Does Amber Alert Help Missing Children?
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, back to school at Louisiana State and a serial killer still on the loose, find out how students are protecting themselves right now, but first, a look at some other stories making news. Russian news agencies are reporting more than 80 soldiers were killed when their giant transport helicopter crashed in rebel Chechnya. There are conflicting reports right now on the cause of the crash. Russia's defense ministry says the chopper had to make an emergency landing when one of its engines caught fire, but there are also reports it was fired on by Chechen rebels. Thousands of soldiers and volunteers are trying to reinforce levies in eastern Germany. As the Elbe River responsible for much of the flooding across Europe stabilizes, the high water is saturating the levies. Health authorities are worried about the aftermath. They say sewage and animal carcasses could cause disease. Another major recall of tires installed on Ford SUVs. Continental is recalling more than half a million tires. The company says some of the tires installed on the Ford SUVs and light trucks suffer tread separation problems. The recall includes Continental's Track AW and General Grabber AW tires. The defective tires were made between March, 1999 and October, 2000. Students are starting to return to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge but the customary excitement of a new school year is tempered by concerns about a serial killer. CNN's Charles Molineaux is in Baton Rouge and he joins us now live, a lot of concern, nervous kids over there, Charles?</s>CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes actually, we got temperatures in the midst 90's here in Baton Rouge, but a definite chill is very much in the air as the students wrap up their orientation today and parents drop their kids off to begin classes this school year. Police say that one man, a serial killer, is behind the still unsolved murders of three women in Baton Rouge the past year, including one LSU grad student just days after she finished her program. Several students we've talked with say they are scared. They are changing their routines, avoiding jogging trails, not going out after dark without company. The LSU police are tightening up what they say was already tight campus security, but police are doing foot and bike patrols. The school has upgraded its card key system for dorms and set up a free emergency number for cell phones. Lighting on the campus is being reviewed and improved. The shrubbery has been cut back to eliminate potential hiding places. And the cops have held a parade of safety forums, recommending safety measures and what students can do to protect themselves -- simple things in some cases, like not blocking doors open for dormitories when they're supposed to be locked. And they've been talking with teachers, parents and students, on campus students, off campus students, international students, RAs and the school's 15 sororities, which are right in the middle of their fall rush. For some parents and students, that has been somewhat reassuring.</s>MARK EMMERT, CHANCELLOR, LSU: It's something that you got to deal with. And we're from New Orleans and that and you'll hear about things in New Orleans and the big cities and that. It's just -- you've got to be on your guard.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE STUDENT: And I feel a little more confident, now. I bought the mace, you know, the pepper spray and everything. But it doesn't change anything about my feelings of coming to LSU, like I'm still really excited about coming.</s>MOLINEAUX: And beyond mace and pepper spray, there's also education. The university seeing intense interest in its Rape Prevention Program. It's got more classes going on this fall than it normally does, actually, they're bigger, with more students in them. There's a waiting list while more classes still are set up, so a lot of concern there. Earlier today, I talked with LSU's chancellor, who says that the campus cops are also working very closely, much more so than in the past with local police and sheriff's departments. He says even those these murders didn't happen on the LSU campus, the school is adamant about being involved and pro active.</s>EMMERT: We're part of this community in a very intrinsic fashion, you know. It's in large part a university town in many, many ways. So this is an assault on the whole fabric of the community. And it's a large, big extended family in one sense and you know it's something that we all take very personally. It's like an assault onto the family and so we're very shaken by it. But we're going to move forward and do all of the things we know how to do.</s>MOLINEAUX: A task force having involving about 50, involving local police, local sheriff's deputies and the FBI, is now investigating these serial killings, but they are still unsolved as the students come in and the classes begin -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Let's hope they got solved soon. Charles Molineaux in Baton Rouge, at LSU, thank you very much. Authorities are reporting little progress in their search for a 9-year-old Virginia girl. Michael and Mary Short were found shot to death in their Bassett, Virginia home last week, and their daughter, Jennifer was missing. There still is no trace of the girl. Authorities have disclosed that phone lines to the home had been cut; a sign the crime was planned in advance. We've heard a lot recently about the so-called Amber Alert System, which uses radio, television and even highway signs to spread the word about child abductions. While supporters credit the alerts for the safe recovery of dozens of children, critics say there are dangers. One of those critics is James Fox. He's a professor of criminology at Northeastern University in Boston. He joins us now live from Norwood, Massachusetts. Professor, thanks for joining us.</s>PROF. JAMES FOX, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: I read your article on the op-ed page of the "New York Times" Saturday, but tell viewers how -- why possibly could anyone be opposed to these Amber Alerts, which try to help police find these missing children within those first few critical hours?</s>FOX: Well, it sounds like a good idea and it can be. The question is how do we implement it. The devil here is in the details. My concern is that it may be overused and indeed has in certain cases. And when it gets over used and we see those warnings all the time, we get apathetic and they have little effect. I'm also concerned about misuse, when the wrong license plate number, for example, shows on the screen on a highway. What poor soul might be tracked down by a bunch of vigilantes who think he's the suspect when in fact it was just a mistake? These things worry me. Sure, Congress is concerned about safety of their kids and we all are concerned, but this is not the way to go, right now, when we're in this panic state.</s>BLITZER: But even if there's these negative potential side effects from this Amber Alert System -- if in fact it saves, it rescues, a young child within the first few hours isn't it worth the risk that you're raising?</s>FOX: Well, it may have solved that case. Of course, there are lots of abductions that are solved without Amber Alert and we don't know for sure whether these 22 cases that have been attributed to Amber Alert may have been solved anyway. I'm not saying Amber Alert can't work, but we have to be very careful in how we design it. Too often, we design these programs without really thinking about it too much because we're too worried and alarmed about an epidemic. There's no epidemic of child abductions going on now. I say we stay calm and cool and let's plan a system that will work. Personally, I'd like to see law enforcement involved more. Let's call it a Blue Alert. Law enforcement should be communicating with each other across state lines, across counties. But when we get the public involved, I worry about mistakes and what impact it can have on innocent people.</s>BLITZER: But even if you save just one little kid, isn't it worth it? That one life is so precious to the parents and the loved ones of everyone involved.</s>FOX: Sure, every life is precious and maybe Congress instead of looking at Amber Alert should think about bicycle helmets. Many more kids die each year because they all off the bicycle and hit their head than are grabbed off a bicycle by some attacker or abductor. Maybe they should think about smart guns so that kids will not shoot themselves when they're playing with the family firearm. There are a lot of ways we should be protecting children in this country. I'm not sure Amber Alert is on the top of the list.</s>BLITZER: Professor James Fox of Northeastern University. I suspect, Professor, you're going to get a lot of criticism. You're going to get a lot of angry mail, but we have to, unfortunately, leave it right there. Thanks for your...</s>FOX: Let's just say it's a -- we just have to do it the right way and not rush to implement something that may be faulty.</s>BLITZER: All right, that's a good point, a valid point. Thanks, Professor, for joining us. And from the streets of Jerusalem to the streets of Washington, D.C., hard lessons on protecting the nation's capitol. Just how vulnerable is the heart of democracy? We'll hear from the man in charge. Plus, a fond farewell for a native son. The pope ends an emotional visit home, but first today's news quiz. Pope John Paul II is the most traveled pope in history. Which of these countries has he not visited? Egypt, Greece, Syria, Vietnam? The answer coming up.