The U.S. House of Representatives approved additional child protection measures, including Amber Alerts, on March 24, but local representatives and law enforcement agencies said it won’t change the network of Amber Alerts Iowa already has in place.

The House’s decision will make child protection measures stronger with a new judicial crackdown on sex offenders and a nationwide network of Amber Alerts. Amber Alerts, a kidnapping notification network of bulletins distributed through radio and television broadcasts as well as on highway signs, are named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl kidnapped and murdered in Arlington, Texas.

Ames Police Cmdr. Jim Robinson said Iowa has adopted its own network of Amber Alerts. “It’s just been within the last couple months that we’ve received training on [Amber Alerts],” he said.

Robinson said Ames would use CyRide, city workers with radios in their vehicles and law enforcement agencies to get information spread in case of a kidnapping.

“It’s preparing a community to mobilize quickly and get the information out and have a quick recovery,” he said.

Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, said she believes the Amber Alerts are effective in certain cases of kidnapping.

“My understanding on the Amber Alerts is, to work, you have to have a good description of the child and some idea of who took the child,” she said.

Rep. Jim Kurtenbach, R-Nevada, said Amber Alerts bring all parts of a community together to help a kidnapped child.

He said the network unites government, nonprofit organizations and the public by keeping them informed about the missing child.

“To me it simply is the type of activity that government agencies should be cooperating on,” he said. “We all, as a nation, must rise together.”

Though Congress is supporting Amber Alerts for child kidnapping cases, like Elizabeth Smart’s, officials said they think it is just precautionary in Iowa.

“I’ve been here for 24 years and we’ll have parental cases, but for a stranger abduction, I can’t think of one in Ames,” Robinson said.

Heddens said she agreed Amber Alert networks in Iowa are precautionary because Iowa is not known for having many kidnapping incidents.

“I think it’s every parent’s nightmare to think of their child missing out there,” she said.