Thursday, November 20, 2008; Posted 6.17 pm (CDT)

Throughout the years, with the help of technology, Amber Alerts have improved in order to, hopefully, inform as many as possible.

"The more information we can get out there, the more eyes and ears that we have whenever there's an actual Amber Alert to find ... the better the system's going to be," says State Amber Alert Coordinator Gene Thaxton.

In order to activate an Amber Alert in Oklahoma, the victim must be 17-years-old or younger or proven to have a mental or physical disability. It's also essential to know if anyone witnessed the abduction, and most importantly, it must be believed the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death.

"The most common person to abduct children is the parents," says Dr. Howard Kurtz, Professor of Criminology and Sociology at Oklahoma City University.

That can make the situation difficult. In October, a Del City father took his daughter from his wife's home, and when she tried to stop him, the wife was thrown from his vehicle. In that case, authorities did not send out an Amber Alert.

"A lot of times when children are missing, they do run away," says Kurtz.

With the case of Jamie Rose Bolin, that's exactly what police thought at first, so an Amber Alert wasn't issued immediately.

"The children who are killed usually are killed very quickly, and that's what's sad," says Kurtz. "That's why they really need to make the Amber Alert and other notifications as quick as possible."

"It depends on how long the reporting agency takes to make sure it's a good Amber Alert," says Thaxton.

Officials say it's essential the criteria is met. Over-saturation could lead to a less-effective system as people begin questioning just how serious it is.

"Therein is the biggest problem, I think, for police and law enforcement in general is when is it truly an abduction," says Kurtz.

Because some states are more liberal with Amber Alerts than others, it can get tricky when crossing state lines. In that case if there is a good chance for crossover into Oklahoma, Thaxton says the state would most likely issue the alert in cooperation with the bordering state.

Oklahoma Amber Alert officials meet twice a year with coordinators from all states and the Bureau of Justice to go over the criteria.

If you have any Amber Alert suggestions or would like to take a look at Oklahoma's policies regarding Amber Alerts, go here.