One year later, is the Ebony Alert successfully helping find missing black youth?
Advocates say the Ebony Alert is vital for helping law enforcement address the disproportionate disappearances of Black youth.
LOS ANGELES — La’Tannya Banks is still reeling from the near two-day disappearance of her 15-year-old daughter Lelah, who seemingly vanished from their Los Angeles apartment one morning in July.
“I thought she’d been abducted,” said Banks. “I immediately started freaking out.”
Banks said she worked around the clock for 37 hours to find her only child. She called every hospital in the area to see if Lelah had been admitted. She brought Lelah’s photo to every nearby hotel she could find and posted her daughter’s photos online, pleading for help from friends, family and youth advocates.
But when she went to the Los Angeles Police Department for help, Banks said they responded with little urgency and told her that Lelah’s disappearance did not meet the requirements for an Amber Alert. She said it took more than 24 hours after she first contacted them to even allow her to file a police report.
“I told them that the 48 hours are critical for missing people,” said Banks, who previously worked with a medical examiner’s office. Banks said she was hardly given updates and her dozens of calls and emails to officers were passed along from officer to officer.
Rating: 5