Three children were abducted by their estranged mother from a bus stop in Augusta County at 7:40 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 5.
It would be 47 minutes until the abduction was reported to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, at 8:27 a.m.
It took until 10:57 a.m. for the Sheriff’s Office to share information about the abduction with the general public.
It would be nearly three more hours, at 1:46 p.m., before Virginia State Police would issue an Amber Alert related to the abduction.
ICYMI
The Sheriff’s Office and VSP are taking heat for the delays, for obvious reasons.
“Since this incident, the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office has received numerous inquiries regarding the delay in the issuance of the Amber Alert,” Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith said in a news release issued by his office on Tuesday.
“It is important to clarify that the Amber Alert system is a collaborative effort between local law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Virginia State Police, and federal law enforcement agencies. The State Police is ultimately responsible for issuing the alert once the required information is received,” Smith said.
Passing the buck
Virginia State Police has yet to weigh in on the delays in getting information out on the case, so all we have right now is the acknowledgement from the sheriff.
By the time the Amber Alert was finally issued, Shanice Davison, of Evergreen, Ala., and her three children, Jai’Marcus Lewis, 10, Ja’Miyah Lewis, 8, and Ja’Liyah Lewis, 6, were six hours down the road toward where they would eventually be located, in the Birmingham, Ala., area.
Davison was finally apprehended a few hours later, at 5:48 p.m., after a brief pursuit on Interstate 459 in the Birmingham area.
Google Maps tells us Fishersville to Birmingham is an eight-hour, 53-minute drive.
Evergreen is another two hours, 43 minutes south.
Authorities are fortunate that Davison was apparently headed back to her home base after abducting her children in Augusta County, and that any of a number of other things didn’t happen – that the brief pursuit didn’t lead to a tragic accident, that the situation didn’t end with harm being done to the children.
As it is, we see the limitations in the information ecosystem when it comes to child abductions – the system only works if the people in charge of it do what they’re supposed to do in a timely manner.
Smith, in his office’s news release, hides behind the declaration that “before an Amber Alert can be used, law enforcement must gather specific and detailed information about the case and relay it to the State Police.”
“This process ensures that the information shared with the public is accurate and actionable,” Smith said.
To that end, we’re aware that the Sheriff’s Office made its first request for an Amber Alert to State Police at 10:18 a.m., nearly two hours after getting the report of the abduction.
Davison was still in the state of Virginia at this point in time, somewhere between Roanoke and Bristol on Interstate 81.
Smith, in the release, noted that “while the Amber Alert in this case was delayed, interagency cooperation between the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, the Virginia State Police, Alabama authorities, and federal law enforcement was initiated immediately and without hesitation to ensure the safety of the children.”
The sheriff said his office is “actively working closely with our Virginia State Police partners to investigate the cause of the delay, provide feedback, and implement improvements to the process to ensure such issues do not occur in the future.”
“The safety and well-being of our community, particularly our children, is our top priority. We remain committed to enhancing our service to the community and strengthening our partnerships across agencies to ensure the best possible outcomes in critical situations,” Smith said.
“We appreciate the public’s patience and understanding as we investigate the cause for the delay. We strive to improve our services and strengthen partnerships across law enforcement agencies to better serve the Augusta County community and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Smith said.
Video: Why did it take so long?
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Chris Graham
