Serbia today has introduced a new SYSTEM OF EARLY ALERT in Missing Children Cases − “Find Me,” modeled after Amber Alert and similar alert systems for missing children operating in other European and global countries.
The system was officially launched at the 8th Conference on Child Safety, “Safety and Responsibility 2023”. Simultaneously, citizens of Serbia who are mobile phone users received an SMS notification from their operators.
Find Me! – The urgent public notification system is now active in Serbia. More information at www.mup.gov.rs.
This was also a general test of whether the system is functioning.
In the initial phase of establishing the “Find Me” system, information about a missing child will be received by all citizens through their mobile phones, while national media will be obliged to broadcast the information every 30 minutes in the first 8 hours, and later every hour in the first 48 hours of the announcement (if the child has not yet been found). At the same time, “Roads of Serbia” will display information on LED screens next to highways, Nikola Tesla Airport, bus, and train stations will announce information about the missing child on their informational displays.
During the second phase, the plan is to include social media in the system for spreading information about the missing child.
The decision to activate the “Find Me” system in cases of disappearing of a child will be made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs based on predefined criteria.
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The team for the implementation of the Amber Alert system in Serbia was formed at the beginning of the year at the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Bratislav Gašić. ASTRA is one of two civil society organizations that participated in this process. We are satisfied to have had the opportunity to contribute to the establishment of the “Find Me” system in Serbia based on our long-standing practice in managing the European number for missing children – 116000.
