The program will give police and other law enforcement agencies the ability to get notices about abducted children sent to cell phone customers in specific Zip codes, such as that where the child last was seen. Cell phone customers will have to sign up with their providers to get the alerts.

The new program has the potential to turn millions of cellular customers into instant search parties for missing children, said wireless industry experts.

``There are 175 million cell phones in the hands of U.S. citizens that should be put to good use,'' said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications analyst in Atlanta. ``If this can engage the public, that's a big win.''

Chuck Hamby, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, which is among the major telecommunications companies that plan to participate in the program, said customers who sign up for the alerts will be sent text messages with the words ``AMBER ALERT'' in the caption. The company, he said, believes the program could be beneficial to law enforcement.

``This makes the Amber Alert system much more viable,'' Hamby said. ``Customers can already get alerts for certain stocks or news. Now they can get Amber Alerts based on their Zip codes.''

Verizon does not plan to charge for the service. It was unclear whether other participating wireless companies planned to charge customers for the alerts.

On average, 200 to 250 Amber Alerts are activated across the nation each year, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Figures for Florida were not immediately available.

Local law enforcement officials said they would be interested in getting details of the program, which wireless industry officials and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children plan to disclose today in Washington.

``Any electronic notification tool that can help law enforcement find a child would be worthy of review,'' said Marianne Pasha, a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

But Oscar Westerfield, former special agent in charge for the FBI in Tampa, said he sees some pitfalls. With so many potential tipsters, there's the potential law enforcement agencies may be overloaded with calls, he said.

``You need to make sure you're on the money when you make the alert ... Someone can mean well when they call in something that ends up totally meaningless and you have cops out chasing that lead down,'' Westerfield said. Most of the major U.S. wireless phone service companies have signed up to participate in the program, including Tampa- based Syniverse Technologies, said Helen Harris, a Syniverse spokeswoman.

The company, which provides telecommunications networking services for most of the major carriers, will play a key role in the program.

Syniverse, which helps route text messages for many of the largest cellular phone companies, will handle receiving Amber Alerts from law enforcement departments around the country. It then will locate wireless phone customers near search areas and then transmit information about the case to them.

Syniverse is donating its services to the program, Harris said.

Officials with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children also declined comment on the program.

Wireless phone customers can sign up to get Amber Alerts on a central Web site: www.wirelessamberalerts.org. Wireless phone companies also plan to post enrollment instructions on their own Web sites.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.