Billboards Across Alabama To Raise Awareness For Missing Persons
During the 1970s and 80s pictures of missing children on milk cartons got the nation's attention, now a similar campaign on billboards across Alabama is aimed at solving missing person cases.
Alabama Cold Case Advocacy has announced the launch of Operation Safe Return, a statewide initiative created to increase visibility for missing children and vulnerable adults in the state.
The current Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Community Information Center lists some 300 active missing adults, with cases dating back to the 1980s. 18 of the active missing persons cases are from West Alabama counties, including Lisa Ann Green (2007) in Tuscaloosa and Janice Denise Hamner (2018) In Elrod.
According to a media release by the organization, "This initiative raises awareness about missing individuals through billboards placed around the state, highlighting their stories and encouraging the public to provide any helpful information."
“Our followers were talking about we need to go back to the milk carton days, and so it just kind of set a light bulb off, what does that look like? Well billboards are the modern-day milk carton,” explained Kari New, the organization’s founder.
The plan is to put both static and digital billboard PSAs in strategic locations across Alabama.
“The goal is to put the billboard as close as possible to where a disappearance occurred,” New said. “Then we’ll pick a high traffic area that makes geographical sense.”
The statewide campaign will not be cheap. The advocacy group is in the process of raising funds to pay for the project. Persons interested in helping financially can donate by texting the keyword OSR to 53555. A link will then be sent to donate.
The Office of Attorney General also has set up a cold case website. The site lists information about the known cold cases. A telephone number and an email address are listed to receive citizens’ tips that could help resolve cases, many that have gone years without being solved. People who may have evidence or clues are encouraged to call or email the Attorney General’s Office and share this information.
Cold Case toll-free hotline number: (866) 419-1236 Cold Case e-mail: coldcasetips@AlabamaAG.gov.
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