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During the month of September, AWARE will be hosting a series of posts from guest authors highlighting the five most significant innovations in the field of alerts and warnings in the past decade since 9/11. This post is the first of three on the CMAS Users Trial conducted in San Diego, authored by Stephen Rea, Senior Emergency Services Coordinator of the County of San Diego (California) Office of Emergency Services.
As part of a coordinated effort with Sprint and the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA), The County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services (OES) had a unique opportunity to become the first in the nation to test the Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS, also known as the Personalized Local Alerting Network, or PLAN) on a large scale. During the October 2010 trial, over 50 imminent threat and AMBER alerts were generated. These alerts were received by 120 mobile phones preloaded with CMAS software. Our intent was to put PLAN through its paces by simulating large and small disasters ranging from earthquakes and tsunamis to hazardous materials spills.
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Senator George Runner, who authored legislation establishing the Amber Alert statewide child abduction alert system seven years ago, is proposing a “Blue Alert” system be piggybacked on the Amber Alert system and activated “if a law enforcement officer has been killed, seriously wounded, or assaulted with a firearm” or if the suspect has fled the scene of the offense.
“The concept is that, just like the Amber Alerts, it’s important to get lots of eyes looking for this kind of perpetrator as soon as possible,” Runner said. “Often times they do know some information about these individuals, such as a partial license plate or a description and it’s important to use the existing systems we have to get people to help law enforcement to find these individuals who are clearly a threat to society.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National AMBER Alert Conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) will be held today through Thursday in Orange County, Calif.
More than 300 AMBER Alert Coordinators from all 50 states, tribal communities, U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, Canada and Mexico will gather at the conference to receive additional training and discuss ways to improve and enhance the current AMBER Alert Program. The conference highlights Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) and individual state training tracks and sessions geared toward participants working to bring the AMBER Alert program to Native American communities.
“AMBER Alert has helped to rescue hundreds of children from abductors and return them safely to their homes,” said Assistant Attorney General and National AMBER Alert Coordinator Jeffrey L. Sedgwick. “Thanks to cooperation among law enforcement agencies, the media, transportation officials, public and private partners, and concerned citizens, the AMBER Alert system has become part of America’s public safety landscape.”
Erin Runnion, whose daughter was abducted and murdered at the age of 5, will deliver a speech on her life altering experiences. Runnion is the Founding Director of the Joyful Child Foundation, a nonprofit, dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse and abduction through prevention programs.
The AMBER Alert system began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. The system was created in memory of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, who was abducted while riding her bicycle and later found murdered. AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alerts are emergency messages broadcast when a law enforcement agency determines that a child has been abducted and is in imminent danger. The broadcasts include information about the child and the abductor, including physical descriptions and information about the abductor’s vehicle, which could lead to the child’s recovery.
AMBER Alerts are also available to wireless users who can opt to receive geographically-specified messages on their wireless devices or cell phones through an AMBER Alert wireless messaging system. Wireless subscribers with the ability to receive text messages may opt in to receive AMBER Alerts by registering at www.wirelessamberalerts.org or by visiting their wireless carrier’s web site.
More at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/2008/oaag09002.htm
