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CNN Saturday Morning News
What Is Amber Alert?
Aired August 03, 2002 - 09:11 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The Amber Alert, you've heard the name this week. It was used in California this week to notify police and the public about the kidnapping of two teenaged girls who were, of course, later rescued. It is named for a system that was put in place after a 9-year-old girl named Amber was kidnapped and killed in Texas six years ago.
Meanwhile, police in Baton Rouge are looking for a serial killer in the death of three women there.
And here to tell us more about all of these cases and how police profile such criminals is CNN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks.
Thanks for staying with us. I know you were with us in the 7:00 hour, but we had so much we wanted to talk about...
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: A lot of good stuff going on.
CALLAWAY: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that we went -- wanted to bring you back.
And my first question is about Amber Alert. I think the question that most people have right now is, how come more states don't have this?
BROOKS: Any state that doesn't have it, that has the highway signs already out there in place, any state that does -- that has the signs and doesn't use it, they're crazy.
This case in California where the two girls were kidnapped, if it weren't for the Amber Alert system, they probably wouldn't have been caught. And, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CALLAWAY: There's no probably about it, we should say...
BROOKS: No, Ratliff was taking them out there to kill them. There's no doubt. The sheriff says that. Every other law enforcement person I've talked to said the reason he was taking them out to the desert was to kill them.
And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it was -- it worked well. I mean, it's -- there are -- 17 people have been saved by the Amber Alert system since it went into effect... CALLAWAY: Really?
BROOKS: ... in 41 different places around the country since 1997.
CALLAWAY: Now, there was some confusion on the Amber Alert at first because it said Amber Alert, and most people didn't know, and then they changed that to, I think, it's Child Abduction, or something like that, across the top, right?
BROOKS: Yes, well, different cities, different communities have different names for it. You know, they name it after someone usually that happened in that particular community. This one was started up in Arlington, Texas, after that 1996 incident involving Amber Hagerman.
So, you know, and different communities are name it different things. But it's a system that works, and it's proven to work. So anybody that doesn't using it right now, that's not using it and has the system, the signs out there, they're crazy.
CALLAWAY: Is it a coordination problem? What do you think would be slowing a state from actually using it that does have a highway system? Atlanta has the highway system.
BROOKS: Yes, no, I don't think it's a coordination problem. I think, you know, the law enforcement has the information. From the time these two girls were abducted to the time it got out was four hours. That's pretty quick. That's pretty quick, to get the lookout, get the description, and put it out there. I think that's quick.
California, 316 highway signs throughout the state.
CALLAWAY: Wow.
BROOKS: That's a lot of, that's a lot of information being put out there. And also, the media in this particular case, and some of the other cases, they have played a big role in this. You know, during the eulogy of Samantha Runnion, that poor girl that was killed in California...
CALLAWAY: Right.
BROOKS: ... the sheriff of Orange County and her mother, during the eulogy, at her funeral, you know, thanked the media. How often does the media thank for getting involved (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
CALLAWAY: Yes, we get blamed for everything, we seldom get thanked, yes.
BROOKS: No, it -- but it's getting the word out, and I think that's the important thing.
CALLAWAY: And it would be nice if we could see the Amber Alerts up in, say, 30 minutes after something happened...
BROOKS: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CALLAWAY: ... but it's hard to get the facts, I guess, facts straight.
Let's go to Baton Rouge now. We've got DNA links here. You know, can we count on that? And how easy is it to get DNA evidence?
BROOKS: DNA evidence is more prevalent at a crime scene than people realize. You go to a crime scene. If you have a cigarette butt, you can get DNA evidence off a cigarette butt, off of a hat brim, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), off of just -- if someone touches something and rubs a little bit of -- and a little bit of skin comes off, you know, flaking the skin, that's -- you can get DNA evidence from that.
From, you know, of course, the best DNA evidence is blood. But there are a lot of other things. You lick a stamp, you lick an envelope, you're leaving DNA evidence from your saliva on those particular things.
CALLAWAY: So there's no doubt in your mind that these three are connected...
BROOKS: No doubt.
CALLAWAY: ... that there's definitely a serial killer out there.
BROOKS: I would say so. And they're also reviewing 35 other cases to see if there are any other DNA links to this particular person. And it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's not believed that these three women, that these three -- the victims knew each other and had any link that way. So, you know, definitely have a serial killer.
CALLAWAY: Let me ask you one more question. In the last few weeks, we've seen in these child abductions, we've seen, for instance, in the case in California, we see a great deal of coordination going on between sheriff's departments. I know you've worked with the FBI.
Are we going to see this increase now?
BROOKS: I think we -- there's been great cooperation before. I think we're going to see even more. You know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) after 9/11, anyone talked about the FBI and the CIA, oh, these agencies work together, I think you're going to go see that, and you're going to see more of the local jurisdictions working together in, you know, different counties, different communities, have mutual aid agreements already in place.
And I think you're going to se that continue. And they're doing a great job.
CALLAWAY: Well, we can only hope.
BROOKS: Yes.
CALLAWAY: Mike Brooks, thank you very much for being with us...
BROOKS: Thank you.
CALLAWAY: ... for that. I just wish we didn't have so much to talk about.
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