Illinois Broadcaster Awarded AMBER Alert Broadcaster of the Year

PHOENIX, ARIZ.: Dennis Lyle has won the Justice Department’s AMBER Alert Broadcaster/Media Person of the Year Award. Lyle is president and CEO of the Illinois Broadcasters Association, and has been a partner in the Illinois AMBER Alert program since it was instituted in 2001. He is an active member of the Illinois AMBER Alert Task Force.

Marilyn Roberts, deputy administrator for the DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Justice Department presented Lyle with the award during the National Amber Alert Symposium in Phoenix.

Among other things Lyle was credited with, he hosted a meeting of the Amber Alert Task Force during the Illinois Broadcasters Annual Conference, providing members access and networking opportunities with more than 500 Illinois broadcasters. He also coordinated training for using Newsplex interactive technology to improve strategic communications. Around 50 Illinois broadcasters, law enforcement officials and legislators attended.

The AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert system began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. The system was created in memory of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, who was abducted while riding her bicycle and later found murdered.