blue alert

Arizona issued its first Silver Alert last month to aid in the recovery of a missing 79-year-old Surprise woman.

Similar to an Amber Alert or a Blue Alert, as of July 2014, Arizona now issues Silver Alerts on Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) emergency-alert message boards around the state to report information on missing persons 65 or older.

Read more on Blue Alerts here.

Arizona issued its first Silver Alert Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2014, for Ethel Crescenzo who went missing on her way to the Talking Stick Casino in Scottsdale.

Crescenzo became disoriented and lost when she left for the casino that morning. She was found by police Sunday night in a West Valley desert area after a man alerted police of a suspicious car in the embankment near his home. Crescenzo was found within four hours of the report, ABC 15 said.

If a missing persons report has been issued by police, and all other resources to find the missing man or woman have been exhausted, The Arizona Republic reports that a Silver Alert may be activated.

The alert will also be issued if the missing person could be in imminent danger due to health concerns or any other pressing issues.

There are 193 ADOT message boards in the state, with 108 located across the Valley. Law requires that the location of the missing person incident will dictate how many signs flash the alert message information. Only the region where the disappearance took place will display the Silver Alert.

Most recent information about a missing elderly person will appear on the boards in hopes of enlisting the help of drivers to find him or her.

After a Department of Public Safety (DPS) officer was shot in the face during a routine traffic stop on October 8, the first Arizona Blue Alert was issued, informing residents and the media of the attack and the five suspects who were still on the loose.

The National Blue Alert System is activated when an officer has been killed or seriously injured. The alert disseminates specific information about suspected offenders statewide, including descriptions of the vehicle, license plate and people involved when officials determine that threats to the public and law enforcement still exist.

Arizona authorities pointed to the system as a vital tool in gathering information in the investigation, stating that the blue alert had led to a tip soon after the alert was issued.

“We got calls from citizens who were out there, and they were paying attention,” Phoenix Police Spokesman James Holmes told the Arizona Republic.

Authorities said they later found the suspects’ vehicle at an abandoned house near 29th Avenue and Pima.

In July, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law House Bill 2323, making Arizona the 19th state to have a Blue Alert system. In total, 20 states now use a Blue Alert system to inform the public of an attack on an officer, The National Blue Alert System reports.

Arizona’s first blue alert came after an Arizona officer stopped a vehicle with tinted windows at 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 8 near I-17 and McDowell Road. While talking with the passengers, someone inside the vehicle opened fire and shot the officer twice in the face, ABC 15 said.

Two officers were called for backup and were shot at, but not injured, by the suspects who police identified as two men and three women in a blue 2008 Mercury Sable with Kansas license plates.

Read more about this case here.

Police said, according to ABC 15, that the suspects fled the scene, and within 40 minutes, Arizona’s first ever Blue Alert was issued where electronic highway signs around the state administered the alert, listing details of the car.

The injured officer underwent surgery and the hospital reports the 6-year DPS veteran is in stable condition, ABC 15 said.

Police are currently searching for the attackers.