With time critical, why a 12 hr. delay issuing Tacoma girl's Amber Alert?

[pnwmom]

**** NOTE: photo of Zina Linnik and description at www.amberalert.org *****


According to the article below, Zina Linnik's family notified the police shortly after the girl was abducted. Recognizing that most stranger-abducted children are killed within the first few hours, WA state Amber Alert policies call for alerts to be made within 4 hours of a kidnapping. So why, in the case of Zina Linnik, a 12 yr. old girl taken Wednesday night while watching fireworks behind her own house, did they wait more than 12 hours to issue the alert?

Various articles have reported that the police had a suspect in custody within a few hours, but released him when his alibi checked out. Even then it was hours before the Amber Alert was issued. Why?

"An Independence Day celebration turned into a nightmare for a Tacoma family late Wednesday night when their 12-year-old daughter vanished, the victim of an apparent abduction.

"The girl’s father, Michael Linnik, heard a scream from the alley in the back of the family house, then ran outside to see a van speeding from the area.

"Police are searching for Zina Linnik, who was last seen around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday in the alley in the 2500 block of South J Street. They’re also seeking an older-model gray van seen leaving the neighborhood.

"Zina is 4 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 80 pounds and has blond hair. She was last seen with her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a pink T-shirt, pink, orange-and-yellow capri pants and flip-flop sandals.

"Police deployed search dogs and walked throughout the neighborhood Thursday. Zina’s parents are immigrants from Ukraine who don’t speak English well, so police were interviewing them through their children.

SNIP

"Family members, who contacted police shortly after the incident, said they thought the van belonged to a neighbor, said Mark Fulghum, spokesman for Tacoma police. But police ruled out the neighbor as a suspect after they interviewed him early Thursday morning, he said.

"After doing so, police issued an Amber Alert around 10:30 a.m.

SNIP

"Police are searching for the van with a license plate containing numbers 1677.

"How to help

"Anyone with information about the Zina Linnik case is asked to call Tacoma police at 253-830-6508 or visit www. washington amberalert.com.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/103917.html


Why it is so important to issue Amber Alerts QUICKLY:

• Each year there are about 114,600 attempts to abduct a child by non-family members(1)
• There are between 3,000 and 4,500 non-family abductions reported to law enforcement annually(2)
• Two-thirds or more of abductions involve sexual assault(3)
• Research shows that about 150 abducted children are murdered every year(4)
• There is typically over a two hour delay in making the initial missing child report (60%) (5)
• Studies indicate that 74% of the children murdered by non-family members are killed within the first three hours of their abduction(6)
• Research indicates 44% of stranger abducted children are murdered within the first hour(7)
• The victims are killed 91% of the time within 24 hours in stranger abductions(9)
• Nearly all of the children abducted by a stranger, 99% die within 7 days of their abduction(10

http://www.dps.state.ms.us/dps/dps.nsf/divpages/ci3amberinfo?OpenDocument



According to Washington State’s official policy, the alert is supposed to be issued during the first four hours after an abduction.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:9QaAGKI_NvYJ:www.wa.gov/wsp/amber/docs/amber_plan.pdf+%22amber+alert%22+%2Bwithin+%2Bhours+%2Bimportant+%2BWashington&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us