General Motors' OnStar Subsidiary Partners with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
21 April 2004 - 6:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
General Motors' OnStar Subsidiary Partners with the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children OnStar's 2.5 million
subscribers can be good Samaritans in the search for missing
children WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- General Motors'
subsidiary OnStar has joined with the National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children (NCMEC) in its efforts to help find
missing children. OnStar's Global Positioning System (GPS)
satellite and wireless technologies and the expertise of its call
center advisors will now serve as the communications link for its
2.5 million subscribers in their efforts to help bring missing
children home safely. An OnStar subscriber who wants to report
emergency information related to an AMBER Alert or a lost child can
press the red OnStar emergency button in his or her vehicle.
Immediately, the subscriber will be connected with an OnStar
emergency services advisor who will expedite the call to a 911
dispatcher. This unique collaboration marks the first time that an
in-vehicle safety communications system using GPS satellite
technology and private citizens have teamed up to help NCMEC locate
missing children. OnStar's growing subscriber network represents
the nation's largest, most technologically advanced fleet of good
Samaritans. GM's OnStar, with call centers staffed 24 hours, 365
days a year, is available to subscribers and the nation's 6,000
emergency 911 centers in all 50 states and every Canadian province.
"Our partnership with OnStar has just added another 2.5 million
sets of watchful eyes on the road in the nation's ongoing efforts
to help find missing children," said Ernie Allen, president and CEO
of NCMEC. The OnStar-NCMEC alliance will become a key component of
OnStar's good Samaritan program, which encourages subscribers to
use the OnStar system to make calls on behalf of others in need.
All OnStar good Samaritan calls are strictly voluntary, and
emergency advisors will not encourage subscribers to endanger
themselves by following or confronting a suspect vehicle. Each
month, OnStar receives about 8,000 emergency assistance calls,
which include 3,000 good Samaritan calls for medical emergencies
and crashes involving other motorists. These good Samaritan calls
also include AMBER Alerts and calls for missing children. "Clearly,
this initiative is a natural extension of OnStar's industry-
leading in-vehicle safety and security services," said OnStar
President Chet Huber. "When a child is missing, every second counts
to increase the likelihood of a safe return. The ability to quickly
share critical information with public safety officials can be the
difference between a child found and a tragedy." The AMBER program
(which stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response)
is a successful partnership between the nation's law enforcement
agencies and radio and television stations to activate emergency
bulletins to the public when a child is abducted and believed to be
in danger. "It is important to keep in mind that just one lead can
result in finding a child," said Allen. "Pressing the red emergency
button in an OnStar- equipped vehicle can provide vital information
to law enforcement which can lead to the recovery of a missing
child." Recognizing OnStar's advanced GPS technology, XM Satellite
Radio will encourage listeners who are driving OnStar-equipped
vehicles to press the red emergency button to report information
related to an AMBER Alert sighting in their area. "XM is proud to
support NCMEC and OnStar in providing an important public service
that can positively impact the lives of children nationwide," said
XM President and CEO Hugh Panero. XM provides AMBER Alerts and
other important public safety and homeland security notifications
on air and printed on the radio display. Through March, General
Motors has produced more than one million XM- equipped GM vehicles.
General Motors was the first automaker to offer factory-installed
XM Satellite Radio, which is currently available in 42 GM models
for 2004. About AMBER Alert Today, the AMBER Alert program has
grown to 96 communitywide plans, 48 of which are statewide. To
date, 133 children have been recovered since the program began in
1996. In 2003, President George W. Bush signed the Protect Act,
which established a national AMBER Alert Coordinator within the
U.S. Department of Justice. [For more information about the
national AMBER plan, please visit http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ .]
About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which serves as a
national clearinghouse for information and a resource for child
protection. It works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of
Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
NCMEC's congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting
mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than
225,000 leads. Since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted
law enforcement with more than 95,901 missing child cases,
resulting in the recovery of more than 80,500 children. [For more
information, please visit http://www.missingkids.com/ or call
toll-free 1-800-THE-LOST.] About OnStar OnStar, available on more
than 50 models from General Motors and select models from six other
auto manufacturers, is the nation's leading provider of in-vehicle
safety, security and information services using the Global
Positioning System (GPS) satellite network and wireless technology.
OnStar services include automatic notification of air bag
deployment, stolen vehicle location assistance, emergency services,
roadside assistance with location, remote door unlock, GM
Goodwrench remote vehicle diagnostics route support and convenience
services. OnStar Personal Calling allows drivers to make and
receive hands-free, voice-activated phone calls through a
nationwide cellular network and access a wide range of other
information services. [Additional information is available at
http://www.onstar.com/ .] About XM Satellite Radio XM is America's
number one satellite radio service with more than 1.6 million
subscribers today. Broadcasting live daily from studios in
Washington, D.C., New York City and Nashville, Tenn. at the Country
Music Hall of Fame, XM's 2004 lineup includes more than 120 digital
channels of choice from coast to coast. [For more information about
XM, visit http://www.xmradio.com/ .] DATASOURCE: OnStar CONTACT:
Robert Herta of OnStar, +1-248-588-3250, cell: +1-248-320-2413, ;
or Lisa Cullen of NCMEC, +1-703-837-6111, Web site:
http://media.gm.com/ http://www.gm.com/ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/
http://www.missingkids.com/ http://www.onstar.com/
http://www.xmradio.com/
Copyright