The abduction of a three-year-old boy has some Central Texans wondering why they didn't find out about the crime sooner.
According to the Killeen Police Department, Jamal Powell went missing shortly before midnight on Saturday night. The department said the boy was abducted during an armed robbery in which money and a vehicle were taken.
After the news broke about the boy's disappearance, many Central Texans wondered why they did not receive an Amber Alert on their cell phones.
Ofelia Miramontez with KPD said Amber Alerts go through a process, and that the department did what they needed to do in order for an alert to go out.
There are certain criteria that the agencies have to meet according to DPS," Miramontez said. "There is a format we have to follow, questions that we have to answer, and once we do that, the form is submitted to t he state in order for it to go through."
Miramontez said that although the police agency is responsible for initiating an Amber Alert by filling out the proper paperwork, it is up to the state whether or not to send the alert to mobile devices. The KPD official said she could not say which criteria the department did not meet, which would explain why an alert was not sent out when Jamal went missing.
Here is a listof some of the things the state looks for before issuing an Amber Alert.
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