Latest / The Alerting Authority / Alert Fails and Successes: Lessons from Hawaii, Texas Blue Alerts, Amber Alerts, and Wildfire Evacuations | Alerting Authority Podcast

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Alert Fails and Successes: Lessons from Hawaii, Texas Blue Alerts, Amber Alerts, and Wildfire Evacuations | Alerting Authority Podcast · The Alerting Authority

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we welcome you to another episode of the Alerting Authority.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, we encourage you to subscribe, follow, listen, and most importantly, participate in these podcasts.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: We want your questions, concerns, ideas, problems, pain points, and six success stories so we as alerting authorities can better do our jobs and make our communities safer.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we're grateful to all of our sponsors.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: And the sponsor for this episode is HQE Systems.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: HQE is an IPAUS-approved alert origination software provider, meaning it can support communities and organizations that need to send emergency alerts through authorized public warning channels.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: One of the strongest parts of their approach is that they are not just offering one piece of technology.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: They're helping organizations bring several systems together so they're easier to manage and more effective during real events.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: The Unified Mass Notification Platform connects outdoor warning sirens, indoor notification tools, emergency alert software, and electronic security systems, such as cameras, access control, or intrusion detection.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: That matters because emergencies move quickly.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Agencies and organizations do not need more disconnected systems that create extra work during a crisis.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: They need tools that work, they're easy to operate, and they support faster decision making.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: So HQE's approach helps make advanced emergency and security technology more accessible and affordable.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you to HQE for supporting this program.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, HQE.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So today we are doing something that might be kind of a bit of a throwback to when the Warn Room first started several years ago when I started the warning raider on what was formerly known as Twitter.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: I did a lot of message grading and it caught some attention.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Who would have guessed the professor was grading stuff?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, one of my most memorable uh pieces of feedback I got was sitting at a uh a dinner with the emerging leaders from the big city emergency managers meeting in Philadelphia.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um, the person next to me pulled out her phone and was texting with people back home and said, I'm sitting with Dr.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sutton.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the person back home wrote back, get all of the insights because I don't want to end up on her website.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I recognized at that point that it was definitely being viewed by emergency managers, people were paying attention, and they wanted to improve their messaging because they didn't want to be publicly called out for the messages, but I like to call out good messages too.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so today we're gonna talk about the standout messages that are both memorable for different reasons, um, good and bad.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of these are gonna be familiar to our audience.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well, no, I think it's gonna be fun, guys.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: I I really hope you listen.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: You should know some of these messages.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: And even if if it's one that maybe we've talked about before, or that's that's a a pretty bad message or impacted a lot of people, um, we'll we're gonna try and highlight too if there's any benefits that's come that have come out of that message.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um and again, I think I think you'll see and should be a lot of fun.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So for those who are listening, um, every message that we talk about is going to be shared on the the YouTube version of this.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you might want to take a peek at that.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can see these messages as they were presented to the audience.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because some are honestly gonna be a little hard to read.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll find out why in just a moment.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But let's start with our standout messages that are brought to you by the Warn Room and the Alerting Authority with this first one, which is probably the one that not only emergency managers remember, but the public remembers.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I had this one described, Jeanette, as the shot that was heard around the world.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um for those, you know, for the American Revolution and that reference, that this is the one that everyone just has heard about.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm betting that those who are listening while they're walking on the treadmill or driving in traffic is thinking right now, Hawaii.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is the a message that was issued in Hawaii um in 2019, 2018, 18, 2018, um, and it was for the ballistic missile alert.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And as we recall, at that time, there was a lot of tension between the United States and North Korea.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so for those who received this message, it could have truly been a real life situation and totally believable given those political conditions at that time.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um I we were all watching very carefully the interactions that were taking place between our two governments.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um so this message it reads Emergency Alert, ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii, seek immediate shelter.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a drill.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's presented in all caps, and those three brief sentences, as incomplete as it was, really drove action.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I have friends who were there when this happened.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I actually talked to the individual who sent this message, I've talked to the agency involved who sent this, and there was a a huge response.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is now post during the after action, huge response.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: But in the initial response, um, again, the friends that I had in law enforcement um and in other positions in Hawaii, I mean, they talk about the dramatic impact that this had with tourists, the confusion uh as to what's happening.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: The the the line on there they said that was the most disheartening was this is not a drill.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, if you if you get it, you're like, hey, you know, you might mill around a little bit and try to get more information, but it because it said this, you know, this is not a drill, they said it just caused panic.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in warning research and disaster research, we frequently talk about this concern that people are going to experience panic.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that word within the disaster research space is not taken lightly because we frequently say that panic is not what results when people are facing an imminent threat event.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's we generally see that people experience increased uncertainty, fear.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe they're running away from something, maybe they demonstrate a momentary pause as they're trying to decide what they're gonna do.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: But panic has truly been seen in const in conditions where people are trapped, like inside of a nightclub fire, and there's only one escape.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And as people rush to the door that they came in through and find that it's locked and they cannot get out, that is when panic ensues, is this overwhelming feeling of death is coming.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I tr I do believe that using panic related to this particular message may be appropriate, given that people reported what they did when they received this message, which was to find any kind of shelter that they could, including going into sewer drains because those were protected by cement.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, trying to find someplace to put their children to hide them from this blast that was gonna affect them, some sort of fallout.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then making phone calls and saying goodbye to people around the world because they truly believed they had minutes before they were gonna die.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was that level of belief in this message that was inbound.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: And for those that may be questioning, well, fear, panic, you know, all those things, I I will be the first one to tell you those are not the best ingredients for sound decision making.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: So if you are experiencing those things, you know, your ability to make, you know, decisions that that I think are sound and just like, hey, this is what you need to do, I I do think it decreases because you you are in a that elevated state.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so obviously we had the message go out, and you know, there's been to ad nauseum, right?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: The the amount of after action that has been done.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: But um essentially there were a lot of really good things that came out of it, and there's been some pretty big negative things that have happened since.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, Jeanette, you want to go for some of the negative first and then end the positive, or what do you want to do?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, negatively, um, following this message, it took a long time for a second message to come out.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I ple people were waiting for 38 minutes before they received a second wireless emergency alert from the agency.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So in the meantime, a lot of people were checking their social media from public officials, elected officials who were saying, no, this is not real, um, milling looking for information from others who might have some ability to assess whether or not there was military planes scrambling in the sky, or, you know, airlines stopping their flights, you're trying to figure out what are the additional conditions that might tell them that it was or was not real.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the positive from that is more attention on getting those all-clear messages written and prepared, um, and thinking across the United States, thinking about how to be better prepared with message templates and better strategies for communicating.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: But you were really more on the front lines with this one because you went to Hawaii and spent time with that group.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, what did you learn?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: So there were a couple things.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: One, I I wish there was a Waffle House in in Hawaii, because I I would want to ask them, are we at pancakes only?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like what level for the Waffle House scale?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe we have to ask Craig Fugate to come and comment, what would this be for Waffle House?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but some of the the negatives um were with their policy, their governance documents, because just as Jeanette said, they didn't have anything that that covered this.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: And and unfortunately, when you get in situations that are high stress, you know, people are always like, well, just send something, just send something.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: But at the point where something bad has happened, people are reverting to policy.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, what's the next step?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: What do we need to do?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: And in the absence of that information, you're you're not going to make the best decisions.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what you did see is they were um sending out other messages on different platforms, trying to get the word out to say, hey, you know, this isn't true.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, people used social media, just as you said, you know, there were emails, phone calls, they tried to put out information to, you know, news agencies.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: But it really goes to show something that has grown since is if you're sending out a wireless emergency alert, if you are letting people know at this level of an emergency or something's going on, and the alert or the hazard has subsided, and you're letting people know they can return to a state of normalcy, um, you need to use essentially the similar system to reach the same number, if not a greater number.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: And we could get into discussions if you're asking people to evacuate and you have a polygon set up and you know, well, now everybody's left.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: So are you gonna send it to the same area or expand it?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Again, we can have those discussions.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: But in Hawaii, people aren't leaving.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like they they are literally trapped.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Hawaii is the most isolated place on earth as far as distance to other areas.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, all the other Pacific Islands, you have places closer.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Hawaii really is in the middle of nowhere.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so you are trapped.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you were to send the same to the same geographic area a different message, I think it would have been very effective, which ultimately they did, but it was about 38 minutes too late.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a big negative that happened is the ripple effect nationally, and I would say internationally, because it's this is brought up when then I talked to groups internationally, but it's the people became gun shy.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: They they're like, I don't want this to happen to me.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so they referenced this incident to say, oh, I don't want to send an alert because you know, Hawaii.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't want to do this, oh, I don't know, because Hawaii.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: And and it it really impacted, I think, the the confidence that people had um in themselves to operate this system because obviously the system worked.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it it scared a lot of people, um, and it got information out, but people became less confident that they could manage it.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I appreciate a positive is the amount of attention it did get, which brought in federal dollars, federal resources, additional training.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and this is where I mean we can we joke and can talk about the NDAA for 2019, um the National Defense Authorization Act, which mentioned IPAUS, which mentioned the wireless emergency alert and all these things to say, hey, we need to set up some potential and I'm blanking here guardrails, boundaries, certifications on on what this is, certified systems, individuals, and it brought up a lot of those ideas in 2019.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or in you know, twenty twenty-six, so it's been a number of years, there have been advances, but we haven't reached everything we should.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: But a lot of it comes from this incident.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's we have learned a lot from this.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and people have certainly analyzed it and assessed it and tried to figure out how to improve it.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And there's been a number of publications written, academic publications, but it remains one of the ones that we we talk about consistently.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh so that's our first standout message um for today's conversation.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go to number two.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm already laughing because you guys it pops up on the screen.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: And um, for those that are listening, they're like, wait, what just happened?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um but oh okay.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So this alert, a little background, is the alert that resulted in more than 6,000 phone calls directly to the FCC in the day following the population receiving this message.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was, I believe, one of the highest volume call days related to wireless emergency alerts.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't have a statistic on that, but that was certainly what we heard afterwards from reporting.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, with people feeling very frustrated that they received a message in the early, early morning hours between four and five.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it was for an incident that occurred in one part of a very large state, but the message was issued to the entire state.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the alert that we're talking about right now is a blue alert that was issued across the state of Texas.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And a blue alert is, I'll let Eddie define it.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, a blue alert, um, it could be a few things, right?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: But the one that we're talking about, because this one is um, it's adopted as as having some national, um, not necessarily criteria, but it's it's known nationally.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's issued when there is a law enforcement individual that has been injured or killed by a suspect, and the suspect is is still on the run, if you will, and we're trying to put out information.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so as we're as we may laugh about this, now the the actual content in the situation was was very serious, and I'm not trying to make light of of this.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: I am a police officer myself, and I have sent out blue alert messages in the state of California for very serious and tragic things.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: The the reason I think that this one just um it's on this list because of the timing, because of the geographic activation area, and the public response.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, you can try to tell a bunch of Texans not to do something.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Good luck, right?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um they they made their opinions known.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um you want to read it?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's read it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so it's in all caps.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they use the full 360 characters for this.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: It says emergency alert, blue alert issued for Seth Altman, wanted for the involvement in the injury of an officer by Hall County Sheriff's Office.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Suspect is a 33-year-old white male, six foot two inches, two twenty pounds.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Altman is wearing a blue t-shirt and blue jeans.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: If seen, do not approach and call 911.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that there were also some questions about the details provided about Seth Altman because this could be describing a lot of 33-year-old white men.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um a t-shirt and blue jeans is not super descriptive.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans today.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Probably the most detailed information about this shooting is the name, Seth Altman, because the rest of the information is so generic.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and with this, again, when you're issuing something and the decision whether you go statewide or more geographically targeted is one that we talk about often.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: And my opinion, right, if I put the asterisk on there, is that very, very few times or cases is there an alert that should go out statewide.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: Very few.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, when I was doing this for the state of California over over, geez, uh close to seven years, I we never sent one statewide.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: Never.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm just thinking to myself, I can do it to sections, and you you can activate one section, then another section later.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the feedback that I get from a sheriff or or other executive is, well, we don't know where they are.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: For me, that is not a good enough comeback to say, let's go statewide.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Then it's, well, what does the data say?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: What information do we have?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then we start with one area and then we can activate further down the road a little later.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you activate a place that is six and a half hours away at the same time you're doing it right where you are, is that as effective?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or should you have waited a few hours later to make it potentially more relevant for them or the timing's going to be better?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um and again, for this one, it was the statewide early in the morning, and there really isn't a good reference as to where this person potentially is.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: And and again, let's say they don't know.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then let's start with some counties that are around.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: As information is happening, and if you don't think an investigation is happening while this is going on, right?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't the sheriff's department saying, Well, folks, it's up to you.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that that is not it at all.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this really is that that warning, but I am sure they are checking um cameras.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: We have ALPR, which is automated license plate reader cameras.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they have other potential because they're they're doing the uh As we get into the investigative stuff, to see who the associates are, where they have frequented past addresses, past contact with law enforcement.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it it's going to be pretty extensive.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: And the amount of agencies that are going to get involved, I mean, it's a lot.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: And that's one thing that's pretty special with emergency services, law enforcement communities.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: We will be the first ones to tease each other.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I have been a state police officer.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: We get made fun of a lot by a lot of the locals, and in turn, we make fun of them, and it's a lot of fun.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: But when something like this happens, everybody jumps in together and everybody is on the same team, and that there is a lot of mutual respect, and ultimately we we want to help each other.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I, yeah, for this type of message, I would have absolutely done it a little different.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so let's um we've reviewed two statewide messages.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: One that caused a lot of panic and changed some policies.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: The second that caused a lot of frustration and resulted in a lot of phone calls.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: So let's see what I've got for number three.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, one of your favorites.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: This is like my birthday, which it's not today, but okay.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Jeanette.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, folks, um, the amber alert.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: I we again we've talked about it.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: We have, in fact, we had an episode about the amber alert not too long ago.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: Great tool.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: It is a program to help find children that have been abducted or taken, they are in danger of serious bodily injury or death.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it is it is as serious as you can get.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's that big red lever when it comes to missing persons.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: So when we see an amber alert message, of course my eyes are gonna be drawn to it.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: What's happening?
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I think we're sticking around the main part of that, of the United States, and this comes from the great state of Utah.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this one is uh very notable because it is very incomplete.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um there the details that are included in this message are almost the equivalent of just saying amber alert and providing nothing else.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Which they've done as well on a separate one, but Utah got better, and then we had this.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: So this message says Utah Amber Alert, and Utah is abbreviated to UT.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Amber Alert, colon, G-R-Y, capital T O Y T.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Gray toit.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: What else does it say?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: U T Amber Alert Gray Toit.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, and again, I hope you guys will look on YouTube for this too, because I want you to see it.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: So we took a screenshot from a phone and and it really says emergency alerts, right?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's there, that heading.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: But the heading of the actual alert says amber alert.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean that that is the heading because you know there's something very specific for um the wireless emergency alerts to use.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: So amber alert, bold heading.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then in the next line, the only line, that there are five words used in this thing, and two of those words are saying amber alert again.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it is the state of Utah because this went statewide, Utah Amber Alert again, gru Toyot, right?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: Which I can, I'm going to presume means gray Toyota.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I and and I I tease a little bit about this, and when you go to the training, you will hear this because I love bringing this one up.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: Is you're abbreviating gray, you're removing one letter, right?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then there's the whole back and forth, do you use an A or an E for gray?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: And if if it maybe they just didn't know, and so they took it out because they weren't sure.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: But and then Toyota, we didn't even spell it out.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it's this was definitely an example of not a complete message that caused quite a bit of angst um and confusion amongst the population.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, how many gray Toyotas exist out there?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Probably a lot.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: And are you talking about a sedan or an SUV or a sports car?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it could have been just about anything at that point.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's like this is it.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Ideally, it would have provided a license plate in addition, especially if you're issuing an if if they're trying to only issue a 90-character message, adding the license plate number would have dramatically improved people's ability to if they identify a gray toit, that they're also looking for a particular license plate um on that vehicle.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's just very incomplete.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Utah, I believe in you.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: I know we can do better.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um and if you're doing that 90 character message, you don't have to repeat Amber Alert because it was already said.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, it one of the requirements for an amber alert is that you need to be able to provide the public with enough information to aid in the recovery.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and so, and I know there's there's information out there that we could have put in.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: And we're not trying to just bag on these people who have done this, but but these are the types of alerts that continue to impact the way that other jurisdictions send out alerts.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because if there's a lot of negative feedback, well, again, it it does leave training scars on training scars on others.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like that that idea, training scars.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I we've talked to some organizations recently that talked about the challenges of their software and how they may have provided an incomplete message in the in the actual Wii atts that arrived on somebody's phone.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: But if you looked at the instructions category section, they provided a very complete message with additional details.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: And in that case, it's it is truly a training issue of needing to understand what content goes into which box in your software.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and kudos to those organizations that are working on developing complete messages, and then they just need to take that next step of practicing to make sure that they're putting it in the right box so that the public gets a complete and actionable message.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I do want to say that I've seen some really great messages for Amber Alerts from Utah.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I don't have them included in here, but we've had conversations about some of the language they've used, like um really motivating language that I would love to study to see how uh how much it gets people to get up and go out and help.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like they they say things like a child's life is in danger as the opening sentence to their message.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, wow, that would that would certainly catch my attention if I got that message, much more than gray toight.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and again, this was a while ago, and and so there have been a lot of improvements.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: The reason that we bring it up is these are still ones that are referenced by people who again become um less willing to use the system because they remember these incidents.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so let's move on to the next one.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I include this one because I liked it.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, this is a positive?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's a positive one.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, right.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there are some things that are are missing in this message.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: So when I read that, it's actually two messages.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: When I read them out loud, you might, if you're a real follower of the alerting authority and you read the blogs on the warn room and you know the warning response model inside and out, you will immediately say the message is not structured correctly, there's information that's missing.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: But what I love about this is that it clearly emphasizes the specificity necessary to help to motivate a local, local community to get out and help find this missing child.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I love about it.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: So this one was an emergency alert and it said emergency alert at the top, and then in all caps it says be on the lookout.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Carter Hedges, parentheses 6YO, close parentheses, left Britain residents around 8 45 p.m.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: wearing Spider-Man pajamas.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: He has autism, unknown direction of travel.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Please check unlocked buildings vehicles, C M C E M Facebook for pictures.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: This was followed up a little while later, going to the same community, and it said those wishing to assist in searching for Carter, meet at NM NMFD immediately.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: These messages were like a rallying cry for this community, and the local reporting, it got people motivated, and they showed up at NMFD, the fire department, to um to organize and coordinate looking for Carter Hedges.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the details about this child are very helpful because they're so specific.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think, Eddie?
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: I freaking love it.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I I again are are there things that we can improve on in messaging?
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: But I I think that with my own my own messages too.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh just as Jeanette said, this motivates reading this, and again, I'm I'm I work in this space.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: I want to get up and go.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: I I think it just it was really well done.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: Again, when when we look at it, be careful, you know, doing all the judgments and saying, well, where is it even?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know a good location, all this.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was geographically targeted to the community.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: Again, there there can be some source and different things in, but with that said, this this is a perfect example of how you can engage with the community and have them join in that effort to, you know, for whatever it is in this case, it was to search for Carter.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um I mean, I I love it.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, little things like Spider-Man pajamas, that that is not just detail, but that's emotional.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like I that gets me.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's like I can picture this six-year-old now that is that needs help.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the time was there, so we know that it was uh evening around bedtime for Carter, that he's six years old, so I can picture this small child wearing his Spider-Man pajamas, and then knowing that he has autism helps me to recognize that he is in need um because he relies on additional assistance from adults to help him to be safe.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: So he really does need that help.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um, the request from MCEM uh to get people to help was it really it made a difference.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, they could have added a URL to MCEM Facebook.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: They could have spelled out MCEM.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they could have used words that were not be on the lookout, because that often seems like it's a uh more related to um crime, but it it was instructive and it provided people with information about somebody in their community who was vulnerable and needed help.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: So and in the call to action at the on the second phase of this, where it's anybody wishing to assist, meet, right?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it gives the the place.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: It would have been good for for an address, right?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: Where is that, or maybe another reference point?
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this is really good for investigation as well because you don't want people out just searching, right?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: Willy-nilly.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you want them to be involved in the coordinated search where you keep track of who's involved and all those different components.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I really think that's good because based on the first message, I think people would be going out and looking.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so the second one said, Hey, we're noticing all this, let's start here and then we can organize it.
• 35:22
  unknown: Yeah.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: So fantastic.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the messages don't always have to be the perfect structure to be effective, and that's an example of one that really stands out to me.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right, next one.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: We were positive for one.
• 35:40
  unknown: I know.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: We were.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this one, we're getting into jargon.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about jargon a lot, um, especially as we are getting further into what I would consider wildfire season, although we know wildfire season lasts all year long now, um, especially with so much drought across the country, um, low humidity, a lot of fuels available, um, and a lack of water.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's states right now that are really thinking through what are they going to do?
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: How are they preparing?
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: How are they getting ready to communicate consistently?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: How are they um thinking about the language that they use for people to be aware of the danger?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: And in this case, this message, uh it's it's from a a few years ago, it's using a lot of jargon.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um so this is an emergency alert, and it says FNSB alert, level three, parentheses, go.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Evacuation is now in effect for Hayes Creek neighborhood, evacuate.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: Initial thoughts, Eddie.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh well again, I can I can see their intent.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm always gonna say the first, even even with the amber or anything else, kudos for putting something out.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um you you need you need to put something out.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: But uh one of the things I'm like, what is what is level three go um for it?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I don't live there, but if I was visiting there, I I think that's that's one piece of confusion that that I have.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's definitely jargon.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: And that type of thing requires a lot of public education in advance to let people know exactly what it is and what what action do I need to specifically take?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's go where where do I go?
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is there is there a place?
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: And and so I think the that type of education needs to happen in advance, and we need to be careful about um, we always say assume, right?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Assuming that the community understands the jargon that we use on a daily or or more frequent basis.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, we could we could probably make some assumptions that prior to this message going out, there may have been a level two message, which would have corresponded with set.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: So a level two set is now in effect, um, which is ideally trying to help people to prepare for this level three evacuation message.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and also already clues them into there's this level language and the second layer of language about ready, set, go that's part of this messaging.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um but if you got a level two set message and you didn't know what that meant, similar to a level three go message, you would need to do a little um self-education, looking for information about FNSB alerts, looking for information about what does a level three go evacuation mean?
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do I have time to gather my belongings still?
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um is it, you know, is this an order of some sort?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is it lawful?
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because the language is now in effect, makes it sound like there's some sort of legal precedent behind it.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it certainly suggests that this type of message is issued because it's now in effect.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's some legal aspects to that language also that's a little challenging to tease apart if you don't know the specificity of the what that um local area or the state uh mandates for that language.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I would say for this one too, this is not a 90-character message, you know, that this has more than that already.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so there is room to add another sentence or two.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, just put a little bit more information in there.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: And let's say there when we go over a few assumptions, if there was a level one and a level two that was prepared and whether or not it was sent out, but these are the types of messages that you can prepare in advance.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: And while you may need to put, you know, there's a dynamic field of the Hayes Creek neighborhood, right?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: You may make may have that be a fill-in-the-blank because, you know, you can use this type of message for something else.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: But there should be a little bit more that you can put in to decrease that human tendency to mill, right?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: To let me get a little more information to to figure out what I need to do.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and just provide just that extra bit of direction.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that I have another one or two messages about wildfire because we are getting into wildfire season coming up soon.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: So let's see what the next one is.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this was actually a good one.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is a good one.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this one comes from our colleague who we interviewed recently on the podcast.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Eric Weller from New Mexico from Ruido Emergency Management.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And this was this was really well done.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now we know that Rio Doso uses Ready Set Go level one, two, three.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: They also use the stoplight colors in their public education and in their internal communication, they use all of that.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: But noticeably in this message, there's not a single bit of jargon.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Not a bit.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is so clear.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is so clear.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to read it, Eddie?
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: You bet.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, and I, if you if you listen to the show when we interviewed him, I think I messed up Riudoso multiple times.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I think he's giving it back to me so I can mess it up again.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so my immediate apologies to anybody in the village of Riudoso, I apologize in advance.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: But Riudoso Emergency Management, a wildfire is moving towards the village of Riudoso.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: Evacuate immediately.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: When evacuating, take and then it's NM48 to US 70 to Roswell.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: Do not delay leaving to gather.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm sorry, do not delay leaving to gather any belongings or make efforts to protect your home.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: An evacuation shelter has been established at ENMU-Roswell.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: For more information, tune into 1490 AM.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's it is such a good message.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is really complete.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: It starts with the organization's name so people know immediately who's sending the message.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: It clearly says what the hazard is.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's a wildfire and it's moving towards the village.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: It gives clear instructions.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: Evacuate immediately, do not delay.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: It tells people the location, the village, but it also provides location information about what direction to travel and what freeways to use and where to go to after you've left and reached Roswell.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's probably Eastern New Mexico University or something like that.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that abbreviation may be a little hard, but they set up an evacuation shelter.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: They directed people that way, they told people how to go, they told people when to go immediately, don't take time to go, and made it really clear that people don't have the time to gather stuff and to protect their homes.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is time to go now and all of that pre work, they they just need to leave it behind and get in their vehicles and leave.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I got to throw in a bonus star on top of whatever else you were gonna give them for represent representing and referencing.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: The radio, your car radio, because people are getting into their vehicles to evacuate.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, this is they're not jumping on snowmobiles or anything else.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is you're in your car, you're driving somewhere, and the radio, especially the AM radio, is an amazing reference and resource for people, and they need to know where to tune, though.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so you put it in this message so that government officials can provide consistent updates.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because let's say there's a change in the direction of the fire or anything else, you know you're tuned into the place where your government is going to say, This is what you need to know, this is where you need to go.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so wonderful reference.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we know from talking with Eric that they have prepared messages ahead of time.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: They have developed templates, and they're very cautious about including any sort of jargon, and it's really demonstrated in this message.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate being able to show a really well-written message, and you can fit all of that in 360 characters.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's a great exemplar.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, the next one is, I believe, another wildfire message.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this one is particularly important because it clearly demonstrated the importance of using specific location and specific time in a message.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I know, Eddie, that you were observing these messages going out in real time when you were at iPAuse.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: So can you talk about this one and read it out loud?
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: You bet.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: So now again, this this revolves around uh another tragic, very tragic incident that um people are still feeling the impacts.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: And they will feel impacts, some for the rest of their lives, especially those that lost um loved ones.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: This has to do with the LA County fires.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: And this is the alert that was sent out.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I and there were multiple alerts sent out.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: This was one of the ones sent out that we're gonna reference.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_02: So the headline says emergency alert.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_02: Then it goes on to say NEW, colon, or new.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_02: This is an emergency message from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: An evacuation warning has been issued in your area.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, I'm sorry, it says remain vigilant of any threats and be ready to evacuate.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_02: Gather loved ones, pets, and supplies.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: Continue to monitor local weather, news, and the webpage alertla.org for more information.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: So this is in general a well-written message.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it includes the source.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we know it's from Los Angeles County Fire Department.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: We know that uh there's some jargon.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: They use evacuation warning.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it doesn't actually name the hazard.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: And in this case, it was for wildfires, but those fires were burning, and so probably people were using environmental cues to help them know why they were receiving this message.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it gives some specific instructions related to that evacuation warning to remain vigilant of threats and to be ready to evacuate, tells specifically to gather their loved ones, pets, and supplies and to monitor local information.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what is missing, in addition to saying that it's for a wildfire, um, and using that jargon of evacuation warning, is the time is referenced as new and the location is referenced as in your area.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna turn it back to you, Eddie, because you analyzed with people at IPAUS what happened with this particular message and why it became so problematic, even as well as it was written.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and I would say if people have questions um specific to this, that they can absolutely reach out to iPause to learn more because there was a lot of effort that went into the analysis.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and again, great team there doing that.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um while I got to participate in that process, um, I mean, really, there I want you to think of Los Angeles County.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: It is a county.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: There is the city of Los Angeles, but then there's the county that it resides in.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um there are multiple jurisdictions within that county that have IPAUS capabilities that that can send out a WIA.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so there are other messages that are going out.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so there essentially became a conflict or it conflicted with other messages that were being sent, and it caused confusion because it didn't have a specific time.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: It just said new.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so this message as it was received, and and we can go into when it was received, right?
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: There were different times that it was received because of some infrastructure issues.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: People thought it was new, and they really looked at it as, oh, this is the latest type of message that went out.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: And because it did not give a specific neighborhood or part of the county, it it everybody who received it thought it was them specifically, which which went against some of the guidance that some of the other jurisdictions were giving.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you're a city that's within this county and you're saying, no, we're fine, stay where you are, and then this message comes out telling everyone in your jurisdiction, hey, here's new information, you need to be ready to leave.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: It really caused a lot of confusion.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so while it has some good information in there, and I mean when you look at the guidance, right?
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um remain vigilant, you know, gather loved one pet supplies, all those things are really good information, um, has a source for more.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's that initial confusion though, because you're you're saying on your timing that this is new, like this is the the latest, instead of giving an actual time.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_02: Because if this message would have been received and you look at it and be like, oh, okay, well, the time referenced something that was a while back.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: I have something that is more current that allows you to take that most current information.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then also knowing where you live in relation to this alert and relation to the evacuation warning would have been huge.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so those were some of the pitfalls of this.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: And this particular message, I don't think you mentioned this, Eddie.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: This particular message is the one that got stuck in the system.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say stuck, there's probably more technical ways of saying this, but it was initially issued to a very small part of LA County, to one location.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: But when it got stuck in the system, somehow it ended up being repeated in other parts of the county where those other locations were not supposed to receive this message.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so when they got this new message at two in the morning issued to in your area, um, people who were not at risk received this new message, not knowing that it was really an old message and referencing a totally different location.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's been a lot of investigation trying to figure out what exactly happened that caused the message to get stuck and then repeated in other parts of the county.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: Some geocoding was lost, other technical aspects that happened.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_00: But the importance of this particular message was it truly changed the way that my research team advises organizations on how they can communicate time and location in messages.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's no longer enough to just rely on the time that you receive a message to be the time that the threat is active.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have to include timing information as a redundant measure just in case something horrible like this happens, where systems are overwhelmed and your message gets repeated and moved out of the original targeted area.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: And including that location information is always useful because the National Weather Service issues messages to in your area.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: You, as a local alerting authority, have the opportunity to provide so much more specific information about neighborhood names, um freeways, cross streets, local landmarks, something that helps people to get really grounded in what areas are in danger.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: No, absolutely.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_02: And as far as the infrastructure and technology side of this, um, it wasn't the IPAUS program itself at all, because what happens is IPAUS receives this message from a local alerting authority, in this case, Los Angeles Fire Department, or their emergency management team, and they push out the information to all the different stakeholders and partners.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: And in this case, with the wireless emergency alert, it's your telecommunications companies who then receive it and push it out through their infrastructure.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: And based on a lot of the investigations that have happened and reports, that's where the disconnect occurred was with the telecommunication um infrastructure that existed in the area for a variety of reasons.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: And wildfires are um they they contain a lot of variables um that impact stuff like this.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_02: So, but to everything Jeanette said, yes, it absolutely has changed and enhanced the way that we look at timing and location.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think I've just got one or two more.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what the next one is.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is one where you really need to look at your screen because it is not, I'm not even gonna try and read it as it's written.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you want me to read it as it as it's written, yeah.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_02: You want me to read it as it's later, how it's written.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: How it's written.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: Don't translate because this is one that I bring to uh conferences, and dispatchers sit and argue with each other what these words mean.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if dispatchers are arguing, you know that they themselves, who write this way, have questions about how it's written.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: So go ahead.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: I thankfully can speak this language, um, but as was said, not many people can.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I will just read it as written.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: Y-O Y.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: So W, I guess you want me to go yo and then Y or spell it out.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: 48 Yo Y F M 54180 L B Bro Bob Cut Hair, Bro Eyes, L S W Gray or G R Y, Sweatshirt and Gree G R Y Sweatpants Missing From or F R M 409 Vineville Street, Fort Valley, FM is diabetic and insulin dependent.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_02: UK N D O T left for F R M A D D R to Walk Dog Poss has a B L K and Y spotted dog with her any con hold and notify F V P D and then the phone number.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_02: So in and I'll I'll translate it for you now of what they're trying to say, if that helps.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: A 48-year-old white female, 5'4, 180 pounds, with brown um hair, with a brown bob cut hair, brown eyes, last scene wearing, a gray sweatshirt, and gray sweatpants, missing from 409 Vineville Street, Fort Valley.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_02: Female is diabetic and insulin-dependent.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: Unknown direction of travel left from address to walk dog, possibly has a black and white spotted dog with her.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_02: Any contact, hold and notify, which basically means take custody of, hold and notify, and then the the PD.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, I've heard you say for us by us, and that was truly written for police officers who even understand all of the abbreviations and the language of hold and notify.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is that is police language for police officers by police officers.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_02: This this is, folks, this is a good example of what is in the computer-aided dispatch or a log entry that dispatch writes that gets sent to officers, that gets sent to other dispatch centers.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_02: This is never meant to go to the public, not because anything is secret, but because it's confusing.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_02: But this this literally I can see in my mind was someone that copied it, you know, pasted it, and said, okay, I've already written it once, here we go.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think it goes back to when an emergency manager, a dispatcher, a police officer, whoever is responsible for issuing a wireless emergency alert opens up their software, what they get is a blank white box.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the lack of instruction about what to include in a message means if you haven't created a template ahead of time or trained on what should go in there, you are simply making it up with your best guess.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, all of the information in this message is useful and helpful.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_00: Clearly, a lot of details.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's so hard to read.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you are trying to engage the public in helping to find this person, they're gonna be at a total disadvantage because it's hard to read.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many abbreviations, um, and it just spending the time trying to interpret it would require some significant effort.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um I also want to point out that it is in all caps, which makes it even more difficult to read visually because there's no differences in the case, uh, uppercase, lowercase.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh it it takes additional effort to actually get through the message with your with your eyes focusing on different parts of the message.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have anything else.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like this one is like uh, yes, this is an example.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate the effort that went out, but the this is a copy and paste from a a CAD.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll we'll call it.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, did you want to talk about that last one?
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll I'll just say this because we don't have to talk about the last one if I mean, because I know we're we're kind of at our time.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_02: Even if like you were bringing up or we're talking about your alert, right?
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's one thing that that I've brought up on the show.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_02: I know Jeanette, we've we've both talked about it.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate people who just make the effort to send out something.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_02: I I know how stressful it can be.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_02: I know that it you may not have all the details, you don't have all the information.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_02: And the question is, do I wait to send it out, or do I just send out what I have and then I can send out something as a follow-up?
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_02: For everybody who makes the conscious decision to send out what you have, thank you.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_02: The the worst thing, even more than sending out some of these, is not sending something.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's just getting that paralysis, right?
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_02: Where you are at your computer screen, you're like, I'm just not sure.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_02: And the hazard, we're we're not even before the hazard, the hazard's going, or we're even post, and we didn't send anything out.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's the most dangerous.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you to those who are engaged in this.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, get training, get everything else.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_02: I know Jeanette's gonna talk about that here, but don't let fear win.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so get get behind that computer and be proactive so that when it actually happens, you're ready.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_02: But send stuff out, you know, don't get caught in that trap.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think that what we covered here are examples that point us to how we can improve.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there were some great examples, the one from Rio Doso, the example message of the child with autism.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_00: How to write them, what kinds of messages get sent, spending the time developing the templates ahead of time so you're not facing that blank screen.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um I building out all clear messages so that if a mistake happens, you are ready to issue that second message immediately in order to retain the credibility that your organization needs in order to be trusted by your population.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, developing the consistent style of being specific about your location, about the time, eliminating jargon, eliminating abbreviations and other acronyms.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just all of those decisions, we've learned the importance of making those decisions ahead of time because we've seen messages that have not utilized the evidence that we've been gathering for decades on how to write a good emergency alert.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_00: We have more than 70 years of research in this space as disaster scholars have laid the foundation.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then we've continued by doing content analyses of messages that you all have written, doing experiments with public receivers across the country to define the best ways to structure these messages and the contents to include.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then we even built lexicons to give you to put directly into your hands a cheat sheet for 50 different hazards.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's available to you freely.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was paid for by FEMA iPAuse.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you if you struggle to build your templates on your own, you also have people like myself and Eddie, and we absolutely love helping you to get to that place where you feel really confident because you've done the work around building your message templates, training, developing policy, and you're ready to issue them when the time comes.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we have coming up a warning boot camp in July, where we are going to work directly with organizational representatives to work on their most critical hazards to develop their templates.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a five-day, two-hour-a-day program.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you get a ton of one-on-one consulting time.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's not just instruction, it's you actually sitting down and writing your messages so that your organization is prepared when it is time to send them.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you're interested in doing a warning boot camp so that you don't have these kinds of issues that we just talked about today come up for your organization to please reach out to us, check out thewarnroom.com for more information about that.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have questions about policy, reviews of your historical messages, or even reviews of the templates that you've created, reach out to us for that too.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_00: We are always here to help and get on a phone call with you, briefly talk about actually coming out and working with your organization.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're open to all of those.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: So please reach out.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_00: Our doors are open.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for listening.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_02: This is the Alerting Authority where every second has a story, and we want to make be here to help share yourself.