1/31/17 Amber Alert Sign Doing More And More?

    This weekend going to my folk's house, we spent a couple hours on I-35.  I couldn't help noticing the big signs set up in Austin and San Antonio set up to give information we can kind of use.  It used to be the carried Amber Alerts only.  Amber is a good name for it, I visualize a pretty golden haired little white girl plus it is technically a color so the name has a dual purpose.  I say white girl not because I choose to be "salty", but as I have read online and seen videos on YouTube, when little Shaniqua gets kidnapped, she won't get listed on these machines.  From what it appears, it is usually a family member that has "kidnapped" the child, more than likely after a divorce or separation.  We are supposed to always be thinking of human trafficking, but I don't think it happens as much as it is sensationalized.  Then again, I don't know, I am not an expert.
    I noticed a couple of times and I have seen it many other times, the Silver Alert, that is an elderly family member taking off in the family sedan, always like a Ford Taurus from the 90s.  Dementia is not funny, but the color they chose to portray seems a little too "on the nose".  Most of the time it is a family member who has taken off and forgotten where they were going or shouldn't be driving in the first place.  I can't imagine the elderly being kidnapped for any real reason.  If they took my dad, it would just be "ooh ooh ooh, with his little T-rex arms that he can't reach out any more than a cigarette is from his mouth."  Unless the bad guys need an old man to sit in a barstool and feed quarters into a slot machine, then maybe my dad is their guy. 
    Looking at the website, apparently there is also a blue alert, which is for when a criminal has shot at or killed a police officer.  I can see this being really helpful, but why just limit it to police officers.  If I was killed and the bad guys took off, I would want them caught, and if they have a description  of the vehicle, maybe a license plate, use the technology that exists.  I don't care if it has to be a brown alert for a Hispanic, as long as society has a chance to help.
    I don't know how much these signs help, but it is a step in the right direction, as far as keeping us informed of whatever is going on.  Most of us may ignore the sign, but maybe one day we notice the car we just read about and we get to be the hero of the minute, that would be cool.