.png)
.png)
A national coalition of community watch leaders has named Missouri AMBER alert coordinator Jason Crites as Child Advocate of the Year.
Zach Sanders, a spokesman for America's Watch, said the group’s unanimous decision was "the easiest choice in memory".
"In a world that’s increasingly divided and dangerous, Captain Crites has helped unite citizens with law enforcement to make our nation safer for kids," said Sanders.
Crites began his tenure as Missouri’s AMBER Alert coordinator in September 2022 and hit the ground running.
During his first week in the role, he began working with advocates to pioneer US.Watch, a web-based platform developed for law enforcement, by law enforcement, to coordinate the public search for abducted children during AMBER alerts.
Since that time, the search and rescue platform has been utilized across the United States, empowering vigilant citizens to help find abducted kids in a safe and effective manner.
After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1993-1997, Captain Crites became a member of the Missouri Highway Patrol, where he is now transforming America's AMBER alert system in his role as the commanding officer of Troop F.
"I’m a pretty busy woman between my business and family, but with US.Watch it only takes me a few minutes to join the search during local AMBER alerts," said Christina Fasciano, a leader of Oklahoma Watch.
Her group has successfully leveraged the US.Watch platform to help locate missing children on three separate occasions this year.
Members of US.Watch receive enhanced local AMBER alerts that include a video brief, an individually-assigned watch zone, and a link to join the search on the US.Watch platform.
From there, users can navigate to their designated areas, connect with law enforcement, collaborate with other citizen searchers, and even win rewards for helping—all while tuning in to a live broadcast to stay up to date with the latest alert information, including search instructions, the current top searchers, and the most interesting user messages from the group chat.
"It's like Pokémon Go, but instead of getting notifications to catch a nearby Pikachu, you get enhanced AMBER alerts that empower you to help protect abducted kids in your community," said Ali Eslami, a missing person advocate from Jacksonville who helps lead Florida Watch.
"There’s nothing fun about missing children, but alerts occur frequently and often lack crucial context, which can desensitize the public. US.Watch helps engage people differently in a way that’s meaningful," he said.
Captain Crites works with community volunteers to keep the Trooper James M. Bava Memorial Highway clean and crime-free
The platform’s smart zone assignment algorithm leverages nearly two decades of AMBER alert data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to target citizen search efforts to locations where abducted children are most likely to be found.
Users who navigate to their assigned watch zones can win rewards, such as a $100 Walmart gift card.
Ricky Riggins—a witness who chased after the abductor of Springfield, MO 4th-grader Hailey Owens in 2014—has been recognized by law enforcement for helping inspire the platform.
Today, he leads the Springfield Missouri Watch program.
"After I lost Hailey's abductor in traffic, I felt so useless, but Captain Crites and US.Watch have made it really simple and safe to help search for these kids during AMBER alerts," said Riggins.
"The advanced routing features of the platform—as well as its distraction-free design and hands-free implementation—have empowered my community to protect abducted kids in ways that were not previously possible”, he said.
Captain Crites works with child advocates at the Trooper James M. Bava Memorial Toy Drive to collect gifts for hospitalized kids across Missouri
Other finalists for child advocate of the year included former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer, National AMBER Alert Coordinator Amy Solomon, and Greene County Missouri Sheriff Jim Arnott.
"Our State and local law enforcement officials have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help protect children by developing this platform," said Congressman Eric Burlison, who passed HAILEY'S Law to improve Missouri's AMBER alert system in 2019.
"The era of complacency about AMBER alerts is over," he said.
US.Watch was coded to honor the memory of Hailey Owens, whose life could have been saved by a more timely and effective AMBER alert system in 2014.
After her death, Hailey's friends, family, and law enforcement officials advocated for the passage of HAILEY'S Law, which was signed by Missouri Governor Mike Parson in 2019.
The law streamlines the process for issuing AMBER alerts and empowers law enforcement officers to include a link to resources like US.Watch with each alert.