By Pax Bilinski / News & Opinion editor
Hailey Buzbee was a 17 year old girl from Fishers who didn’t meet the criteria for an AMBER alert, despite being a missing abducted minor. She had been missing for 27 days until her remains were found on Feb. 1.
Buzbee didn’t qualify for an AMBER alert because she left with her abductor willingly. However, he admitted to picking her up from her home on Jan. 6 at 3:30 in the morning, and Buzbee’s remains were then found in Wayne National Forest in Perry County, Ohio. Her abductor was arrested on Feb. 1 in relation to Buzbee’s disappearance and is expected to be charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and travel in interstate commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
The Pink Alert was proposed after Indiana and internet citizens alike became outraged that Buzbee wasn’t treated as an abducted child and if an AMBER alert had been sent, Buzbee may have been found before she was murdered.
An individual named Megan Tomlinson created a petition on change.org to support the Pink Alert with over 120,000 signatures as of Feb. 24. The petition-makers started it to convince the Indiana government to create a law titled “Hailey’s Law” to create the Pink Alert and to mandate yearly, updated grooming education in Indiana schools.
The Pink Alert would activate when there are credible risk factors such as: evidence of online grooming or predator contact, suspicious or coercive communications, sudden unexplained disappearance, exploitation and trafficking risk factors, credible threats or alarming digital activity and vulnerability due to age or circumstances.
With the advancement of technology today, the idea of “stranger danger” isn’t as prominent in children and teen lives today. When online, younger people don’t feel the need to be cautious of strangers.
Since most apps children and teens frequent are typically anonymous with usernames and profile pictures, they believe that who they’re talking to is who they say they are. It’s important for teens to be cautious when talking to people they’ve never met face to face.
