WINSTON-SALEM – Police are looking for an 11-year-old boy who was last seen by his mother around 5 p.m. Friday.
Alphonso Galloway suffers from medical conditions that require medication, Winston-Salem police said.
Alphonso is described as black, 5 feet tall and 90 pounds. He was last seen wearing a light-blue shirt with “Phat Farm” written on it, blue jeans and black tennis shoes.
Police ask people with information about his whereabouts to call 773-7700.
I caught this on WFMY, copied the above text from the News & Record, yet there is NO AMBER ALERT ISSUED…. 15 Hours and counting. I guess they only issue Amber Alerts for rich white kids.
UPDATE: Alphonso returned home at 7:50AM this morning according to the News & Record.
These are the national guidelines for issuing amber alerts.
* Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place
* The child is at risk of serious injury or death
* There is sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor’s vehicle to issue an alert
* The child must be 17 years old or younger
* It is recommended that immediate entry of AMBER Alert data be entered in FBI’s National Crime Information Center. Text information describing the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the child should be entered, and the case flagged as Child Abduction.
For you to suggest that this has not been done because of race is simply irresponsible, emotional, and non-factual. I have seen many amber alerts issued for children of all races.
I saw no where in what you posted that there was evidence of an abduction and there is no description of captor or captors vehicle. Instead of stirring the pot…..let’s get the facts.
Let’s look at each criteria….
1. A child is missing. What qualifies as an abduction? Do you need witnesses?
2. This child needs his medicine. Plus it is cold outside at night, the child if lost could die from exposure.
3. They have a description of the child.
4. The child is 11.
Based on the facts, this qualifies as an Amber Alert. (NC adds some extras as well, such as runaway potential.)
This is a missing kid, not an adult. Why not pull the trigger to issue an Amber Alert? That’s why we have them.
I read the NC requirements as well. It appears that local officials (based on the facts) do not think these qualifications have been met. I agree, it is a child and everything that needs to be done should be…. and since we (the general public) don’t have all the facts…how do we know this isn’t being done?
My ire is that you automatically attributed this to race and income. If race or income was the issue, there would have never been amber alerts issued for any poor child or any minority child and that simply is not true.
This is not the first time a black child has gone missing without an Amber Alert in Winston-Salem. I figure if I can get enough people mad enough it will make a difference.
Two years ago two children were abducted from their foster parents at gun point by the natural parents. Met all the criteria from the get go. It was three hours before the Amber Alert was issued. The kids were already out of the state by then. Fortunately, they were recovered a few weeks later, alive. (They were white.)
The whole idea of the Amber Alert is to get people looking immediately for the child so that nothing happens to them. Fortunately, in this case, the child is now home; having returned at 7:50 AM (according to the News & Record).
Thankful that the child is back home!
#1 Has a white child in W-S ever gone ‘missing’ without an amber alert being issued?
#2 So… according to your story,white children do go missing without amber alerts being issued.
I have no problem with you being upset about how amber alerts are issued and if you want to fight that battle….that’s great. However, if you want to activate a group to help you with the cause, to inject race and income (akin in my opinion to crying wolf), into this battle will only alienate and cause unnecessary division instead of causing people to come together for a worthy cause.
I applaud your concern for missing children, but I severely question your tactics for getting others involved.
Don…I have to agree with Sportsfan…your comment was irresponsible and had no
place on this board. It was a good thing to publish the notice, but your editorializing
makes no sense and adds nothing of value to the issue.
This is why you have zero credibility, Don, when you try to convey a serious opinion.
When you have a child that goes missing, I only hope that they issue an Amber Alert for them. No parent should have to worry about their child because NOT EVERY RESOURCE WAS BROUGHT TO BARE.
I’m not in a position to ask why an Amber Alert was not issued, I can only look at the information that was distributed.
I DO have personal knowledge of how the NC Department of Crime Control, who runs the NC Amber Alert Program, has lagged behind other states. I DO know that North Carolina has issues just based on information from local sheriffs. We barely communicate with Virginia, Tennessee or South Carolina regarding Amber Alerts – there is NO method beyond one office picking up a telephone and calling another, when time permits.
I’ve tracked this for several years. It’s something that I will continue to track until we get it right.