Latest / The Alerting Authority / We’re Using AMBER Alerts WRONG: The Alerting Authority Reality Check

Transcript

We’re Using AMBER Alerts WRONG: The Alerting Authority Reality Check · The Alerting Authority

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, this is Eddie Bertola, and I want to welcome you to something that I've been thinking about doing for a little while.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, first, I want to thank everybody who is already subscribed to the podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that I do with uh Dr.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Jeanette Sutton, and it really means a lot to us because we are putting out information, we are trying to interview other subject matter experts, we're talking to you about uh relevant things that are coming up, new uh improvements or mistakes, things we've seen, and really trying to keep it directed to you.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we appreciate all the comments, everything else.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of a separate thing.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it again, it's gonna be pretty relaxed, but it's gonna be a lot more direct.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I get a lot of questions, um, uh separate emails, other things that just come to me and they're like, hey, Eddie, what do you think about this?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or why is this happening?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And all these different things.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we try to address it in the podcast, but sometimes it's just not the right space.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of this is gonna be opinion.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so with the podcast, we really try to make things backed up with research and everything else.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And with this one, this is my my version, I guess, of a reality check that we just need.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really time to start making some changes.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And these are things that kind of bug me in the alerting world.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because I get I get named for things often.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, well, Eddie said this, you know, or whatever it is.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And some things are true and some things are not.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I kind of want to go more on the record and tell you guys exactly what I do think, why I think it, um, if I'm open to change, because a lot of times I am, uh, especially if there's uh, you know, research or other information that we have to potentially sway me one way or the other.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: For a long time, I've been operating just like many of you, um, based on experience of others, our own best guess, all those things.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: As we get more and more information, we should be willing to shape the way we do it.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so this is the whole reality check.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're not going to be an hour long or anything like that.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically gonna be until I get my message across in a way that I think works.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So again, thank you.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Feel free to like and share this.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know if there's other things that you really want to just hear straight talk on.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because if we don't start fixing these things, we're going to see even more, I think, negative side effects and or just negative impacts to alerts and warnings overall.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And this goes for, you know, private sector, public sector.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you're a statewide coordinator, if you have jurisdiction over a small town of 13 people, um, what you do impacts everybody else.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of those spaces that how you interact with these systems for mass communication and notification will impact pretty much the the whole program.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we've seen it, and we're not going to go into you know a bunch of extra ones right now about, you know, this one mess up happened over here, you know, and now my my jurisdiction doesn't want to do anything, whatever it may be.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a specific topic that I'll do with these, and and each one will be a little different.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Again, write me, email me, text me, um, and say, hey, address this and I will address it.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: If it's something I'm not comfortable with, I'll tell you.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: But again, this is um low tech, very direct.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you get something out of it.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be one, if you've heard me in person, um, and I'm grateful I get to travel a lot.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you hear me on the podcast, I reference this, but we're gonna talk about it today.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is the alerting authority or reality check for you today.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this one is on statewide amber alerts.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take a pause and take a drink because I can already feel the gasps.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I put out a simple question on LinkedIn not too long ago, and it was essentially: hey, what do you think we should do for Amber Alerts?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Should they be statewide or should we be more geotargeted?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's different layers that we're gonna talk about within the question, and one of the things that I think we need to address um right away is the purpose.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, the purpose of any of these types of things are to obviously recover the child as quickly as possible, and you want to do basically anything you can that that that will help you in that effort.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Amber alerts are very specific because they have to do with a child that has been abducted, and in some other states it's taken as well, but abducted, and their their life is in danger.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's serious bodily injury or death, and it's supposed to be imminent.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: There needs to be credible information that can be shared with the public, and then you know, we're bringing the information in and then using that to essentially help with the investigation.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not opposed to amber alerts at all.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I have been a proponent for a very long time.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's confusion overall as to what an amber alert is, what it's not, and it's that whole thing, okay, if it's not an amber alert, what is it?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's still a child that needs to be recovered, right?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or an adult, a teenager, or someone else.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: But the idea is every missing missing person needs to have the same amount of effort given to them to help with a safe recovery.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that just kind of goes, that that's like a foundational thing.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the part that I think is interesting is when we start using these tools and we go for statewide.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so essentially what that's saying is if I'm in the state of Florida and there's a missing child that meets the criteria for an Amber Alert, well, there's a lot of things that will go into motion, right?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have um law enforcement that's doing investigations, all those things.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of stakeholders coming in.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: The part I want to focus on are the federal tools.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And those are generally through the IPAUS system, which is the integrated public alert and warning system.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that they will generally incorporate the emergency alert system, which is the EAS, and the WIA, the wireless emergency alert.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Here's where some of the confusion lives.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So when the Amber Alert program started to really take shape and was really pushing and growing and everything else, well, often it was the emergency alert system that was utilized because that was the system in place that the federal government had that I think it's awesome.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: They gave permission for states to use.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And when we talk about EAS, that's the thing that scrolls across your TV or interrupts your radio.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's meant for live broadcasts, live radio.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is EAS.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: It is not something that can be targeted very well.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to think about that because it goes off of radio, TV, antenna, and so it pushes out this signal.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's pretty much impossible to say, okay, I'm gonna push out a radio signal, but I only want the homes within this two-mile radius to get it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work like that.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and while it's not good at geotargeting, it's incredibly resilient and it's a really important system for the federal government to maintain.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is the EAS system.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of states still use that as a part of their amber alert and they just push it out.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my question to you, people in the states, are for the EAS, because I'm gonna hit EAS just a little bit, then we're gonna jump to the wireless emergency alert.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is how far do you send out this message with all your TV and radio?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And generally, people do it with to the to the breadth of their jurisdiction, right?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just something to think about.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's already going out pretty far.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the question I have is why?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that's I think where we got to the LinkedIn question that I threw out there, which was you know, stayed or not.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because as soon as you start asking this question, it just triggers an emotional response in people.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and while I understand that, it's irritating because you have to look at these decisions that we're making outside of emotion.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where, you know, I've been grateful to have had the opportunity to be a police officer for 20 years.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're coming up close to 20 years here.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um while every, you know, it does get emotional, you have to look at it pragmatically.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: You have to say, is this effective?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is it not effective?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it doing good?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it doing more harm?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: All these different things.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because not every tool should be used for every investigation just because you have it in your toolbox, right?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: If it doesn't make sense to use it, then then put it back in the toolbox and use what makes sense.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because all these tools take manpower and um it's just something to be cognizant of.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So again, you get you get the people that will immediately answer, well, man, if you want the child to be saved, I want to do everything all the time.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I hope you don't doubt, I want the child to be saved.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've literally spent the majority of my career in the the area of child abduction recovery.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is something that I live with, that I think of all the time, and I am very attached and and honestly have way too many um memories, both good and and some absolutely tragic, to last me multiple lifetimes.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that being thought through, what is the right tool?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: When do we use it?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: How do we use it?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about the way now that we're using the wireless emergency alerts.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to bring up a few different states that are using them statewide.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where the whole, you know, reality check.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm being much more direct here because on the podcast, I'd probably be more touchy-feely and say, well, for those that are, I'm just, I'm just at the point, we got to call it out what it is.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I would love some interaction if there are people that want to write back constructively to say, well, hey, this is why.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I want to, I guess, give that little basis of the wireless emergency alert is the thing that goes to your cell phones.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is the and other Wii A capable devices, right?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I mainly we're saying cell phones because that's what people normally go to.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: It has a message of 360 characters.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: There are advancements that have been made that will continue to be made, but think of this around um 2012-ish.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, right around where we're we're starting to use these tools.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember there was a big update in 2015, and and it really just continues to grow, and and I am grateful for all of that.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: What hasn't really grown, though, in different jurisdictions is the way we use it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because I talked about how EAS is not good at geotargeting.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the wireless emergency alert is literally a tool that was made to geotarget.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was made to highlight a smaller area so that you wouldn't have to create this big massive announcement for something that may be you know a little smaller.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just get to a couple examples and let's pull one up right here.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh an Amber Alert that happened in the state of Oregon.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I I put this up here, and so for anybody who wants to watch this, you can actually look and see the actual 360-character message, the 90-character message that was sent, which by the way, is not the best way to do it.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a good example of listen to the podcast, go to some of our training.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: That is not the best practice.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are things we can change in both of those things.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I understand the 90 character, it is hard to get a good complete message in there.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Again, a lot of grace for the 90 character.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: The 360, though, again, example, go back and try again.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because the idea is you're trying to let people know this is the critical information, and you have to do it in a way where the public understands.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I had to make changes myself in how I did this because I finally was introduced to all the the research and and what makes a complete message and how we should do it.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, just fix it.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what you'll also see is we have a huge description over here that's given, and it's actually written pretty well.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my goodness, could the description just be cut and paste into the actual message?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's what people are getting, right?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're not getting this description, even though that's the thing that's that's really well done.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, too often we write in police language and all these other things, but let's get to the actual geotargeting.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: What you're seeing in red is the activation area for the wireless emergency alert.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody who lives in the area where it's highlighted in red, their phones activated.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: And a wireless emergency alert, the tone, that that really annoying tone went on.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then a message appeared on their phone.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what you'll also notice is a blue star.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: That blue star is um southwest of Medford, Oregon.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're listening to this, it is in the southernwestern portion of the state, almost uh as southwest as you can get.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so my question to you here's an example.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Is it important to find the child?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Would we move every rock, look around every tree?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, do anything to find this child?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: The answer is yes.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and literally, if they just needed people and they're like, hey, you know, come and help, please, please go help.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we need to do this.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my question we are fighting the phrase and the idea that, well, we need to do the whole state because we just want to find the child and they can drive anywhere within four hours.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that doesn't hold any water to me anymore.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because if your real point is to find the child, look where the kid went missing.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're in the southwestern portion of the state.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So are you telling me it is more likely that they're driving hours and hours up north to Portland to bend, Oregon, in the middle of the state, or are they gonna drive five or ten minutes and jump into the state of California where you have Crescent City and you have all these other places?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically on the border.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so this whole idea of, well, we need to do the state for the investigation or for you know to find the child, then then alert in California.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do this whole state thing.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do a separate polygon, and maybe you have to contact California.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess that's my point too, folks.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is you do have to coordinate with other states, but that's stuff that can be done.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, I got to do this for the state of California.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: We bordered many different states.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And in my entire time, we never did a statewide Amber Aller because it doesn't make sense.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm throwing in the caveat again because I'm gonna get, you know, people that are crabby.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I if there is critical and legitimate information that based on the investigation that you feel you need to and it's real, okay, go for it.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: But more often than not, it's a, hey, this person is going southbound, this person was going northbound, but we don't know where they're going, so we're just gonna do our whole state.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think that is an absolute overuse, right?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: You have pushed that area way too far.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: The the Wii A is not designed, and it was not intended to just be another emergency alert system where it just goes out to the breadth of your jurisdiction.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this whole idea of, well, they're driving, they could be, you know, four hours from where you are.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: They they may be.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: But why wouldn't they go south?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't you alert south?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: There was no corresponding.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just one of those you do it, well, actually, why?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why would you do it?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have some reasons that I'll put at the end, but this is real.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's we're we're battling emotion, we're battling old policies, we're battling a lot of things, but stop these statewide alerts for situations like this.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see how, I mean, there's a town, if I can see it, Hermiston.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm saying it wrong, I'm sorry.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's in the northeastern portion of Oregon.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't look like there's literally a way for them to get there without going into the state of Washington or other places to cut back down into Oregon.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we alerting there?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and people are gonna say, well, it's just faster to hit a button.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, folks.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I have sent so many of these out.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can draw a polygon by touching your mouse on the screen, expanding out, make a freaking square, a circle.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, be more creative, that's fine, but just make it more in line to what is actually happening.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you think they're going on a freeway, you know, you can actually draw a rectangle around that freeway.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it just it just boggles my mind um when we keep seeing these.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: So this is one, but not to make Oregon feel totally bad.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: These are some other ones.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is the state of Washington.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is an Amber Alert.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we do this?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why you see the entire state?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting in here is they actually have different sections where the state is already broken up.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of work that has gone into this, which is awesome.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: The blue star represents where the alert actually resided, like what happened.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that is in that um southeastern portion of the state.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we're not getting into the message itself because the message itself does need some help.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is in all caps.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, there's some things that can be adjusted.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: My point is the statewide.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I also want to throw out because I knew the coordinator, and I know the coordinator, the one that used to be for the state of Washington, amazing person.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they want change and they want all these things, but it's not often their choice because of current policy.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: You have to follow the policy.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's why it's one of those things.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Change policy.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you're an executive listening to this, or most likely probably not, but I hope you will, this is an example of it not working, this is not how it's supposed to be.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Adjust your policy.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I would love to know if there was a specific investigatory reason why you needed to alert people all the way to the border of Canada.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if this person was abducted and they are being taken off, I again, if they're like, hey, we live in Canada, we came down here to to abduct or do whatever, you know, what this specific case is, and we're heading back up to Canada, great.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we know that, and that's investigatory, we'll put that up.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: But then why is why are the people on the West Coast, along those coastal communities?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Do they need to know?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that whole idea, if if we keep telling people over and over and over for something that may not impact them at all, they are going to be more likely to turn this off.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the big point is we're getting more and more people that are opting out because they're getting amber alerts that are that are being done statewide without a true statewide reason to do it.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's the well, we want to find the child, we want to do everything.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Again, by me saying to shrink down your activation area, it's not saying I don't want you to find the child.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying is I think you can do it just as effectively without pushing anybody too far, without getting that information out and making cell phones go off in places that are like they are just not associated with this at all.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I think just to help too, when we did all of these for the state of California, and I was a part of the California Highway Patrol, we got to a point where we had a 97, I think it was a little 0.5, but just over 97% success rate.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we did not do statewide.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And now I want you to think well, what about the other two and a half to 2.7%?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Personally, folks, I am not I'm not gonna get all like I I can get very emotional about this stuff.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because those two and a half percent, I promise you, are not percentages.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: They are names, they are faces, they are families, and ones that I still vividly remember.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: And every action, every effort was made to try and recover them alive.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: They were not recovered alive.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there were different times when we're going through this process, and I an alert was sent fast, all these things happened, and the child was still found deceased.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's that's another important lesson I just want to throw out there for everybody.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're in this space or you're just listening to it, there are bad people in the world that are going to do bad things.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And no matter what you do, sometimes bad things will still happen.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: But we still are gonna do everything we can, right?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Everything we can does not mean to, you know, put an alert out to the entire United States every time.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: There are um judicious uses of this, and and I think here's an example of one, and that's what you see it on your screen for the state of Washington.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is in the bottom part.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I don't know why we did not just activate for part of the state of Oregon.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's a town right below across the border, and if you felt like you needed to go into Idaho or um another place, you can.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And again, these are things that can be done by coordinators, but coordinators are often, you know, they're they're handcuffed based on policy that's made up by executives.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's keep going.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I got to throw out Texas here.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, I know the coordinator in Texas, and she is amazing.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she is working hard.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's fun because I will have people that are gonna be like, hey, you know, Texas is unique because they have some regional Amber programs.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I've heard from people, well, you know, Eddie, you're against regional programs, or you're trying to disband regional, or you're trying to push it out to regional.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: A, I'm not in control of what a state does for their program.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate people thinking I have all that power.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: But what I am more concerned about is the use of the tools for whoever is the one pushing the button, right?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: For whoever is the one making the decisions.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the state of Texas is a pretty big state, right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you we have so many jokes that can go with it.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: With that said, whenever I fly into Texas, as if I'm going to different places, I've had opportunities to train there.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: We were just in Austin and Dallas and other places, um, Houston.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Great places to go.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing statewide amber alerts?
• 25:04
  unknown: Okay.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's that, well, we want to find the child.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing statewide amber alerts?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they could have driven anywhere.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they could have driven anywhere.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing statewide amber alerts?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to look at the message here, it's pretty good.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I, like we, when I highlighted some other ones that were just like a little like, uh, they could use some help.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: This one is pretty good.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what you will notice though is the blue star, it's right, it's just north of Dallas.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: When you think of the state of Texas, um, for those on the East Coast or anything else, it may be hard to realize how large this state is.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you could drive, I'm joking here when I say days and still be in Texas.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is huge.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: So why are we doing this statewide?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Is it because that's what the policy says, which I think is the incorrect answer.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: If there is specific information based on the investigation that the abductor said, I got this person, or you think that this is what they're thinking.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: I got this person right at the border of Texas and Oklahoma.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: But instead of going 15 minutes into Oklahoma, instead of going, you know, an hour in where I can get to Oklahoma City, I can get to all these other places, I'm actually gonna go, you know, 12 hours southeast.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go southwest across all these little desert areas, so I can get more into the border by, you know, Arizona.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you have that information, run with it.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: But then why are you activating for Amarillo at the north side?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or why Corpus Christi?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, if this child was abducted, and obviously they were, I mean the alert went out, and you want the child to be found.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you focused on Corpus Christi?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you focused on the borders around wherever else when you have just a few minutes away border crossings into Oklahoma?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: You have Tulsa, you have um, you get into Arkansas, you get into Louisiana, all within that area.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Draw a square, circle, rectangle, a star.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Free format.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: But think to yourself, what is the actual area that this person may drive?
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because I doubt abductors are thinking to themselves, okay, the wireless emergency alert's gonna get sent just to the borders of Texas here, so I can't cross into Oklahoma because that wouldn't be fair because they're not being told.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like just it just we're using a newer tool and we're using it in an older way.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it really goes to show that we're not playing well enough together.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because if if the coordinator in Texas, you know, reaches out to Oklahoma and says, hey, this is happening right on the border.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Can you help me?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want to do an alert that's a that's a square, triangle, whatever it is that you want to do in this area that incorporates part of Oklahoma and part of Texas, but this is a lot more realistic on where this person might be right now.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it requires, again, Texas did a good job there.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: It requires Oklahoma to say, you know what, you're right.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do this.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Let's put together this alert and let's send it out to our area.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: There are things that need to be worked out for um jurisdictions, you know, because this is governed now by the federal government.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are trying to activate outside of your jurisdiction, there are bounds at which you can do that.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's a little bit of um wiggle room, but you know, Texas cannot automatically just alert for Oklahoma, and I get that, okay?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: But those are policy decisions, those are things we can work out.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: What you're seeing on your screen is something that happens often.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it you think of everybody who is getting this alert outside, and we're talking, I'm not saying an hour away.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go with eight hours away, 10 hours away, and you're getting this.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And there is there is no reason why you're getting it, right?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's no investigatory reason other than just, hey, we're gonna get the child.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, then I'm gonna go ahead and turn it off.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we don't want.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, little story.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: So California is a long state.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Texas, again, you you are just big um on both in the width and in the length.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: The there were times, and I remember when we had amber alerts or other types, but I'm thinking of an amber alert in particular, where we had a Northern California area and a Southern California area that were related.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we thought to ourselves, okay, so we have two points of of interest where we need to conduct this investigation.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we activated a wireless emergency alert in both places at the same time without any of the people in between being notified.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we recovered the child.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was in the northern area where we recovered them.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: But we had credible information that it was in one of these two, so we did both.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it was targeted just as the way it's it's requested.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you look on the FEMA website and it talks about this this tool, the wireless emergency alert, it's supposed to be geo-targeted.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: That is the intent.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what we did.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: So again, Texas, here is yours.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's uh let's just do better.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: But again, message, good job.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the last one that we're gonna cover Florida.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually in where was I in this one?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we were training.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was doing a live training when this one happened.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say I was in Michigan, and you know, we're we're looking at PBS Warn, and this pops up.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: And for those that I these all these images and stuff are are gotten from um if you look at if you Google PBS Warn, you'll see it.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's warn.pbs um.org, but this is where we get it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can access it and see it.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: And again, message aside, because the message looks pretty good, right?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wrong.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: The description looks good.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: The message, if you look at it, it's a 90 character that's cut and pasted into the 360.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's a whole other question of why that's gonna be a different reality check.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: We are gonna talk about that, and I'll probably use this one again because the description looks pretty freaking amazing.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, there's a few things I would add or adjust to the description.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can read it on the screen, but it doesn't translate into the actual 360.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: But different reality check.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go off of this one.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll look and see the state of Florida is unique in its shape.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a lot of coasts, a lot of different things.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: There was an abduction that happened.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And for everything I know, it was a righteous, you know, amber alert where it's like we're activating this for all the right reasons, go.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I have zero issue.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very supportive.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Here's where it just we we need to have that honest talk.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is it more likely that this person who did this horrible thing is going to travel all the way down into the Florida Keys?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or are they gonna travel a little bit, I don't know, 30 minutes, an hour, and hit Mobile, Alabama?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hit Baton Rouge, Louisiana, New Orleans, jump all the way.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is just, it's funny how we do this statewide when it's like, shouldn't the people in that super big city, you know, Mobile, or I mean, if you get into Baton Rouge or any of these others, I mean it is much larger.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it make sense to let them know?
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of letting all those people vacationing in the Florida Keys, Fort Lauderdale, all those places, and I mean, why are we activating there?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it just does not make sense.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, I think, again, this is totally my opinion here, but I'd love to hear yours.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think decisions like this are making the program weaker because we are not using technology the way that it should be used.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Again, pick your shape, go freeform from that area.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you go three hours in all the different directions, because that may be where they're going.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: But it's really hard to think through this.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I am I am an investigator.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to think through this and for me to say, okay, we're going to alert the state of Florida, but Mobile, Alabama, all the places in Louisiana, Texas, or nope, we're good because I'm sure they're going to take the Florida interstate system.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're going to head down, hit Disney World on the way.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I want everyone in that area to be aware of it.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make sense.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think sometimes we we hit that go button and we create a splash that that is just too big.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it gets to some of my biggest fears are people are not going to want to use the system as much because it creates so much negative blowback.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the other part is people are going to start turning it off.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so those are those are two negatives, and they come from different areas, right?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: The public one, them turning it off.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: We can't control, but we influence.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: The other one is your executives, cities, counties, state level.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: If they get more and more negative feedback, they're going to be more gun shy.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to be like, oh man, I don't know.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Should we do it for this one?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: We had so many calls last time.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: When ultimately it should be based on the safety of the child.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean, that's the situation.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we have an Amber Alert.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so again, look at the area that you are activating.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for this one, for the state of Florida, if I had a campaign to say stop statewide alerts, it would have the four that I've mentioned here.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because these are border, and you have just a good likelihood that they are somewhere around that area.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we can get into all the FBI statistics that you want about children who are abducted and recovered and distances, all these percentages.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: But but again, think of it as outside of if you didn't have the statewide policy that you have, and if you were an average citizen, a local mayor, and you had a child that went missing in this part of Florida, and I asked you and I said, Okay, I'm about to activate an area.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you think I should activate?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think they would include Mobile, Alabama.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: I highly doubt they would include Miami.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: I highly doubt they would include other southern portions of Florida.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: But again, this is this is what we're doing.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: So my question to you outside of credible investigatory information, why do we use statewide alerts?
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: These are my top three reasons.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, old and out-of-date policy.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: The policy for like mass notifications using iPAUS was probably good back in 2012, 2015.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: But but FEMA iPause has done a pretty good job advancing the ball.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: And there's even more stuff they're coming out with if you follow them.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Your policies have to follow that.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you have to make adjustments.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: They their tools are getting so much more targeted, and it's because it's what people are looking for, and there's other options that are coming, which are awesome, which we will talk about later.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: But that is the first one.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: If your policy is old and out of date, hopefully it even exists, because there are places that do not have one.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, danger zone, by the way, um, you need to update your policy.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, um, you don't have updated technology.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: There are jurisdictions still out there that are that basically do not have the ability to create circles, squares, triangles, and and freeform polygons.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you're using software that cannot create those things, stop it.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Get other software.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, there are a ton, there are dozens of companies out there who have software available.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, creating polygons for a wireless emergency alert is one of the most basic things software offers.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have that capability, I mean, it's on you.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is, I mean, you need to make an adjustment, switch companies, do whatever.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you want recommendations, reach out to me.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I can give you four or five and then let you, you know, take it from there.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to make that change.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's one state I was just in not too long ago, and hearing that their state does statewide alerts because they they're they are so antiquated on their technology side, it's their only option.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it it really just boggles my mind.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, we're talking, and again, it is not that expensive to get this software.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there's again tons of different ones out there.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Last one, you're just resistant to change.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, it's a you problem.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I have people that that are current coordinators across the Amber Alert program that again are amazing.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: These people, um, and again, I got to be a colleague with them for a long time.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: They they live this, they breathe this, they they work on it.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: If there are mistakes, they identify it, they share it, they push.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you don't know who your coordinator is in your state, look them up and send them a thank you card because they are carrying this project, this program with them all the time, and they deserve your support.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: There are people that support them, there are people that are in charge of the policies that are not making it to where they can choose or they can become more targeted with their alerts.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the people that are resistant to change, that are impacting the program, not just for their state, but for every other one.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: If states continue to do statewide alerting for an amber alert, mark my words, and the RAN study came out to support this, but mark my words, more and more people are going to opt out of the amber alerts.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: So then, unfortunately, if something happens in your community, which heaven forbid it does not, you won't get that information to be an impact to help save that life.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: The Amber Alert Program is the one program we work so hard at to hopefully never ever use.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: But when it does, we need everything to work well in it.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: So please stop the statewide alerts.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you have some argument that you think justifies it based on the examples I gave you, please show me.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Out of the hundreds that I have been involved in, I still can't find one.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's your alerting authority reality check.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you keep listening and keep sending me questions, and we're gonna get through this together and just hopefully make this program overall um just work better.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm grateful for all of your support.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, I'm Eddie Bertola, and uh you've been listening to the Alerting Authority.