Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will propose a new alert code at the FCC’s March meeting. The new alert option is designed to message the public over television and radio about missing and endangered persons. According to a press release issued by the FCC:
“Law enforcement agencies successfully use AMBER Alerts on TV and radio to help mobilize public attention and recover abducted children. But we do not have a similar code in the Emergency Alert System dedicated to sounding the alarm over other missing and endangered persons, particularly the thousands of missing native and indigenous women who have disappeared from their homes never to be seen again,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Creating a new ‘Missing and Endangered Persons’ alert category can close this gap, help ensure no person who is missing and in danger is left behind, and save lives.”
The alert option would be similar to the use of AMBER Alerts to help locate missing children. We look forward to the FCC’s discussion. Providing alerts for vulnerable populations is important. Nonetheless, we must be careful not to overload the alerting system. Overloading the system could undermine the effectiveness of all alerts.
You can see the Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s proposal here.