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American Morning

Interview With John Walsh

Aired October 02, 2002 - 07:49   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The White House this morning taking time away from the Iraq campaign to focus on keeping kids safe. There will be parents there, political leaders are expected, law enforcements officials, too, among those attending the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Abuse Children.
Also, on hand there, John Walsh, the longtime host of TV's "America's Most Wanted." John Walsh is with us this morning.

Good to see you again, John -- good morning to you.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Good morning.

HEMMER: Your son, Adam, disappeared -- kidnapped and killed 21 years ago. Why is it just now that we are seeing the first conference of its kind there in D.C.?

WALSH: Well, that's a good question. I really think this is a historical event, because we had asked President Reagan, President Bush Sr. and President Clinton to do something like this, to bring all of the different factions together and law enforcement and local government, state government.

And I say, it's about time, but it's going to be a very historical day. We're going to have Attorney General Ashcroft there, Colin Powell, the secretary of state, Tommy Thompson, you know, the head of Health and Human Services. We're going to have Director Mueller from the FBI. It's going to be quite a historical conference.

HEMMER: I want to show you some statistics, not just to you, but also to our viewers right here. It goes back about 10 years, back to 1990, the number of child abductions by strangers in this country, and if you look back to 1990, it ranges from 200 to 300. When you get to 1998, it dropped significantly, 115, and last year just 93.

What that tells us is that the number of abductions has dropped by about 33 percent over a 10-year period.

What does that tell you, John?

WALSH: Well, except for this year, which we've had a lot of high-profile, terrible cases, and it looks like this year, we'll have higher statistics than last year.

But it does tell us that certain states are doing the right thing -- states that have the Amber Alert, for example. Law enforcement is responding faster. Parents are much more aware that there are a lot of predators out there. And we're getting some states to actually put child safety programs on their school curriculum.

So, I think the country has, you know, woken up, but there is still an awful lot to do. And today, we're going to be talking about that.

We have a bill before the United States Congress. It flew through the United States Senate, but the House hasn't even had hearings yet. And that would mandate the Amber Alert in every state of the nation. I can't think of a better use of the media than the Amber Alert.

HEMMER: There are some who say the Amber Alert, if taken to the extreme, would be diluted, in a sense. People would not feel its affected impact. But let's get back to it in a moment.

There's a very interesting case in Pensacola, Florida. A hospital there says it will no longer send out birth announcements to a local newspaper to try and avoid the possibility that abductions may take place.

Your opinion on this is what? Is this an extreme right now that we're taking it?

WALSH: Well, I'll give you two answers to that. I don't think it's an extreme. We had over 100 abductions from hospitals in the last six or seven years. Those are usually by deranged women, who have either lost a child in childbirth or, you know, figure they need a baby and want to get a baby somewhere. Usually, those kids we get back. I think that's a good thing not to make the birth announcements.

The criticism or the concern about the Amber Alert, I'd like to clarify this. You know, we've had the National Emergency Broadcasting System for years. That warns us about hurricanes and tornadoes. It breaks into radio stations and news.

I think it has to be mandated on a national basis. If a general manage of a TV station, if his child was missing -- his or her child was missing, they would break into the news and alert people. It has to be on a regional basis.

We have the precautions to make sure that it isn't overexposed or overused. And if a child is missing in Virginia, then they would break into programming in Virginia. It's not intended to break into programming in California.

We know that it saved four girls' lives last month. One child is too many; to save four children is incredible. I can't think of a better use of the media.

HEMMER: Thanks for your time, John. Good luck today, OK?

WALSH: Thank you.

HEMMER: John Walsh in D.C.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired October 2, 2002 - 07:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The White House this morning taking time away from the Iraq campaign to focus on keeping kids safe. There will be parents there, political leaders are expected, law enforcements officials, too, among those attending the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Abuse Children.
Also, on hand there, John Walsh, the longtime host of TV's "America's Most Wanted." John Walsh is with us this morning.

Good to see you again, John -- good morning to you.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Good morning.

HEMMER: Your son, Adam, disappeared -- kidnapped and killed 21 years ago. Why is it just now that we are seeing the first conference of its kind there in D.C.?

WALSH: Well, that's a good question. I really think this is a historical event, because we had asked President Reagan, President Bush Sr. and President Clinton to do something like this, to bring all of the different factions together and law enforcement and local government, state government.

And I say, it's about time, but it's going to be a very historical day. We're going to have Attorney General Ashcroft there, Colin Powell, the secretary of state, Tommy Thompson, you know, the head of Health and Human Services. We're going to have Director Mueller from the FBI. It's going to be quite a historical conference.

HEMMER: I want to show you some statistics, not just to you, but also to our viewers right here. It goes back about 10 years, back to 1990, the number of child abductions by strangers in this country, and if you look back to 1990, it ranges from 200 to 300. When you get to 1998, it dropped significantly, 115, and last year just 93.

What that tells us is that the number of abductions has dropped by about 33 percent over a 10-year period.

What does that tell you, John?

WALSH: Well, except for this year, which we've had a lot of high-profile, terrible cases, and it looks like this year, we'll have higher statistics than last year.

But it does tell us that certain states are doing the right thing -- states that have the Amber Alert, for example. Law enforcement is responding faster. Parents are much more aware that there are a lot of predators out there. And we're getting some states to actually put child safety programs on their school curriculum.

So, I think the country has, you know, woken up, but there is still an awful lot to do. And today, we're going to be talking about that.

We have a bill before the United States Congress. It flew through the United States Senate, but the House hasn't even had hearings yet. And that would mandate the Amber Alert in every state of the nation. I can't think of a better use of the media than the Amber Alert.

HEMMER: There are some who say the Amber Alert, if taken to the extreme, would be diluted, in a sense. People would not feel its affected impact. But let's get back to it in a moment.

There's a very interesting case in Pensacola, Florida. A hospital there says it will no longer send out birth announcements to a local newspaper to try and avoid the possibility that abductions may take place.

Your opinion on this is what? Is this an extreme right now that we're taking it?

WALSH: Well, I'll give you two answers to that. I don't think it's an extreme. We had over 100 abductions from hospitals in the last six or seven years. Those are usually by deranged women, who have either lost a child in childbirth or, you know, figure they need a baby and want to get a baby somewhere. Usually, those kids we get back. I think that's a good thing not to make the birth announcements.

The criticism or the concern about the Amber Alert, I'd like to clarify this. You know, we've had the National Emergency Broadcasting System for years. That warns us about hurricanes and tornadoes. It breaks into radio stations and news.

I think it has to be mandated on a national basis. If a general manage of a TV station, if his child was missing -- his or her child was missing, they would break into the news and alert people. It has to be on a regional basis.

We have the precautions to make sure that it isn't overexposed or overused. And if a child is missing in Virginia, then they would break into programming in Virginia. It's not intended to break into programming in California.

We know that it saved four girls' lives last month. One child is too many; to save four children is incredible. I can't think of a better use of the media.

HEMMER: Thanks for your time, John. Good luck today, OK?

WALSH: Thank you.

HEMMER: John Walsh in D.C.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.