Why Were Amber Alert Signs So Vague?

Columbia, SC—When Cynthia Luther saw the Amber Alert signs on I-26 Tuesday morning, she was a little surprised that they didn’t let her know what was going on. “I’m always curious about this and so I reached over and turned the news, the radio on, but I never heard anything about the Amber Alert. So I’m still wondering what was going on,“ she says.

The DOT signs said “Child Amber Alert, Tune to Local Media.“

Lumberton, North Carolina resident Croker Bass also wondered what was happening, after seeing the signs as he traveled across the state. He turned on the radio but never heard any details. “When you’re missing a child, you know, that ain’t nothin’ to play with,“ he says.

Two-year-old Geomari Young was missing. His mother said his father, 27-year-old Geonaldo Young, assaulted her early Tuesday morning and held her against her will at her North Charleston apartment. She says she was able to escape and call police. When they arrived, Young and the boy were gone. Police later found him unharmed and are still looking for Geonaldo Young.

At the time the Amber Alert was issued, police knew the name of the boy and the name of the person suspected of taking him. They had photos and descriptions of both, along with a vague description of a car: a green or dark gray Mazda with a Virginia license tag.

But none of that was on the SC DOT’s Amber Alert signs.

Tony Sheppard, state traffic operations engineer for the SC DOT, says it would be hard to fit a description on the sign and it would be hard for drivers to read and comprehend it as they drove by at highway speeds. Even if they could, it would be difficult for drivers to see into other cars going by to see if a driver matched the description.

“Those signs are used for the specific vehicle information, ‘cause that’s what a person traveling down the road would recognize, is the vehicle, not necessarily an individual driving or riding in the vehicle,“ he says.