Ashanti Alert: what to do when an adult goes missing

It is the alert for missing adults who fit none of the others. AMBER covers minors, SILVER covers people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, ROSA covers women eighteen or older. Ashanti opens the widest door: an adult with a proven disability, an adult whose physical safety may be compromised, or an involuntary disappearance including kidnapping. And it is the one with a deadline written into the text: twenty-four hours.

The Act describes three situations and one is enough: a person eighteen (18) years or older who suffers from a proven physical or mental disability; or circumstances where the missing adult’s physical safety may be understood to be compromised; or where the adult’s disappearance was involuntary, including kidnapping. Whoever notifies may be any citizen, so long as they accredit the circumstances and provide the information the Act lists.

• That it be an adult eighteen (18) years or older who, from the facts related to the Police and the circumstances, could be understood to be missing or kidnapped.Verified against the official source
• That whoever alerts accredit the conditions and circumstances for which they understand the person is missing or kidnapped, suffers a physical or mental disability, or for which they understand their physical safety is compromised.Verified against the official source
• That the Police Bureau have determined that, from the account given, those requirements are met.Verified against the official source

• Name and age of the missing person.
• Physical description and a photo.
• Clothing when last seen and the time last seen.
• Whether the missing or kidnapped person has access to social media — the Act asks for this expressly.

1. 1

   Step 1: File the complaint with the Police

   The Police Bureau of Puerto Rico, attached to the Department of Public Safety, is the primary agency responsible for operating the Plan. And unlike the ROSA Plan, the decision here is not joint: “The Police Bureau shall activate the protocol and issue an alert when any of the criteria established in Article 3 of this Act is met.”

2. 2

   Step 2: Bring the complete list: the Act writes it out

   The fourth criterion is not a judgement, it is an inventory, which is why it helps to have it ready: “name, age, physical description, photo, clothing when last seen, the time last seen and all other information that may be useful to identify and locate the missing or kidnapped person. Including notifying whether the missing or kidnapped person has access to social media.” That last item is particular to this Act and the SILVER Alert does not ask for it: bring it.

3. 3

   Step 3: Twenty-four hours is the deadline, with one condition

   The text is clear and so is the condition: “Alerts must be broadcast within no more than twenty-four (24) hours from when the complaint is filed with the Police Bureau of Puerto Rico, so long as the person’s safety is not compromised or this is the most appropriate mechanism for the ongoing investigation, as determined.” That is, the clock runs from the complaint, not from the disappearance, and it can yield if broadcasting puts the person at risk.

4. 4

   Step 4: How the alert sounds and what it must say

   After a distinctive sound, the alert must read: “This is an Ashanti Alert for a missing or kidnapped person.” Alerts shall be repeated frequently, following Emergency Alert System (EAS) guidelines. They shall include the person’s description and the address of the place where they were last seen. And the Act adds two mandatory labels: the publication must state whether it concerns young people aged eighteen (18) to twenty-one (21) under Government custody, or a person over eighteen (18) with disabilities, “in order to give the public greater clarity about the alert and the person’s characteristics.”

5. 5

   Step 5: DTOP’s electronic road signs

   The Act puts DTOP in the loop: “In the case of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, it shall make available the electronic signs located on public roads for issuing the alerts, once the Police Bureau of Puerto Rico activates the alert.” Article 10 further authorizes DTOP to request and accept donations and to match municipal, state, federal or private funds to finance, place and maintain new electronic signs.

6. 6

   Step 6: After the alert: updating and ending it

   After the alert issues, it shall be the Police Bureau’s duty to supplement and update the information available to participating media and entities. The alerts shall also give the public specific information on how to contact the authorities to help clarify the case. And regardless of whether the case is resolved, the alert may conclude at any time the Police Bureau requests it.

7. 7

   Step 7: A false report is a crime and the fine is fixed

   Article 9 is short and worth reading whole: “Any person who, by complaint or request, knowingly and falsely declares or alleges that a kidnapping or disappearance has been committed, causing this alert and the State’s resources to be activated, shall incur a misdemeanour and a fixed fine of one thousand ($1,000) dollars.” Note the two elements: the falsity must be known, and the statement must have caused the activation. Being wrong in good faith is not what this provision punishes.

8. 8

   Step 8: The special alerts division the Act ordered

   We include this because it changes who inside the Police handles the matter. Article 5 provides that “The Police Bureau of Puerto Rico shall create a special division to handle this and all alerts,” and gave it ninety (90) days from the Act’s approval to adopt the corresponding regulation under Act 38-2017, a regulation that then had to be submitted to the Legislative Assembly. The compilation we read does not say whether that regulation was adopted, so we neither assert it nor publish its content.

The complaint is filed with the Police Bureau of Puerto Rico, which activates the alert on its own when any criterion is met. The protocol also includes the municipal police forces, the Department of Transportation and Public Works and the Bureau of Emergency Management and Disaster Administration, and any other public entity, private company or media outlet may voluntarily participate. If the missing person has an Alzheimer’s or dementia diagnosis, the specific alert is SILVER; if a woman eighteen or older, there is also the ROSA Plan; if a minor, AMBER.

• Waiting twenty-four hours to report: the twenty-four hours are the maximum period to broadcast the alert, counted from the complaint, not a wait before filing it.
• Arriving without a photo: the Act names it expressly among the information the notifier must provide.
• Not mentioning whether the person has access to social media: the Act asks for it in those words.
• Believing the Women’s Advocate decides: that is the ROSA Plan; in Ashanti the Police activate alone.
• Assuming the alert will always be broadcast: the deadline yields if broadcasting compromises the person’s safety or is not the most appropriate course for the investigation.
• Reporting a disappearance you know to be false: it is a misdemeanour with a fixed one-thousand-dollar fine.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Policía de Puerto Rico

  Policía de PR

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov