Time Warner Cable now deploys AMBER Alerts to cable technicians

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Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), among the largest providers of video, high-speed data, and voice services in the United States, announced that all of its 18,000 cable technicians around the country have now been deployed with technology that allows them to receive AMBER Alerts when they are in the area of an active alert, and training to be vigilant and contact law enforcement if they see an abducted child.

This new effort is part of an agreement with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a partner of TWC. Through the TWC Eyes and Ears AMBER Alert initiative, the company becomes one of the country’s largest employers to redistribute AMBER Alerts to its workforce.

“Helping communities where our employees live and work is one of Time Warner Cable’s core values,” said Rob Marcus, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable. “Thanks to the training and technology that our technicians receive as part of our AMBER Alert initiative, we are taking important steps to help the well-being of children in communities we serve every day. I am proud of the role we are playing to protect our children and thank NCMEC for making our participation possible.”

TWC says it will use its Global Security Operations Center in Charlotte, N.C., to receive alerts from NCMEC and will redistribute them in real-time to personnel within the alerted area. TWC technicians will perform job duties as normal, except with a heightened sense of alertness. In the event that a child, adult or vehicle fitting the AMBER alert description is spotted, TWC personnel have been trained to immediately contact local law enforcement.

“The AMBER Alert program is built on the idea that the eyes and ears of many are better than the eyes and ears of few in the search for an abducted child,” said NCMEC president and CEO, John Ryan. “It only takes one person to see the child and help bring them home safely. We are grateful to TWC for making the search party 18,000 people stronger.”

Approximately 200 AMBER Alerts are issued each year by law enforcement agencies for the most serious child abduction cases where the child is believed to be in imminent danger and there is enough descriptive information about the victim and abduction to assist in the recovery of the child. NCMEC redistributes AMBER Alerts, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, to a network of secondary distributors that include companies, businesses or organizations that have the capability to deliver geographically targeted messages.