Police Explain ‘Cryptic’ Amber Alert
Sep 26, 2019, 10:31 PM | Updated: Sep 27, 2019, 5:22 am
SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Police admitted they faced some hiccups with a Sept. 25 Amber Alert but said it was critical for them to communicate the information they were getting as it came in.
The first alert hit phones across the Wasatch Front just before 10 p.m. and read: “U-T Amber Alert: gry Toyt.”
South Salt Lake Police Executive Officer Gary Keller said his team had some issues navigating the Amber Alert system, and the initial message was a little cryptic.
“In a perfect world we can script this, but we were under the wire trying to get information out and get it to everybody with what we had,” he said.
Officials said a 3-month-old had been abducted by her biological parents who did not have custody of the infant.
Police said the father, Gabriel Brandon Caro, 19, broke into the basement window of his parents’ home and opened the door for his wife, Jasmine Angelica Alvarez, 24. The couple then jumped in a silver car and sped away.
Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers recognized the car hours later and stopped it in Lander, Wyoming.
The infant’s parents are now in custody. Authorities said the baby was unharmed.
“The guys did a fantastic job considering how little information we did have,” Keller said.
Keller stood by the Amber Alert system Friday. He said it’s a great tool to get an important message to a lot of people quickly.
His team is going back over the processes to learn what they could do better. Most importantly, in this case, a baby girl will get to go home.
South Salt Lake officials said they would have liked to get more information out with the first message. However, they said they were under the gun to get something out, considering it all happened just minutes before the 10 p.m. news broadcasts began.
