Amy Bradley's family pushes for 'Amy Alert' cruise ship notification system: 'Everybody's going to know'

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Nearly three decades after Amy Bradley disappeared during a family cruise, her family in Chesterfield County is still searching for answers — and working to make sure no other family goes through what they did.

The Bradleys say there was no effort to alert passengers that Amy was missing the morning she disappeared, and the experience has driven them to advocate for a new kind of protection for cruise passengers.

"When we realized, after Ron had searched for Amy close to an hour, that we needed help, we immediately contacted security," Iva Bradley recalled. "We went to the bursar's desk. We were begging: back the ship off the deck, don't let anybody off, don't put any gangplanks down, make an announcement, put out a picture.... We got no help at all. We were told it was too early; it would disturb the guests. I can remember standing there and the announcement to disembark happened. And when it did, families, couples, children, they gathered their bags up..."

"And they just walked off the ship," Ron Bradley said.

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The family is now pushing for what they're calling an "Amy Alert" — a cruise ship notification system modeled after the Amber Alert.

"Let's do an 'Amy Alert.' Let's make it so that when you step foot on board if anything happens, everybody's going to know and everybody's going to help," Iva said.

Under the proposed system, notifications would be sent over a ship's public address system, through the cruise app, and broadcast on every television on board. The proposal would also require the ship to lock down while a full search is conducted.

"If we can get some people in D.C. to take it to the floor and make something happen, it would institute a ship-wide notification of all passengers and crew immediately when a passenger is reported missing," Brad Bradley said.

The Bradleys have already met with lawmakers and are hopeful the proposal can become a reality. But whether it happens soon or years from now, they say they'll keep pushing — not just for Amy, but for future passengers and families.

WATCH: Video editor discovers crucial footage of Amy Bradley shot hours before 1998 disappearance

"People going forward in the future deserve to be protected. As much as Amy did, unfortunately, she wasn't. The morning Amy disappeared, we would've had an extra thousand eyes and ears helping us; things might have ended up differently," Brad said.

The push for change has gained momentum as Amy's case has drawn national attention, including renewed interest following a recent documentary about her disappearance.

The idea for the alert system came from a stranger who wanted to prevent the same thing from happening to other families. A petition was quickly created and has already gathered more than 35,000 signatures.

"We would love for anybody and everybody to go to change.org and Amy Bradley and sign the petition because you have children or spouses or yourself or grandchildren and let's get the numbers up on this so we can continue to move forward to make this legislature happen," Iva said.

WATCH: Her daughter died on a cruise ship. Now she advocates for Amy Bradley's family

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