Once the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart was confirmed, Salt Lake Police issued a "Rachael Alert."
The Rachael Alert notification went into effect at 7:21 a.m. Wednesday, about 3½ hours after police were notified that the 14-year-old girl was apparently kidnapped at gunpoint from her home in an affluent neighborhood early Wednesday.
Police responded immediately and after determining the abduction met the Rachael Alert criteria, activated it, said Salt Lake City Police Capt. Scott Atkinson.
The Rachael Alert is patterned after the Emergency Broadcast System warnings. TV and radio stations throughout Utah broadcast the information.
KSL radio, the state's official emergency alert station, received the alert at 7:10 a.m. and broadcast it at 7:21 a.m., a station representative said.
Voice of: Grant Nielsen/KSL Newsradio 1160: "THE CHILD IS YOUNGER THAN 15 YEARS OF AGE. WE BELIEVE SHE'S IN IMMINENT DANGER OF SERIOUS BODILY HARM OR DEATH. WE HAVE INFORMATION THAT WE BELIEVE THE PUBLIC CAN ASSIST US IN A SAFE RECOVERY OF THE VICTIM AND APPREHENSION OF THE SUSPECT."
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, speaking on a morning radio talk show, said agencies involved would get together and discuss how the plan worked.
"Obviously there was some delay in getting the information out and I don't know why," Shurtleff said.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse they wanted to get the information out as quickly as possible.
"It worked very well. It will only get better," he said.
Joann Donnelan of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which helps communities set up their own emergency alert plans, said the response was good for a first time.
The Rachael Alert program was created just two months ago. This is the first time that it's been implemented.
The system was named for Rachael Runyan, a 3-year-old abducted in 1982 from a park near her home in Sunset. Her decomposed body was found 24 days later in Weber Canyon. The killing remains unsolved.
The program was adapted from the Amber Plan, named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996. Utah is the ninth state to establish such a program, along with a number of cities and counties.
The alerts have saved the lives of 17 children nationwide, Donnelan said.
For more background and details on the program, see the links in the box above.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
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