Georgia has launched an SMS program to help locate missing children. people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and others.

Local Solutions Network Inc., or LSN, a network provider of local television news content to mobile consumers, has teamed up with Keep Georgia Safe, a new nonprofit organization founded and sponsored by the Gary Martin Hays Family Foundation. The program disseminates emergency alerts for missing children and other vulnerable individuals anywhere in Georgia.

"The headline strategy behind the launch of this wireless network is to make Georgia a safer place to live," said David Spear, executive vice president of sales and marketing for LSN, Atlanta. "Additionally, there are three other planks that support this over-arching goal.

"First, since text is so easy, accessible and pervasive in this country, it makes sense to leverage this enabling technology in the unfortunate situations where abductions and/or missing person events occur," he said.

There are now more than 260 million mobile subscribers nationwide.

"Second, speed is critical with amber alerts -- in fact, the first three hours are the most critical, where many of these situations get resolved," Mr. Spear said.

"Since text is one of the most universal means of communication, and delivery of the messages is within seconds, it made perfect sense to embrace and utilize this type of platform to communicate to as many people as possible in the shortest timeframe," he said.

"Finally, providing a call to action -- the click to call -- that a person can use to offer tips or exact sightings of a car or person that fits the description in the alert is the key to getting information to local law enforcement authorities as quickly as possible.

"Gary Martin Hays, the GBI, and the Keep Georgia Safe organization are spot on with using text messaging to deliver these safety alerts. It's smart, instinctive and a highly valuable link between the public and law enforcement."

As the only organization that sends out all three of Georgia's emergency alerts, the Keep Georgia Safe Wireless Network uses the LSN SMS platform to notify opt-in wireless subscribers when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation issues any of its three emergency alerts.

Levi's Call is Georgia's amber alert for an abducted or missing child.

Mattie's Call is an elderly or disabled missing person alert.

Kimberly's Call is a dangerous fugitive alert.

To sign up to receive the three emergency alerts via text message to a mobile phone, consumers can visit http://www.KeepGeorgiaSafe.org and enter a Georgia mobile phone number.

To sign up for text alerts from a mobile phone, consumers can text the keyword SAFE to common short code WINIT (94648).

The service is free of charge. However, there may be a charge issued by the carrier depending on the subscriber's texting plan.

The LSN platform delivers emergency text alerts to mobile subscribers with AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Alltel, Cellular One, MetroPCS and Boost Mobile.

With the LSN text message technology, Keep Georgia Safe is able to send immediate details of the abduction to its opt-in mobile phone subscribers.

In most cases, this includes not only a description of the child, but also the abductor and the vehicle being used.

Gary Martin Hays, founder and chairman of Keep Georgia Safe, is a local attorney in Gwinnett whose firm focuses on claims involving motor vehicle accidents, dangerous products, injuries and wrongful deaths, workers' compensation and nursing home abuse cases.

Keep Georgia Safe is a nonprofit organization with the mission to provide realistic safety education and crime prevention training to Georgia's families.

Keep Georgia Safe has a four-pronged approach: school curriculum initiative; community safety seminars and Web resources; media campaigns; and electronic community outreach.

The Keep Georgia Safe Wireless Network provides Georgia's mobile subscribers with emergency alerts.

The goal of Keep Georgia Safe is to immediately involve the public, especially motorists, in the search for an abducted child.

By signing up for the SMS alerts, Georgians can play an important role in the recovery of an abducted child, as well as other individuals who are at risk.

"The reach and depth of SMS is phenomenal, and that is why text messaging has become so important, not just in alerts and marketing, but in overall communication strategy," Mr. Spear said.

LSN is a mobile media and marketing company that enables local broadcasters and brand advertisers to extend their reach to the mobile consumer market via their handset.

LSN's network of local television news content is available in both English and Spanish. The company currently offers news, weather, sports and other content to more than 200 million mobile consumers.

Through its direct mobile marketing and advertising group, LSN helps companies to deploy direct mobile marketing campaigns to mobile consumers via text messaging, rich media content and interactive mobile marketing campaigns across all wireless carriers and handsets.

LSN works with 140 media affiliates across the country such as ABC, NBC, Cox and McGraw-Hill, as well as brand-name clients who execute national mobile campaigns.

Additionally, LSN works with local and regional clients who wish to use mobile, particularly SMS, for marketing purposes. Its clients include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Crunk Energy Drink, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, LG Electronics and Church's Chicken.

"Gary Martin Hays continues to promote the project on radio, TV and through various events," Mr. Spear said.

The kickoff to this campaign began with a large outdoor concert, where users could text in to win prizes, and from there, they were able to opt-in for the alerts.

"This worked very well, as Keep Georgia Safe was able to capture an audience, draw them in to the campaign, elevate interest, and then encourage opt-in," Mr. Spear said. "We saw over a 50 percent opt-in rate the first day."