Idea I blogged about on WIBW13's news blog/chat today.

..Amber's, Gray Alerts and missing persons, was one of the topics. Atchison County KS has an active "Gray Alert" for an elderly couple. My idea is, the Government sets up a blog/chat like the "Cover It Live" blog/chat room that WIBW13 uses. They would send out a text, e-mail and other mediums for sending alerts. They would send the information to us that registered for the alert system. Lets say today I received an alert for a missing person. I log onto the blog/chat they set up and state my location. I tell them, how I got there {the route, when I got there, if I am mobile or stationary etc:..}. Lets say I am driving from point "A", when I left my last location, and am heading to point "B", my destination. They can map this with yellowpages.com or mapquest. I then look for this missing person as I drive. I would have pulled over to text them back for safe driving reasons. The route I am on without a sighting of the missing person helps narrow down where they might be. The more people who help in doing this will help narrow down search areas. I don't know every person follow the same path or route I am driving. I don't know the others on paths or routes that intersect or partially follow the route I am on. Dispatch receives all these texts and can show the probability by all these neutral people that the probability is that the missing person is not in visible view in that area. They can decide from there how saturated of a view has been done, and by who. Law Enforcement, or Private citizen. They can transfer or synchronize this information into a map bank. The map bank will show areas of view and color code the routes by who texted or communicated what they saw. Example, blue, on a black and white map, would be Police. Red, on this map, would be private citizens. They could push a button on the keyboard at dispatch, and bring up only the blue, for the Police routes or red for the Private citizen routes. They can also bring up routes by the half hour or hour the message was received into dispatch through the "Cover It Live" type blog/chat Alert System.

..Sometimes, on a runaway situation, they will hide when they see the Police. They don't see private citizens texting and looking in assistance to the Police and other Law Enforcement Agencies. Topeka KS has 112,000 residents. They know the streets, the routes they drive everyday. The routes the buses take and the routes as they walk. If 10% would register and assist the Police, that would be 11,200 people throughout Topeka Kansas looking as they maneuver through Topeka, 24/7/365.

..It is also pretty well anonymous. It will not work every time. It will be an additional tool or source for the Government to do its job. It lets people help the Police. It doesn't tie up the 9/11 or Police lines. If 10 people in the same basic area text in and 8 give a statement that they saw the person and stated they did see someone that looked like the missing person, the Police might still look there because 8 different text messages from 8 different people on different routes that intersected, is greater than the 2 who did not notice what the 8 different people saw. They would also look at the times of the alleged sightings.

..As always, if they do this, follow the agreement that they want signed when signing up for the "Alert System". Basically do not approach the missing person. Text, e-mail or call in and follow what the dispatcher asks you to do if they ask for your continued assistance. They might want you to keep visual contact and continue texting until they get there. If they do this, it will follow along the "Neighborhood Watch" policies and other policies already in place. Law Enforcement Agencies like assistance. They just have to receive it in a safe way. I hope to see something like this put into place as an additional tool to help the Police.

..They should be able to archive the text messages and the communication into a 9/11 type recording system. The 9/11 recording system is not erased or taped over. Those recorded information interactions are kept a very long time. In addition, phone companies are obsoleting "Pay Phones". They could possibly offer these as "9/11 Call Boxes". When we pick up the hand set it automatically dials 9/11 only. We cannot use calling cards, get an operator or do anything except talk to 9/11. The TDDY System already records text on 9/11 calls. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_devices_for_the_deaf

..California has a "9/11 Call Box System in place and has for years. It also gives an addition source to receive 9/11 assistance. Dispatch should be allowed to flip a switch and disconnect the phone call if it is a prank call. The phone would give an exact location of where the call originated. Law Enforcement can decide where they want the "9/11 Call Boxes" set up. They can facilitate the use of current security cameras or install their own. These could TIVO activate when the "9/11 Call Box" is activated by picking up the hand set. They could add TDDY systems set up the same way. I sign would tell everyone, "9/11 CALLS ONLY"!!!