When a vulnerable child or adult goes missing, every minute matters. Yet not every endangered missing person qualifies for a statewide AMBER or Silver Alert. AMBER Alerts are generally reserved for specific child-abduction cases involving an imminent threat, while Silver Alerts are designed primarily for missing seniors and certain individuals with developmental or cognitive impairments. That leaves a critical gap for other children and adults whose circumstances may place them in immediate danger. Bryan’s Call—also known locally as the NOLA Alert—was created to close that gap in New Orleans. Under the local program, an alert may be activated when a missing child, senior, or vulnerable adult is believed to be in or have disappeared from Orleans Parish, there is a credible threat to the person’s health or safety, sufficient information is available to help the public locate them, and the circumstances do not meet the existing AMBER or Silver Alert criteria.
The program grew from Motion M-25-469, introduced by then-City Council Vice President Helena Moreno in September 2025. The motion specifically recognized that existing AMBER and Silver Alert restrictions could exclude vulnerable populations from the benefit of rapid public notification and directed NOPD, in coordination with emergency management and communications agencies, to establish a 24/7 local alert capability. Moreno described the effort simply and powerfully: “When a loved one goes missing, families shouldn’t be told they don’t qualify for an alert. Every second matters, and this program will help bring people home safely.” The motion called for alerts covering children, seniors, and vulnerable adults—including people with cognitive, developmental, mental, emotional, physical, or age-related impairments—when their disappearance poses a credible threat to their safety or health.
The New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation (NOPJF) worked with NOPD to turn that vision into a rapid-response community notification system. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the NOPD Special Victims Unit can notify NOPJF when an alert is warranted. NOPJF immediately creates the alert artwork and distributes it to Lamar Outdoor, whose digital billboard network provides critical visibility throughout New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area. Lamar has been an extraordinary partner in this effort, helping ensure that a missing person’s photograph and identifying information can reach thousands of people when time is most critical. NOPJF simultaneously pushes the alert through the Ring Neighborhood network and amplifies it through Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), turning a police investigation into a community-wide search effort. The Foundation provides this service at no cost to NOPD or the City of New Orleans.
Since its informal launch in late 2025, Bryan’s Call has demonstrated the power of rapid, coordinated public engagement, helping NOPJF and its partners recover more than 20 critically endangered missing individuals. For New Orleans, this program is about more than filling a technical gap between existing alert systems—it is about making sure that a vulnerable person is not left without a public voice simply because their circumstances do not fit a statewide alert category. By combining the investigative capabilities of NOPD’s Special Victims Unit with NOPJF’s communications reach, Lamar Outdoor’s generosity, Ring’s neighborhood network, and the power of social media, Bryan’s Call puts the entire community to work when a vulnerable New Orleanian needs to be found.
If you’d like to partner with the NOPJF in this critical program, contact Matthew Stone at matthew@nopjf.org
