Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared Jan. 13 as AMBER Alert Awareness Day, exactly 21 years after a 1996 abduction that helped start the program.
On Jan. 13, 1996, 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted near her home in Arlington. Her body was found nearby just a few days later. Amber's murder remains unsolved.
Back then, there wasn't a system in place to alert the public about a missing or abducted child. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that led law enforcement and the media in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to create the first AMBER Alert program.
The program was named after Amber. AMBER stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.
DPS established the program in 2002. Since then, authorities believe it has saved the lives of 154 Texas children.
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