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children>
Aired April 30, 2003 - 15:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Surrounded by once kidnapped children, President Bush signed into law the Amber Alert bill in a special rose garden ceremony today. The wide ranging package of child safety measures a victory for child welfare advocates and families who have pushed for a national Amber Alert system for quite some time.
Our Suzanne Malveaux joining us from the White House with details on how things went. It was an emotional moment there after that bill was signed, wasn't it Suzanne?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly was, Miles. And it was actually really a beautiful ceremony in the rose garden. The president signing -- it's called the Protect Act of 2003, and it really gives the federal government a role in the Amber Alert system. It is landmark legislation. It's aimed at protecting children, establishing an alert system when they are either missing or abducted.
Some of the highlights of this legislation include designating a coordinator at the Justice Department to ensure that programs on state and local levels are consistent, that they are implemented in a meaningful way. It also provides $30 million in resources from the Justice Department, the Department of Transportation to those Amber Alert programs, as well as providing training programs for law enforcement and TV and radio broadcasters to appropriately use the emergency alert system to track those abductors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every person who would think of abducting a child can know that a wide net will be cast. They may be found by a police cruiser or by the car right next to them on a highway. These criminals can know that any driver they pass could be the one that spots them and brings them to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And, Miles, in attendance in the ceremony, families of children who were kidnapped or missing. Elizabeth Smart, she is the Salt Lake City teenager who was kidnapped from her bedroom last June, recently reunited with her family, with her parents, she was there with her parents. Also, a pair of teenage girls from Lancaster, California, who were abducted. An Amber Alert went out and they were actually rescued some 12 hours later. A success story -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Suzanne, we have to ask and wonder at the same time if some of these tragedies might have been averted if this hadn't been in place some time ago. It was delayed and there was a lot of politics involved. Give us a quick sense of why that happened.
MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely, Miles. It's a very good point. There was a lot of politics here, a lot of criticism that this was not made nationwide earlier, that there are some states that did not adopt this program. But you have to realize that it is a voluntary program through locals and statewide officials, law enforcement, as well as broadcasters, who partner up and decide that they are going to use the emergency alert system to actually warn the community that perhaps a child has been abducted or a child is missing.
One of the concerns is that there would be an abuse of that system. That is one of the reasons why this was not implemented sooner. But overwhelmingly passed in both the House and Senate and Congress. It was really a no-brainer for many of the lawmakers who decided they'd go ahead and go forward with this. And of course the publicity in all of the cases, particularly Elizabeth Smart's case, that really pushed this along -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The Smart family using their leverage at that time, too. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much for joining us live from the White House.
A new national Amber Alert law isn't the only positive news for child welfare advocates today. There's also been an announcement of a tough new advertising campaign that comes from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The campaign focuses on sex abuse, and was crafted by a couple who went public with a family trauma in order to help others. CNN's Kathleen Koch with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLORA GATER: If you think about it, pedophiles go where the children are.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The ads designed by Paul Gater (ph) and his wife, Flora (ph), are powerful and personal.
PAUL GATER: I've chosen someone who looked pretty close to the perpetrator and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to go and sit in the photographer's car and just cry.
KOCH: The perpetrator who sexually assaulted their 9-year-old daughter, a kids' club counselor at a St. Thomas hotel they visited in 2000.
F. GATER: Angry, sad, shocked, stunned...
KOCH: And unsure where to turn, until they called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
P. GATER: They leaped to our aid in a number of unbelievable ways. It felt like we had angels with us.
KOCH: The camp counselor was eventually tried and convicted. And the parents, who own a Virginia ad agency, motivated to create a campaign to call attention to the problem and to the resources available.
F. GATER: We had a duty to step forward and -- not only for our daughter's sake, but we know from what happens (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there are going to be hundreds of other kinds of little victims, thousands probably over America suffering in silence.
KOCH: The center says this is the first time parents have come forward to so publicly tackle the problem of child sex abuse, reported only 35 percent of the time.
ERNIE ALLEN, CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE: The research indicates that one in every five girls and one in every 10 boys will be sexually victimized in some way before they reach the age of 18.
KOCH: The pointed ads will initially be released in "USA Today," before running later in other publications.
ALLEN: The reality is, because these people are willing to put themselves on the line, thousands, hundreds of thousands of other children in other families are going to be safer and are going to be less likely to suffer what they've suffered.
KOCH: Paul (ph) and Flora (ph) say the campaign has helped their daughter and their family to heal.
P. GATER: My daughter said to me, "I think I've been given a chance to make a difference in people's lives." And as a result of everything we're doing, she's a strong girl, and we're a strong family as well.
KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Falls Church, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Advertising Campaign from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children>
