A Fruitland boy went missing, but no Amber Alert was issued. This law changes the system

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Idaho will soon expand an endangered and missing person alert system, with the aim of bolstering the state’s ability to notify law enforcement and the public about people who are believed to be in danger.

A bill headed to the governor’s desk creates a new alert system with broader criteria for missing persons than other multi-state alert systems, like Amber Alerts.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, passed the House on Tuesday after approval from the Senate earlier this month. A follow-up appropriations bill to fund the new alert system was also passed by the Legislature on Thursday. Both bills await approval from Gov. Brad Little, who’s expected to sign them.

In an interview with the Idaho Statesman, Lee said the bill, which initially was drafted to create a Silver Alert system for elderly people in Idaho, was partly inspired by a 5-year-old boy who went missing last summer in Fruitland, a Western Idaho town on the Oregon border.

Michael Joseph Vaughan was last seen by his home, which is near an open field that stretches west toward Interstate 84 and the Snake River.

Though the state police issued an Endangered Missing Person alert for Michael, the young boy did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert because he was not known to have been abducted, a spokesperson for the Idaho State Police, Lynn Hightower, told the Statesman in an email.

Under the current system, there was no efficient way to quickly send out a statewide alert and to notify law enforcement and the public in Oregon, Lee said.

“I was shocked to find out that he didn’t qualify for Amber and there was no unified alert to sound the alarm that we have a little boy who’s disappeared,” Lee said.

After police issued the missing person alert, a poster with Vaughan’s information was distributed to the press and on social media, Hightower said.

Eight months later and despite extensive search efforts, Michael has yet to be found. The Fruitland Police Department on Thursday said the reward for the boy’s safe return was $52,860. The cause of Michael’s disappearance is still unknown, but the department’s Thursday post on Facebook noted “there is a high probability of an abduction.”

Lee said she was glad to have “another reason to continue talking about Michael, getting his picture out there and reminding people that he’s still missing.”

At a Senate committee hearing earlier this month, Lee said Michael’s inability to qualify for an Amber Alert “was psychologically really hard for our community.”

BILL BROADENS MISSING PERSON ALERTS

While a statewide alert system currently exists for missing persons, the new bill would “help set the parameters” for when to use various Idaho and federal notification systems that law enforcement employ, Hightower said, including wireless alerts, in-state road signs, 511, lottery terminals and other locations.

Idaho is the only state among its neighbors that does not have such a bill, Lee noted. She said helping people in danger is a crucial part of the government’s role.

“If this is not our responsibility, what is?” she told the Statesman. “Idaho’s lack of a statewide system really inhibits our ability to communicate and get those alerts out.”

The senator said she worked with the Alzheimer’s Association on crafting the bill, and that it has support from some Idaho tribes, including the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, who have concerns with missing Indigenous women, Lee said. The new system would allow law enforcement to include ethnicity and tribal affiliation in alerts, Lee said.

Under the bill’s criteria, it would include people who are missing “as the result of abduction by a stranger and does not meet the criteria for an Amber alert or blue alert,” the second referring to a person wanted for allegedly harming a police officer.

The legislation also includes people who are missing for “unexplained, involuntary, or suspicious circumstances,” as well as those who disappeared under dangerous circumstances or are otherwise determined to be in danger.

A provision of the bill states there is no required waiting period before an alert is sent out. Under the new system, law enforcement will be able to tailor when and how an alert is sent out based on the circumstances, Lee said, adding that the details of the system still need to be hashed out by a committee led by the state police.

The bill will expand the capacity of the Idaho Missing Persons Clearinghouse, Lee said, while also streamlining the process if an investigation spans multiple jurisdictions. Currently, missing persons must be entered into the Clearinghouse manually, she said.

The system costs an estimated $1.3 million, which Lee acknowledged is a heavy lift for the Legislature. But she said this year, when Idaho has a $1.9 billion surplus, was a good time to make the investment.

The new law is expected to take effect July 1.