The Arizona Department of Public Safety, which reviews and distributes all statewide alerts for missing people, says Arizona’s new Turquoise Alert system is working like it's supposed to.

The alert, established under House Bill 2281 , has only been activated once since launching in July, even as nearly 300 people were reported missing in Arizona during that same period, according to an Arizona Luminaria analysis of local and federal databases.

Lawmakers promoted the alert earlier this year as a way to close gaps in the system by reaching more of the people who go missing but don’t qualify for an Amber or Silver Alert. They regularly pointed to the disappearance of 14-year-old Emily Pike as an example of the kind of cases they hoped to help and even renamed the law in her honor.

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