The Williamson County Sheriff's office got word a 17-year-old Cedar Park girl was missing on Wednesday. They decided this would be the first case to test the Rachel Cooke alert system.

The alert system is named after 20-year-old Rachel Cooke of Georgetown, who has been missing for almost 7 months.

"If it's used responsibly, it's a good thing," said Robert Cooke, Rachel's father. "I was pleased with the results, the girl was returned safely to her home and everyone responded to it properly."

With this system, the department says it immediately decides if the case is valid, enters the information into the computer and then sends it to local media and other law enforcement agencies.

Sgt. Mike Lummus of the Williamson County Sheriff's Office said the test run lasted about 24 seconds Wednesday.

This particular case was a false alarm. The girl turned up safe, with friends, hours later.

But in terms of success or failure, the system did exactly what it was supposed to do.

"My regrets are that maybe we didn't do a good enough job informing the media and everyone else that we've tapped into," Lummus said.

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"It's incumbent upon you to look over it and decide if you want to act on it or wait," he said.

This first case highlights some of those problems. Lummus said now it's time to regroup and rework the parts of the system that didn't work.

New 8 Austin will make the decision to air missing persons or abduction reports on a case by case basis, depending on the specific details surrounding the case. And, of course, when law enforcement authorities believe a missing person is in eminent danger.