They do the Adam alert at the local wal-mart here.. When Eden (my niece) was about 3-4, my mom was in Wal-mart and she jerked away from my mom and took off running.. My mom told an employee that she saw walking by, and she paged the front desk and immediately told them to do it!
Even the employees that were working on the floor were helping look for her... The found her within a few minutes hiding under one of the clothes racks..

I can't believe someone would be so hateful when someone elses child is missing in the store.. The child could have run out of the store into the parking lot and been run over.

If I had been standing there seeing that go on, I too would've used my cell phone to call the police myself. Then I would ask the mother if there was anything I could do to help her find them.