New law named after Prince McCree fills gaps in missing child alert system

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has signed the PRINCE Act into law, which expands the state's missing person alerts for children after the homicides of 5-year-old Prince McCree of Milwaukee and 10-year-old Lily Peters of Chippewa Falls exposed holes in the system.

"While the Amber Alert system is an essential tool, cases like Prince and Lily show us that there are gaps that need to be remedied," Evers said Tuesday when he signed the bill at Hawley Environmental School, where Prince was a student.

A new "Purple Alert" will include missing children under the age of 10, and children under the age of 18 who are believed to be incapable of returning home without help because of a disability.

Prince's parents previously told the Journal Sentinel that the bill's signing would bring them some measure of comfort, knowing it can help save lives. They also spoke at the bill-signing ceremony.

That's something Prince always wanted to do, his father, Darron McCree said. Prince "always wanted to be a super-hero" and was fond of wearing Spider-Man outfits.

"My baby’s going to be a big hero for a lot of kids out there," said Jordan Barger, Prince's mother.

Here's how the bill changes the missing alerts system, why state lawmakers proposed the bill and what the new alert will be called:

How does the PRINCE Act change Wisconsin's missing alerts system?

Wisconsin has multiple missing alerts, including Amber, Silver and Green Alerts.

Amber Alerts are issued if a missing child is 17 years old or younger and in danger of serious bodily harm and death. The law enforcement agency must also have enough information about the child, suspect, or the suspect's vehicle "to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help locate the child."

More: Who gets an Amber Alert in Wisconsin? Here’s what the data showed

Silver Alerts are issued for adults who have developmental disabilities, Alzheimer's, dementia, or cannot get to a familiar location without medication. They're sent via text messages to cellphone users who have subscribed to them. They also appear on digital advertising billboards, Wisconsin Department of Transportation messaging signs and lottery terminals.

The bill essentially extends the Silver Alert to include children that aren't covered by the Amber Alert — though the category will have a new name. An alert would go out if the child is under the age of 10, or children up to the age of 18 if they are unable "to return home due to a physical or mental condition or disability," according to an analysis of the bill.

Finally, there are Green Alerts, which apply to missing veterans at risk due to a physical or mental health condition. They're also sent by email or text message to subscribers of those alerts.

Evers said new Purple Alert will also be broadcast on highway signs, digital billboards, social media and the state emergency alert system.

Why weren't Amber Alerts sent out for Prince McCree and Lily Peters?

In both of the homicide cases of Iliana "Lily" Peters in Chippewa Falls in 2022 and Prince McCree in Milwaukee in 2023, it appears law enforcement didn't have enough information to satisfy the strict requirements for issuing an Amber Alert.

An Amber Alert wasn't issued for Prince because law enforcement didn't have enough information about a suspect, a required piece of information. Milwaukee police asked the state twice to issue an Amber Alert but were denied, according to Prince's parents.

"That blew my mind. How can a child that can’t protect themselves not fit the requirements to get help protecting themselves?" Darron McCree said.

Instead, a "critically missing" alert was issued for Prince. Milwaukee police send that type of alert to news outlets to inform the public about a missing person who may be in immediate danger. Children ages 11 and younger automatically fall under that category, under Milwaukee police policy.

Prince was killed in his own home by a 27-year-old man and a 16-year-old who were living with Prince and his family, according to prosecutors. A trial is set for June.

An Amber Alert also wasn't issued for Lily. Before her body was found, police said the situation didn't meet the criteria for an alert, but didn't elaborate further.

Prosecutors allege a now-15-year-old boy followed Lily out of her aunt's home, then strangled and sexually assaulted her on a walking trail. Attorneys for the teenage suspect fought to have the case moved to juvenile court, but a judge ruled in January it would stay in adult court.

What did lawmakers say about getting the bill passed?

The bill, introduced in late January and passed in both houses less than a month later, had strong bipartisan support. Groups that represent police in Wisconsin also registered in support of the bill.

Democratic Sen. LaTonya Johnson of Milwaukee and Republican Sen. Jesse James of Altoona authored the bill to expand the alert system after the deaths of Prince and Lily affected their districts.

Johnson, a neighbor of Prince's family, said she made a promise to Prince and his family that his death "was not going to be in vain."

"To see this pass, it's everything," Johnson said when the bill was approved in February. "It's a huge deal, because before this, every single county had their own mechanism of how they found or located missing children. This bill makes all of those systems obsolete, and it gives everybody the same system, the same resources."

James said he asked the state Department of Justice to make changes after Lily's death, but the state didn't want to alter the Amber Alert system, which is part of federal law.

"It took some time, a couple of years, to get this done. It's just a matter of us getting our heads together and having the discussion," James told the Journal Sentinel. "This is a huge thing for our state, this is huge for our families, and this is especially huge for our children that would go missing."

More: 'A very sweet little girl': Chippewa Falls mourns Lily Peters

What will the new alert for missing children be called?

The name of the new alert ran into some political obstacles that almost prevented it from getting a vote in the Republican-controlled Assembly.

Johnson told reporters Tuesday that lawmakers want to call the new category the Purple Alert to honor both children. Purple was Lily's favorite color, and Johnson said James noted the connection to the Prince song "Purple Rain."

The state Department of Justice will ultimately decide the name and implement the new alert, which Evers said the agency could do "within days."

A Change.org petition that has gained nearly 200,000 signatures asked state lawmakers to create a "Lily" Alert with fewer regulations to respond to missing children quicker. That petition began in April 2022, over a year before Prince's death.

"The name, to me, matters absolutely zero. I could not care less what they name it ... as long as we get a change to try to keep our children safe," said Eric Henry, a Chippewa Falls resident who started the petition.

It's impossible to know whether an alert would have saved Lily's life, he said, but it would have given more opportunity for people to help. Henry wants to see the change at a national level, because the issue runs deeper than just Wisconsin.

Johnson noted it was important to recognize the support around Lily, which didn't result in a new alert the first time lawmakers tried to change the statutes. She felt Lily and Prince "needed each other" to get the effort over the finish line.

"When a system is broken, it affects everybody, regardless of who you are," Johnson said. "To me, this bill speaks volumes because it showed that Lily was in Chippewa Falls, Prince was in Milwaukee. Lily's white, Prince is Black. And they both had the same issue."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Prince Act, named for Prince McCree, fills gaps in Amber Alert system