I have to wonder what the cost/benefit tradeoff is when blasting out an alert to a couple million people. Some of those folks will be driving or in others situations where a full volume unmutable alert is a safety risk.
And IIRC, they don't do that very well. It isn't a system that is standardized across the US and some places cut down on the number of alerts because it causes distracted drivers (which cause accidents and whatnot) and the public has started to tune them out. On top of this, brains are flawed, and aren't always good at "look for this stranger for 5 minutes while driving and hearing your child cry".
The bar for Amber Alerts has been pretty low since its inception. I stopped paying attention myself once it became apparent they were being used to deputize the public as repo men for custodial abductions. Parents who murder their children usually don't kidnap them first-- unless the responders force escalation and standoff (see also: the police-chase debate). Settle that shit in court and stop being dramatic.
It's only as of earlier this year that [in California at least] the criteria are being revisited to eliminate custody disputes as a qualifier. Though CA/AZ/NM/TX have added risk of such abductions becoming international affairs, which is the only concession I'd make for such histrionics.
The system does work though, as does the FBI most-wanted list.
Amber alerts would work much better as a notification. A beep, a notification popup, easy to swipe away. They should be closer to weather alert.
The real issue I have isn’t the missing child alerts (it’s not clear they’re helpful, but sure, for the kids), it’s that the system has been diluted with silver alerts and the whole thing is bundled together. When I switched off the alerts, I was receiving 20-50 silver alerts for every amber alert. I just can’t imagine how such a system creates more good than harm. And from an engineering perspective, why is a “stop the world” notification rather than a “look out for this old person” notification? Someone isn’t being actively kidnapped.
Of course, I don’t think Amber alerts are the worlds biggest problem. But if you have one person (the child) vs possibly millions of people (the alerted people) you don’t need that much negative consequences to outweigh the benefits. Add in the fact that the perp is alerted as well, and that the chance of saving a child from violence is already low.