If you live in the Toronto area and drive on any of our major highways, you may notice the “Amber Alert” campaigns that go up on the illuminated traffic signs from time to time when a child goes missing.

The “Amber Alert” campaign started in 1996, when 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, was kidnapped outside her family’s home and brutally murdered shortly after. Arlington police proposed a quicker method of alerting the general public when occurrences like this happen. Since then the campaign has spread continent wide and is the popular method used to alert the public of a child’s disappearance, but up to today, has only been used on highways and via local cable news networks.

Effective today May 27, 2010, Rogers Wireless subscribers can take these notifications one step further with the launch of “Wireless Amber Alerts”, a new free way to do your part in helping abducted children get back safely in the arms of their families.

How it works:

You will receive a text message whenever an AMBER Alert is issued in your region. You will also receive a message when that same AMBER Alert is cancelled or if there is additional information related to the alert. Yes, the program is completely free and does not effect your text allotment for the month.

How to participate:

You need to opt-in via your computer or mobile phone to receive the AMBER Alerts. Here’s how:

• From your computer, go to www.WirelessAMBER.ca, enter your 10-digit mobile number (including area code) and click Submit. You will then receive a text message on your mobile phone with a four-letter validation PIN code. Enter the code on the website and click Submit. On the subscription page, you can modify your settings to select the provinces from which you would like to receive alerts.
• From your mobile device, text keyword “AMBER” to 26237. You will receive a link to a mobile site where you can confirm and modify your settings.

For more information on this program click here

[Via Rogers Redboard]