Fort Worth

Neighbors of Kidnapped 8-Year-Old Fort Worth Girl Call for Amber Alert Changes

Two months after an 8-year-old Fort Worth girl was kidnapped and sexually assaulted, community members in her neighborhood are calling for changes in the way Amber Alerts are handled.

The Ryan Place Task Force sent a letter to Fort Worth police and city leaders with a set of questions and read them before the Fort Worth City Council Tuesday night.

"We just wanted to make sure there were changes to the policy and the reason why is we were directly affected by the incident and wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again," Ryan Place Task Force co-chair Cade Lovelace said.

The questions, which were answered by Fort Worth police Tuesday afternoon, addressed the policy and procedures during an Amber Alert.

In their response, Fort Worth police promised to modernize their Amber Alert system, which was previously reliant on fax. Additionally, they said they planned to improve communication with community leaders during an Amber Alert.

Lovelace said the Fort Worth police response was encouraging, but believes it is still crucial that the city council approves a proposed citizens review board.

"While they did give us four responses for our five questions, the one that they didn't directly address was our citizens review board," Lovelace said.

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