Amber Alerts are rare in South Carolina, despite a large number of children reported missing each year. And experts on Amber Alert say it's good that they're rare.

Margaret Frierson, executive director of the South Carolina branch of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, says, "Each year, we see about 7,000 reports of children under the age of 17 reported missing in South Carolina, which, to me, is a high number." 

South Carolina has had only nine Amber Alerts, and only four of those were for South Carolina cases. There have been two alerts issued for Georgia cases, two for North Carolina cases and one from Texas.

The State Law Enforcement Division decides when an Amber Alert will be issued based on whether the case meets specific guidelines.

The victim has to be 16 years old or younger and in immediate danger, or they can be 17 or older if they have a proven disability, not including Alzheimer's disease. For parental abductions, the child must be in immediate danger and police have to eliminate all other possibilities.

SLED does not keep track of how many times an Amber Alert has been requested and denied because it didn't meet the guidelines.

Frierson says, "We're very focused on that criteria, and if it doesn't meet the criteria, then we can do other alternatives, such as just do a missing child alert. We're still going to send the information out and get it out to the public.

"I'll give you a recent example. SLED got a call from a rural county; several children out playing in a very rural area, a wooded area, 3 or 4 kids. Three came back to the house at dusk. The fourth did not. The agency called requesting Amber. Well, in that situation, there are no roads, no strange vehicles, the kid's just lost in the woods. So Amber was not activated, but SLED's helicopter was sent up and the dogs were sent up and the child was recovered."

The USC College of Mass Communications and Information Studies has received a $200,000 federal grant to study the Amber Alert system nationwide and look for ways to improve it. But don't expect to see Amber Alerts issued more often.

Charles Bierbauer, dean of the college and a former CNN reporter, says, "One of the concerns is that we not get into a circumstance where the public perceives us as crying wolf every time a kid wanders away from his back yard. That would create a desensitizing situation, where people would say, 'Ah! Another Amber Alert. The kid's just wandered off to the neighbor's.' That's not what we want."