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When Emergency Alerts Fail: What Seattle Is Changing · The Alerting Authority

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, I am Eddie Bertola, and I am coming to you from the city of Seattle.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And welcome to another episode of the Alerting Authority.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, we encourage you to subscribe, follow, listen, and most importantly, uh participate in these podcasts as much as possible.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I really want to hear your questions, concerns, ideas, uh problems, pain points, um, success stories.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we all as alerting authorities can do a better job and make our community safer.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I want to thank this is honestly, it's fun.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can kind of see for anybody who's watching on YouTube.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try not to make you sick.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for those that cannot see, I am on the pier out here in Seattle.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, really just having a great day.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, brought a lot of sunshine.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I am looking straight out the uh Olympic mountain range in front of me.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the reason I'm out here in Seattle is I had the opportunity with uh Jeanette Sutton to meet with some of the executive staff for the city of Seattle.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that included the mayor's office, um, police department, fire department, the office of emergency management, um, and many more.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all in preparation for a training that we're having tomorrow.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that will incorporate a lot more people where we're gonna really look and at policies, procedures.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they're gonna learn a lot about message design um from Jeanette.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be fantastic.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to kind of touch uh a few points that I think we've really learned while we are here.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Alerts don't always go as planned.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think that's that's an important piece.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: We come from uh a field almost like meteorology where you gotta expect that you're gonna get it close.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: You may not get it perfect.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and I don't know what the final percentage of uh accuracy that meteorologists need to have to be super accurate or anything else.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: But we're in a similar position.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because just like them, we deal with information that consistently changes.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're gonna have um dynamic situations.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to have, I mean, think of think of a hazard.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh go ahead and pick anything from a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, um, severe storm.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that could be winter, it could be summer.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, pick it.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: There isn't a script where we can follow and be like, okay, it passed this place at this time, therefore we're going to have this happen.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's really important that we accept that.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And also that we don't use it as an excuse.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't just wake up and say, hey, I got it right this time.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that means I'm good for another three before I need to get it right next time.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: We obviously want to get it right every single time.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does that mean for us?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's take Seattle.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, over the summer, they had an incident here which was very tragic, and it happens in other places.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, at the Bight of Seattle, where there was a shooting, and again, tragic things happened.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that came out of that was the city and residents kind of feeling like an area of improvement was or should be the way that they did their alerts and warnings.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you can look and and they have internal systems, they have um external access for iPods and everything else.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, without making this a full, like, hey, tell me about that incident, I'll just say there were things that definitely could have been improved.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: But instead of focusing on all those negatives, I want to comment on things that I'm seeing out here in Seattle that I think we could all learn from.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: One, they took that and in just a short amount of time have decided to make changes and make adjustments.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: One of those, thankfully, is inviting Jeanette and myself out here so that we can meet with them and work with them, look at, again, their their policies and procedures.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know you guys hear me say that all the time, but ultimately it lies and lives in those documents.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So your success does.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And there are things that can be adjusted and looked at, which is which is good.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, again, that's why we're here.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: The other piece is learning about messaging, about the words you use, when you say it, how you say it, what tools you need for dissemination and everything else.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So Seattle.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: The mayor took initiative.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that they did is they created and signed an executive order here in the city that has to do with alerts and warnings.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: There are other things as well as a part of it, but it basically says, hey, we need this to be a focus.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: We obviously we know it's an area that needs some adjustments, and here we go.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever that happens, um, that that's just a huge win because it means from the top down, we are going to see support.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see someone holding other people accountable within the city.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially, because we just don't want change, we want the right change, right?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: We want people to understand alerts and warnings so that when other things come up that could be um similarly tragic or or even just standard type notifications for, let's say, whether that is expected.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: We have people in place that understand how it works and what to do.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: So for those that ever come and visit Seattle, they have something called Alert Seattle.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And Alert Seattle has their opt-in systems.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not an app, and it is something that you can opt into to receive emails, you can see receive uh like a phone call message, text messaging, and you can pick what you want.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a big thing.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we've seen it in other places where it's not done as well, where you do an opt-in system, but you don't really get to pick.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like I'm opting in, but now you're gonna send me everything.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But for those that are managing your opt-in system, you need to create a way for participants to select what they want to receive.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it can be traffic, it can be missing endangered persons, it can be weather, it can be gas station alerts.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't care because on the opt-in side, you can make it whatever you want, but allow people the ability to select what they want to receive information on.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just gonna make everybody happy because essentially they're not only selecting what they want, they're telling you what they don't want.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what they don't want are the things that um are gonna make them upset or anything else.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can remove that, then whenever you give them the information, you're gonna have that much more support, less pushback.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Seattle is doing that, which is a great job.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it does not require an app, which is also good because some people don't want to sign up and download something for a variety of reasons.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you have the app, that's great, go for it.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is just another way to do it.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, another thing is they're at about 10% of their population as far as signups, which you may be thinking, 10% is that a lot?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when you have 740,000 people, give or take, that live here, and you're over, I think they're over 80,000 um people that are signed into their system, that's fantastic.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and I want you to think, again, national average is about 10 to 15% uh for people who opt in, which again, so they are right on target.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want more people?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: You absolutely do.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And for anybody from this area, I would recommend you sign up for Alert Seattle.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: That way you can receive those opt-in type messages.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: But for the rest of us, when you're visiting, I'm not opted into Alert Seattle.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm here for a few days, but I'm not gonna receive any messages that come through that system.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the discussions that we're having and that I think is valuable for everybody is so what happens?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: What happens to people who are visiting?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of areas that get tours, um, sorry, that are tourist areas, um, and they do give tours.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: They get a lot of people in from all over.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, since I've been here, when I landed in the airport, I cannot tell you the amount of languages that I've heard.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can't tell you the wonderful people from many different cultures that have been here.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they are they, I can safely guess that they all don't live in Seattle, that some of them came just like me for a few days to come enjoy the beautiful environment, the area.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: I have sourdough.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's been fantastic.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do I get this information?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: If there is an emergency, if there is an active assailant, if there is anything that is a life safety issue for me as a visitor, how should I get the information?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something we talk about a bunch.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I really hope that everyone is already saying the words.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's IPAUS, right?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's the alert and warning tools that are governed by the federal government that a lot of us have access to.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it could be your city, it could be your county, it could be your state, but there are different jurisdictions that have access to this.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we go over the emergency alert system, again, which is television, radio, all those things.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, the one we're talking more about today and actually tomorrow with the city of Seattle are the wireless emergency alerts.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're doing great.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean, great, it's not that they use them all the time, but they're open to discussion because I understand this is new and I understand it's it's a process.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I can already see some of you guys do in the comments, like, it's not new.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's been around for over a decade.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is, you're right.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it has been there.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: But what I mean is new is we have been working through communication for a very long time and understanding how cities work and how um cities develop.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, 10 years, um, well, sometimes it takes longer, even, but the city is um with the leadership they have, they are starting to address it.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we're gonna see a lot of really good stuff come out of it.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so for those that are residents here, I look forward to seeing what the city is going to finish once we go through the training and provide all the different suggestions.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, here are some of the things that are my top things for Seattle and for everywhere else, really.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is first understand that policy piece.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we are we're here on the water, you know, we have different stakeholders.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can see over here, I was gonna say to my left, it depends how you're watching it here, but we have the Port Authority.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Over here, we have this big tourist area, we have um national parks.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this this is really just a beautiful area.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're addressing potential hazards and ways to um work with them, you need to look within your policy and see if you are identifying those stakeholders and seeing what their needs are, what their procedures are.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not that you have to cut and paste and say, well, the National Weather Service is gonna do this in case it was tsunami.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna cut and paste their stuff.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's not it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what we want is how are you as an entity going to interact with these different stakeholders?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: How are you going to interact with people that you may not have direct supervision over?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that may be an independent entity themselves.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And understanding that is going to help things go a lot smoother.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: The city of Seattle took a lot of flack for the Byte of Seattle incident.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, I think there is going to be a lot of good and and really good changes that are going to come from this that are going to help Seattle be that much more prepared for similar incidents or other things that may come up.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I I will probably do an update just to let you guys know how that all goes because you really should look here and see.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the example of top-down leadership where it's coming from the executive of the jurisdiction.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: In this case, it's the mayor, but I mean it's the mayor of Seattle, which is a pretty big community, pretty big city.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And looking and seeing how that type of leadership trickles all the way down.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the fire chief was there, their police chief was there, as I said before.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so that type of leadership, when everything is all aligned, I think you're going to see a lot of really good things.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: One of the questions that comes up is when we're talking about um information that goes in a message, and we talked about it today a little bit, and I've heard it a few different places.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've had feedback where people say, for an active assailant, for example, do we really need to tell someone that they are going to get shot if they come into the area?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or that I say going to, that they are in danger of being shot, um, in danger of being killed, that they're putting themselves in tremendous danger.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the thinking from some is we shouldn't tell them that.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: That could, you know, make them even more scared.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's more traumatic, it's all these different things.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my official thought is yeah, it's traumatic.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it may scare them.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: It may scare them so much that they may decide to follow your guidance and not come into the area and not put themselves in more danger and not create potentially another victim or anything else.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because what happens is we have a lot of curious people out there.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're gonna send a message for an active assailant and it's like, hey, this is happening in this area, there might be people that are gonna be like, oh my goodness, this is happening.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go down there.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: They may get their phone out or anything else, um, which is not appropriate.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: You need to stay out of the way and let emergency services respond and do what they do to essentially address whatever the threats are and then start rendering aid, that life safety service.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we need people to not be down there on the phone recording, generating, just no.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so the idea of putting critical key elements in for something like that that could cause someone a little bit of anguish is okay.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: And really, we want to look, hey, you could, if you come into this area, you could be shot and killed.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it's it's too harsh.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because again, ultimately, what's the desired result?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: That people stay away to to let people do what they're supposed to do.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that one has come up.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's gonna come up tomorrow.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it usually comes up in all the different ones because when they see the the hazard impact statements um that that are provided that are in the lexicon um that um Dr.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sutton and her team have created, they sometimes get a little wishy-washy because they're like, oh no, we're all for it for a flash flood.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to this, like, oh, that that's really serious.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and honestly, they're all serious, all the different hazards.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: But yes.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so again, that question has come up a bunch.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Another question that I get has to do with the approval structure in a policy when it comes to alerts and warnings.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we've talked it through a few times, but I want to use what my example might be for the city of Seattle.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it makes sense that if we have a wildland fire and there is an evacuation that's needed, or we're repopulating an area, or something to do with fire, and we have uh the fire department is the lead agency, that they would be the ones to help us understand exactly what the message content or emphasis needs to be.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not that they can um write a message that doesn't follow the standards.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: It needs to follow the standards of a complete message, but also we should take into account what is the end result that we're looking for.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And they should be heavily involved in that process.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: For an active assailant or similar things, we should talk through, and I'll maybe I'll go barricaded subject because the active assailant I'll give for it's it's even more unique.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: But let's say there's a barricaded subject or some type of police activity.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then law enforcement probably needs to have a say in this, and that gets everybody to the table.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: For the active assailant, that one is so quick, and the response is needed so quickly.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: But and I'm saying the actual incident itself generally does not that last that long, but it can cause so much damage in that small amount of time, that those specific messages should be a collaboration between the mayor's office, law enforcement, and maybe another stakeholder too, depending on specifics within the city of Seattle.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And those messages should be approved ahead of time so that if, heaven forbid, a situation comes up where we have an active assailant, those that are working in the 24-hour center, and whether it is specifically emergency management or dispatch, just someone who has access to the system, when they get the call, they can immediately select the message, put any additional variable if there's a specific location, and then send out that critical message to that small area that is impacted by that.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, those are ones where that approval process needs to be done well in advance because you just do not have the time when an actual incident is happening.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Process of adjusting policy, though.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I want everyone to know when I when I go and I meet with people, I don't want you to think that I have this expectation that it's just gonna happen today.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we get there, we talk for four hours, or even if I'm here for a few days and we're working through it, you know, that it's magically all gonna be better.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: I understand that it's not.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have been working in your agency trying to address policy and trying to make changes, you can be like, I've been working on this for the last year.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say, I understand.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when I was with the California Haven Patrol, the kind of the joke was sometimes policy would take so long to make and to get it approved through the countless approvals, whether it's through the office or the departments within the California High Patrol that had specific kind of, let's say, jurisdiction or where they were the subject matter experts over that, then it would go up through our legal department, through the different commissioners, up the chain, back down so many times.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's just a game where it just gets passed back and forth.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it would take so long that by the time that it was approved and put in place, that it would already be outdated.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and I doubt that the California Air Patrol was unique in that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And again, that doesn't happen with all policies, but that absolutely did happen.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and I am I have a pretty high confidence it happens in a lot of places too.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: So what does it look like?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when I am here and we talk about it, a lot of times it's just identifying what the problems are, because sometimes that's that's one of the hardest parts is seeing where the barriers are.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And once we identify barriers, we can go through and see what we need to do to make those into solutions, or at least find the solutions to those problems.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And like being honest, it's it's really fun to do because when you get the right people into a room that understand the jurisdiction, the community, the tools and resources available, finding solutions isn't all that hard.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: As long as, and here's the big caveat, you have their leadership team that is supportive of these actions.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because if they're not, then you're gonna get people who are gonna be more timid.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: They may not feel that psychological safety, it's called, where they feel comfortable in that team environment actually speaking up because they they may not feel that their response is going to be given any, I guess, credibility that they're gonna look down upon for bringing up problems that what they bring up may look like they're putting someone down, and especially if it's a leader or someone in a leadership position, that that may not look good.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you get the right people in the room who feel that safety, you'll be able to identify um, I think, again, the problems and potential solutions pretty quick.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, once you identify the solution, it doesn't just mean boom, we're done, because sometimes those solutions are going to require a process to enact.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it's training, sometimes it's uh new technology, sometimes it's um all of the above, honestly.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've had staffing be one because I had one in a different place, not Seattle, where they said, man, we need to have people who can access this information and do these things 24-7, because it was essentially one person who was in charge.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And one person held the keys to sending those messages.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And when that one person went to bed, you run the r you ran the risk of that person not picking up the phone.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and that person with all their uh best efforts, I mean, they still sleep.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I hope they have a day off.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they go on vacation.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so the idea was we need to put people in place to have that authority to approve those types of messages and be able to just move it forward without it being the one sticking point, right?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or the single point of failure.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And while that was a great idea and everybody liked it, then it was how do we put that into practice?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: And again, that can take time and that required staffing, training, getting people to a point where everyone felt confident in those that were now a part of the program so that they could actually make those types of decisions.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, when I first started in this, again with the California Iowa Patrol, and I was given the authority to make decisions for wireless emergency alerts and other types of alerts that we were sending out.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just, hey, you got into this position.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations, here you go.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was a process, and I had to read a lot.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: I had to learn about the different tools.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I had to understand our policy and expectations.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And in the beginning, when I was making those decisions, I had to get a confirming official, which could have been just my boss or someone in that chain, to say, actually, no, that's we agree.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or Eddie, actually look at it from this way.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see the difference?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or let me help you understand it from a different viewpoint.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And once I got to a point, though, where we had that level of comfort, then it was fine.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so all of those things go into the magic of making changes.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hope everyone understands that it just takes time.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: So in this case, it is still in process and it is still in the works because they're addressing staffing, training, all those things.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: But the idea is there, policy is being adjusted, and hopefully soon they're going to be in a position to give that individual a break and still provide all the safety, service, and security to their community 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So those types of policy changes do take time.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: I do expect there will be some in the city of Seattle, which again, I hope everyone would be excited about.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I look forward to the city of Seattle putting out more information about their changes.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it'll be their story to tell.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that you're going to see a lot of really good stuff happen.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope other big city managers are going to take note at what's happening here so that they can do it for their city and their jurisdiction.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, while we're here helping Seattle, we'd love to be able to go and help all these other places too.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think the last thing I want to talk about for this podcast or the this one is what are the expectations after we come out and do training like we're doing here?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that I realistically see and expect for an agency to do?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, while the city of Seattle is extremely capable, um, we're coming out here.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we had our executive meeting, we're doing more now with um everyone else tomorrow for an all-day thing.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have to have that understanding that it's one day with everybody going through all the training.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: What are the realistic expectations for attending a one-day training?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're going to identify some of the basics.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're providing um how to craft messages, how to put it in policy, understanding the life cycle of a message.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: But ultimately you're drinking from a fire hose for a few hours, and then you go back to real life that has so many other things that you're responsible for.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And yet you're expected to almost do an overhaul of your alerts and warning program.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the hope is that when you are attending one of our trainings, um, if your city hosts one or if you come with another city that's doing it, take all the information.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: We provide you with PowerPoints, access to the research, all these things that you can take.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's essentially to reach out again and give us a chance to look through the messages that you're creating.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let us look at your policy.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: We do things called an executive gap assessment, where we look and try to find where the gaps exist within your policy, where we can essentially insert whether it's it's a new policy or a new part to fill in these gaps to make your program more resilient, to make it more effective.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then you par you pair that with the type of training, and then it helps a lot because, again, ultimately, this drinking from a fire hose with all this information, again, is really good and it benefits you.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if we can't get that and help it to create actual changes, then I think we're missing the mark.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then ultimately it just becomes a training.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll hear me say this a lot again, the the effectiveness of what we're doing is not demonstrated by a certificate on the wall.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's whether or not you feel comfortable and capable to actually do this in a real life situation.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Send out alerts and warnings, understand, hey, we're sending out a broad EAS message, we're doing a targeted WIA, and we're following it up with our opt-in system that's gonna have a map.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna have a picture.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're gonna be able to put it in different languages within our opt-in system.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Even before we send out the main one, we're sending out another one within our opt-in system to our different groups of access and functional needs to give them an extra hour or two heads up that this is happening and they need to prepare.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's ultimately it.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we're here.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we do what we do.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as fun as it is being in Seattle, and it really is, and this is again a wonderful group.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping that um there's follow-up and we can then gauge the effectiveness of everything that we're doing.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is what I wanted to talk to you today about.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I want to thank people in Seattle.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: It really has been amazing.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, food has been great, people are great.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have sourdough.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's life, life is good.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm looking forward to identifying the areas that we need to work on tomorrow and having just a great day.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is the alerting authority.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to thank everybody again for listening.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Again, please like, subscribe, send questions.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we are getting uh information.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: I just got another email.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, hey, can you interview this person?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think they'd be really good.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: I want that type of stuff because we want it to be for you.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um, we know that every second has a story.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And today we are here in Seattle sharing theirs.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I look forward to being there eventually with you and sharing yours.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: So have a great day.