The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH pleased to see cell phone alerts notifying the public of a missing minor, RISE Bahamas president Terneille Burrows said there is cause for concern regarding the system.

A few people over the weekend said they received an alert on their cellphones about the missing female minor.

The alert, with the title “Child abduction (Amber alert)”, included information about Deonte Clark, aged 17. Clark, according to the alert, was last seen on July 10.

Her height, complexion and build as well as a telephone number for CID was also included.

However, Ms Burrows said the listing of an “amber alert” was “incorrect language”, adding the phrase “Marco Alert” should have been used.

She also stated the timeline of the post did not seem to be in accordance with Marco’s Law, which stipulates a 24-hour timeline.

Ms Burrows said: “If you would have gone online and looked up the law and you would see where they have stipulations related to the timeframe in which the alert should be sent. So, it clearly went over that timeframe and we want that rectified.

“There should be a link of a picture of the child we believe and we realise after polling that a number of people did not receive the alert. Surprisingly enough of those who had received the test alert a couple weeks back initially some of them did not receive the actual alert,” she told The Tribune.

“And another question we have is whether the television media have been given protocols and standards related to posting the alerts through their medium, through the television. Also we want to know if the billboard is fully operational and coincides with the text alert. Also, because MARCO acronym stands for Mandatory Action Rescuing Children in Operation, should we therefore remove the opt out option and ensure that is indeed mandatory?

“Finally we’d like a full breakdown of at least the $5.4m that were awarded since 2019 related to Marco’s Alert. We want a breakdown of how the funds were distributed.”

Yesterday, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the billboards were up and cable along with iPhone testing was in the works.

He said officials thought to use the parts of the system that were up and ready to go.