Petition Seeks To Change WA’s AMBER Alert Laws In Wake Of Decker Murders

A petition seeking to make changes to Washington State's criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts is gaining momentum.

OVER 6,400 PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED THE WHITNEY'S LAW PETITION IN THE PAST TWO MONTHS

The effort has garnered over 6,400 verified signatures online since being launched on June 5.

Known as "Whitney's Law", it was initiated in response to the murders of three young Wenatchee sisters, 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker, and 5-year-old Olivia Decker, whose bodies were discovered at a campground 17 miles west of Leavenworth on June 2.

The killings have been linked to the girls' father, 32-year-old Travis Decker, who's been the subject of a massive regional manhunt for the past two months, and who was the last person known to have been with the girls after picking them up from the home of their mother, Whitney Decker, on May 30.

In the wake of Travis Decker's failure to return the girls to the custody of their mother as planned on the evening of May 30, the Washington State Patrol issued an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory (EMPA) in lieu of an AMBER Alert, since the agency said the circumstances surrounding their disappearance did not rise to the current legal level for issuing the latter.

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AMBER ALERTS CURRENTLY HAVE A HIGHER STANDARD FOR ISSUING THAN OTHER ENDANGERED PERSONS BULLETINS

While an EMPA is defined as a way for law enforcement to release information about missing persons who are believed to be in danger due to age, health, or environmental factors, its scope of dissemination doesn't match that of an AMBER Alert, which also legally allows for the notification of major media outlets and the use of other tools such as electronic billboards and roadway signs, and statewide messaging to all cellphones.

Many believe that the issuance of an AMBER Alert in the Decker case might have led to the girls being found before they were slain, and the petition for Whitney's Law seeks to broaden the current range of criteria under which such a notification can be enacted.

Specifically, Whitney's Law looks to make AMBER Alerts applicable even in instances when the parent of an endangered child is not the abductor, as well as expand its standards to include the modern realities related to a variety of different custodial arrangements.

"Right now, the AMBER Alert criteria exclude too many high-risk situations, especially involving non-stranger parental abductions, even when a history of abuse or red flags are present," states the petition, which goes on to say, "If the rules remain unchanged, we risk allowing more children to fall through the cracks—children who could be saved if only their cases were treated with the urgency they deserve. We must not let another parent feel Whitney’s unimaginable pain. The system failed her family—and it can fail others too if we don’t act."

CURRENT AMBER ALERT LAWS ARE NEARING 30 YEARS OLD

The nation's AMBER Alert system, which stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, was established in 1996 following the kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas, and since then, no major alterations have been made the its original language relating to when the alert should be issued.

In order to make any significant changes to current AMBER Alert laws, experts say it would require more than just a simple petition - which, in the event of a voter's initiative, would need roughly 308,000-324,000 signatures to officially qualify for the ballot in Washington State. Aside from this, legislative action to include the amending of current state laws would likely be needed, as well as reforms to the family court system, updated training for law enforcement, and improved mental health services.

Washington's current rules for issuing AMBER Alerts state that an abducted child be under the age of 18, and there must be reason to suspect that they are in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death.

The Whitney's Law petition is also seeking responses about its proposals from the Washington State Patrol and the state's Department of Corrections, who have both yet to post an official response at the effort's webpage at change.org.