Full Notification

Hawai'i Police Department
Criminal Investigations Division, Area I
Captain Randall Medeiros
Phone: 961-2251
October 13, 2009


Media Release

The Hawai'i Police Department is advising the public that someone has generated a bogus AMBER alert and is sending it out to cell phones as a text message.

The phony alert falsely claims that a child from "Hilo side" was abducted. It gives a description of a car driven by the supposed abductor.

Police ask the public to disregard the message, which was sent on October 13. It is not a legitimate AMBER alert.

"This prankster is undermining the importance and integrity of the AMBER Alert system," said Captain Randall Medeiros of the Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division. "This type of false report potentially puts our children at risk because the public must be able to depend on the veracity of the AMBER Alert system."