Does the Government Shutdown Affect the AMBER Alert? We Have the Answer!

There's been a lot of talk on what's open and what's not due to the government shutdown. When it comes to parks, city offices and more, it may not seem like it would effect a lot of people, but what about the AMBER Alert? If a child goes missing, with the government shutdown, are there no alerts being issued? We found out straight from the Washington State Patrol chief John R. Batiste.

The Amber Alert is still in full operation. The federal government shutdown does not affect AMBER alerts.

-WSP

In a press release recently issued by the Washington State Patrol, it reminds everyone that the AMBER alert system is fully operational, despite the government or what you may have heard from other sources.

Although it's true that some federal coordination of the overall alert system, each state has its own distribution system for alerts. Since Washington's alerts are distributed by a private contractor, it's not involved with the government.

In fact, they've even expanded and have two additional alerts you might want to know about.

One is the Endangered Missing Person Advisories where the law looks for public assistance in finding missing people when the disappearance doesn't fit the criteria for an AMBER alert. The other is Blue Alert where has people looking for suspects involved in killing or assaulting police officers.

Keep these in mind.