State Emergency Communications Committees can now start writing their policies and procedures for disseminating EAS and WEA alerts for missing and endangered people.
Alerts based on the “Missing and Endangered” or MEP event code, which was approved by the FCC in August, will work like the AMBER alerts used by authorities when a child goes missing.
The FCC says originators may use the MEP code for people who do not qualify for an AMBER alert because the person is over 17 or does not meet other criteria for one.
“This will facilitate the delivery of alerts for missing and endangered persons, including ‘Ashanti Alerts,’ ‘Silver Alerts’ and other state-enacted alerts, such as ‘Feather Alerts’ [in California], over the EAS and WEA system,” the FCC wrote.
It said this also will help authorities better coordinate Ashanti Alert plans, consistent with the Ashanti Alert Act of 2018. Ashanti Billie was a 19-year-old woman abducted in 2017 in Virginia and found dead in North Carolina. Ashanti Alerts are intended to help in recovery of missing persons over 17 who fall outside the scope of AMBER and Silver Alerts, but the FCC said these are transmitted through a patchwork of notification systems under various jurisdictions, which can cause significant delay in dissemination.
Native concerns
The FCC believes the MEP code will be particularly beneficial to tribal communities. The organization Native Public Media advocated for the change, after conversations with IPAWS officials at an NPM event in spring of 2023, which led to a resolution from the National Council of American Indians being delivered to the FCC and FEMA.
Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are more than 4,000 cases of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Natives that are unsolved.
“According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the numbers missing are more than two and half times their share of the United States population. While there are new methods to collect data on missing and endangered tribal and native people, the true magnitude of this problem is hard to capture through data alone,” she said. “As a result of the action we take today, we will save lives.”
Rosenworcel cited the effectiveness of AMBER Alerts. The FCC said that in 2022, 180 out of 181 cases in which an AMBER Alert was issued resulted in recovery, and 16 of those were as a direct result of the alerts.
“But for an AMBER Alert to go out, a missing person has to be 17 years old or younger. And roughly one in three missing persons reports are for adults. We are talking 188,000 people last year who went missing.”
The FCC anticipates the number of the MEP Alerts per year will be at least double the number of AMBER Alerts, and it expects at least 15 missing adults per year would be recovered as a result of its order.
Loris Taylor, president and CEO of Native Public Media, called the vote historic. “The new MEP event code symbolizes hope and a commitment to leveraging modern communication tools to protect those most at risk and underscores the importance of community involvement in ensuring public safety for Native Americans.”
Implementation
Following a process used when it created the Blue Alert code BLU, the FCC is requiring EAS equipment manufacturers within 12 months to integrate MEP into new equipment and to make software upgrades available to existing users.
Radio stations and other EAS participants will be allowed to implement the code on a voluntary basis, through those software upgrades or waiting for their next new equipment purchase. “The use by EAS participants of these codes is and has always been voluntary, and it would be contrary to the voluntary nature of state and local EAS to mandate upgrades to existing EAS equipment to incorporate new optional event codes,” the FCC said, reiterating its policy for the BLU code.
While equipment manufacturers have until next September to make the necessary changes, the commission encouraged stakeholders to adopt the code in swift fashion.
Larry Wilkins, chair of the Alabama SECC, said, “I would assume adding a new code in the device software should be straightforward. However, getting the software installed [at stations] could create a problem, especially for stations using contract engineers or no engineer at all. We still have a good number of stations that have not upgraded to the FCC mandatory software update issued last year,” he said.
The commission believes FEMA, which oversees the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, is committed to doing its part to ensure the event code is operationalized as “swiftly” as possible. But EAS experts say it will take more than FEMA’s help to ramp up the use of MEP.
How states deploy the code will be up to the SECCs, they say. SECCs can determine when issuing agencies use the MEP code and under what conditions in their state. Those guidelines help ensure that originators use the code only in the correct circumstances.
Adrienne Abbott, chair of the Nevada SECC, said each state’s MEP plans should be similar to its AMBER Alert plans: specifying who can issue an MEP, the criteria for activation, procedures to follow for activation, how to cancel an activation and so forth. “The plans should also include provisions for out-of-state requests,” she said.
State-by-state implementation could lead to a variety of interpretations, according to Rob Dale, planner for Ingham County Emergency Management in Michigan.
“Relying on the states to define ‘endangered’ may result in a lot of variability, not only between states but within states too. One law enforcement agency may consider someone endangered while another could look at those circumstances and consider them a voluntary runaway.”
Dale said alert originators (AOs) typically are on their own when it comes to deciding which code to use other than AMBER Alerts or weather-related alerts, which have strict criteria. “If an AO feels this meets the MEP criteria, they are free to issue one, unless their state has added additional requirements.”
Abbott said it took the U.S. Department of Justice several years to come up with “best practice” guidelines for states to include in AMBER Alert plans. That helped standardize AMBER implementation while allowing states to adjust plans according to the needs, she said.
How often the MEP event code is used will likely depend on the success of the recovery process following an activation, she said.
“In our area of northern Nevada, two or three people are reported missing every day. Not all those cases are likely to meet the criteria for an MEP, so my guess is, it might get used at least once a week. But not every station in the EAS Operational Area would carry the MEP,” Abbott said.
Not convinced
At least one observer is skeptical about the use of MEP. Mike Langner, chair of the New Mexico SECC, doubts the new code will gain much traction, especially since the circumstances can be covered by codes such as a Civil Emergency Message (CEM) or Law Enforcement Warning (LEW).
Langner wrote in the New Mexico Broadcasters Association’s newsletter: “EAS alerts are only supposed to be issued when there is actionable information about a public emergency. In the past few years, we’ve seen and heard far too many AMBER Alerts lacking any real information.”
There were 185 AMBER Alerts in 2023, Langner wrote. He believes too many contained phrases like: “The license number is unknown. The direction of travel is unknown. The color of the car is unknown. This is not actionable information. This is not helpful.”
This, he feels, has led to some broadcasters declining to carry many AMBER Alerts. “Likely most won’t carry MEP alerts, unless those alerts somehow constitute a public emergency.” (Though broadcasters are required to relay presidential alerts and certain test alerts, stations participate in state and local EAS alerts voluntarily.)
Lowell Kiesow, chief engineer for KNKX(FM) Public Radio in Tacoma, Wash., and vice chair of that state’s SECC, said AMBER Alerts have proven effective at saving children, but only when an alert includes timely, actionable information such as a vehicle description and license plate number.
“AMBER alerts should not be sent with vague information, or when there isn’t reason to believe the child is in danger. Similar guidelines must be applied to MEP for alerts to be effective and to prevent overuse by law enforcement,” he said in an email to Radio World.
“My guess is very few missing endangered persons cases will fit criteria for an EAS and WEA alert.”
Kiesow said broadcasters want to serve the public with EAS and be the “go-to source for information,” but they don’t want alerts to become intrusive to listeners or become background noise. “Broadcasters will have to weigh whether increasing the potential for more alerts is a good idea for their station,” he said.
(The FCC wrote in its order, “We find that the code we adopt today strikes a proper balance between the need to avoid the deleterious effects of alerting misuse or overuse through appropriate geo-location while ensuring sufficient scope to aid location and recovery of missing and endangered persons.”)
Another observer told Radio World they were surprised by the rapidity the new event code was adopted by the commission. The rulemaking was launched in March.
“Although anything we can do to help save lives is positive, I was surprised how fast the approval process moved through the commission. I don’t know if the commission did much homework to poll state officials on how they felt about how often it would be used,” this observer said.
