Detroit police unveil Emerald Alert for serious missing persons cases

FOX 2 - The Emerald Alert will be a new way of alerting residents and the media of serious missing persons cases in Detroit. 

The backstory:

Using the Detroit Alerts 365 system, residents will be alerted for Detroit-specific emergency notifications regarding missing children, vulnerable adults and more for residents who subscribe.

Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said the name comes from the Spirit of Detroit which is green, which is the City's branded-theme.

"This is a new way to let the community know about serious missing person cases so that we can help ensure that we utilize the eyes and ears of our community to help locate them very, very quickly to prevent any loss of life," Bettison said. 

Unlike the Amber Alert there is no time window when someone goes missing before it can be issued.

Bettison credited City Council Mary Sheffield for the Emerald Alert creation, saying she asked for something extra besides the Amber Alert.

"We know that every single second matters when someone goes missing, yet not every (case meets) criteria for an Amber Alert. Which is why that gap has always weighed heavily on my heart," she said. "The Emerald Alert System gives us the ability to create our own alerts. 

"Through Detroit Alerts 365 residents will subscribe and will now have urgent notifications when a young child is unaccounted for, when a person with special needs goes missing, when foul play is suspected, when kidnapping occurs."

Deputy Police Chief Franklin Hayes said monitoring of the Emerald Alert system will be handled by the DPD Crime Intelligence Unit and the Missing Persons Unit, which will work together.

"With this platform, Detroit Alerts 365, the Emerald Alert, we are able to send that out relatively immediately once we get the information from the loved one.," he said. "There's a media release that needs to be signed by them. We get the photo and we can immediately push that out."

For more information about how to sign up for the Detroit 365 notification system which give you access to Emerald Alerts CLICK HERE.