AMBER Alerts Explained: How They Work, Why They Matter, and How Better Messaging Saves Lives

In this powerful and deeply informative episode of Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola break down everything you need to know about AMBER Alerts: how they work, why they’re issued, and how effective messaging can mean the difference between life and death.

Eddie Bertola, a veteran law enforcement officer and national subject matter expert, shares firsthand experience from decades of working AMBER Alerts and missing person cases. Together, they unpack the tragic story of Amber Hagerman, the origins of the AMBER Alert system, and the critical role of timing, communication, and public engagement in successful recoveries.

This episode also dives into:

•  The difference between AMBER Alerts and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) 
•  Why some cases qualify, and others don’t 
•  Common mistakes that lead to public confusion and opt-outs 
•  How poor messaging can reduce effectiveness 
•  Proven strategies for writing clear, actionable emergency alerts 
•  The importance of geographic targeting and avoiding over-alerting 

You’ll also hear a real case where a correctly used alert system helped locate a missing autistic child, highlighting why understanding these tools matters.

Whether you're in law enforcement, emergency management, public safety communications, or just want to understand how these alerts impact your community, this episode delivers critical insight grounded in both research and real-world experience.

Sponsored by The Warn Room
Turn disaster science into life-saving action with expert training, consulting, and message templates designed for real-world emergencies.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hi, I'm Messenger.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

And I'm Eddie Bertel.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

And we welcome you to another episode of the Alerting Authority. And as always, we encourage you to subscribe, follow, listen, and most importantly, participate in these podcasts. We want your questions, concerns, ideas, problems, pain points, success stories, so we as alerting authorities can better do our jobs and make our community safer. And today's episode is sponsored by the Warn Room. If you have 360 characters to save your life, are you ready? I'm Jeanette Sutton, and at the Warn Room, we turn disaster science into life-saving action. If your agency is struggling to craft the perfect alert, we're here to help you get it right the first time. We offer specialized warning boot camps to sharpen your team's skills, expert consulting for crisis message development, and access to the warning lexicon, a plug-and-play library of evidence-based templates for nearly 50 different hazards. You should stop guessing and start alerting with confidence. Visit thewarnroom.com to book a training or explore our message libraries.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

The warn room. That was amazing. I'll keep going. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

The Warn Room for you get expertly crafted alerts for a safer world. I am so excited to introduce to you today my colleague, Eddie Ace Bertola.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Who is going to talk to us today about Amber Alerts? This is this is this the podcast that is for anyone who has been wondering how does Amber Alerts work? Where does it fit into wireless emergency alerts? Who's responsible for writing those messages, the good and the bad ones? What is going on with the missing and endangered person's code? All of those things. And we are so fortunate that today Eddie is going to be the person that I interview because he is truly the national expert on all things, amber alerts and missing persons. I met Eddie two years ago, three years ago?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

I think we're at three years ago. Time goes by, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

It's hard to, it's it's been a long time. The time has gone by really fast. Um, when Eddie was working with iPause as a subject matter expert, and we were connected when Antoine Johnson, who was the former director of iPause, told me, you need to meet this guy from California. And I thought, who is he? He's not an academic. No, he's not. He's a practitioner, and he has been a practitioner for nearly two decades. Um, he's an expert in Amber Alerts, an expert in uh alerts and warnings. And he is going to be our guest today to talk about Amber Alerts 101. So welcome, Eddie.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Thank you, Dr. Sutton, for letting me be on your show.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

You're welcome. Yeah, and and one of the first times we met in person, you told me that people like to call you ace.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Well, there were some people, yes. There, everybody has nicknames. Uh there, that is definitely one, and it is uh very much attributed to a story or two, um, which most nicknames are. Um, so I will I will let everybody just think about what that could be, some of those stories. And on a later episode, we'll probably go into that. But no, I it was given to me while I was in law enforcement out in California. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yes. Well, ever since I heard that story, I've always been cautious when I think about your negotiation skills and thinking about how you are probably sizing up anything that I say. Um, anyways, being an ace negotiator is a great skill to have.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

No, I tell you. And to answer, just to put your mind at ease, the answer is yes. I am doing that. Every time you talk, I think, man, what can I say? Um, it's it's been really fun. And and I know hopefully this we're not interviewing, you know, anybody else. Um, but I think it's important because as Jeanette and I have gone out and we've met so many amazing people out there. I mean, really, it's been a joy. Um, we get questions like this a lot, especially the confusion between the Amber and the MEP, which I know we're gonna get to. Um, we were out in Michigan not too long ago, and I know that this came up um specifically. It was a confusing subject. So I I will hand it over to you, Janet, and say, let's do this.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

All right. Okay, let's start with the basics. Can you walk us through the story of Amber Hagerman from 1996? So um her I know her story was the impetus for the creation of the Amber program, but what what is her story and how did her case transform into the Amber program, which is nationwide?

SPEAKER_00 5:30

I'm happy to talk about it. So, in all fairness, I Jeanette, we we had talked about this episode before, and so I put together a few different slides. So if you're watching this on YouTube, you can look at it. I'll make sure to go over everything in case you're listening to this through um another form, just the audio. Um, but uh I think some slides are important just to help explain. So feel free to look on on YouTube or we can post some of this information as well. But um, Amber Hagerman. Um, this case came and it's on here from January 13th of '96 in Arlington, Texas. And essentially she was out riding her bike with her brother Ricky. Um, her brother ended up going home about three o'clock, a little after. And um, we have a witness who saw this is after Ricky had left. Amber was still riding around. Um, a witness saw Amber being forcibly taken and put into a vehicle. Um, and and they drove away and it was a black pickup truck. This witness called police, and essentially the search was on. The law enforcement was there within minutes, and they attempted to find her. I mean, they they did things that they uh would be considered normal for the time to try to find her. And and again, nothing from the case is where you know law enforcement did anything wrong. They they worked really hard. Um, a few days later, um, she was recovered deceased, um, just a few miles away from her home. And it it was and still is very traumatic. Um, it uh spurred a lot of very important conversations as to a why does this keep happening and what can we do differently to try to find her, try to prevent this from happening. Um, based on um reports after and medical exams, she had been alive for 24 to 48 hours post-abduction. And and so people are really, you know, they were having really important conversations to say what could we do different? And essentially, there was this understanding that developed to say we need to work together differently. And that's where some of the partnerships um really came to play. Um, and so, really quick, what what happened was the community essentially said, we want to be involved in this. Like we would be out there searching. We, we, this is our daughter, our child. What can we do? And so the community asked for information. They asked the information from law enforcement. And law enforcement, of course, they want to find her. They want to catch the suspect, but they they ultimately want to bring her back. And so they were in discussions. Okay, we want to get the community involved. And then at the same time, that third partner joined in because there were three very important stakeholders, and that was the media. Those were all the broadcasters who basically said, use us. Like, how can we broadcast this information to get to the community to basically have a response like we have never had before? And so that's where the Amber Alert actually was created. So Amber is named after Amber Hagerman, but it also stands for um America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response. So it's uh it's a word within a word that is her name and it is her legacy. And it's been 30 years since that abduction, um, since that murder, and there is still, you know, no arrest has been made from it, um, even with all the the efforts that have gone into it. And ultimately, the arrest is one part, um, but the bigger pieces, you know, we lost Amber that day. And our arrests can happen, but the the ultimate goal of an Amber alert is to recover the child, um, recover the one that that's needed.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Yeah, her story is so tragic and and yet it has also paved the way for improving our ability to motivate people to help, which had we had that ability back in 1996, maybe for that 24 or 48 hours, she could have been found. And so, you know, thinking about that evolution um and the education process that's happened over the last 30 years as people have become more familiar with it. Can you tell us about the the actual process of getting to that point where an Amber Alert issued? Uh like there's specific criteria that I think that some people wonder like, why is it issued for this person but not for another? I think we get that question quite frequently, where there's there seems to be some some more education that needs to happen around that. So can you tell us about that?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

You bet. And I think the first and most important thing is whether or not a missing child in this case qualifies for an Amber Alert. It doesn't mean that one is more important than another. Every child that goes missing is absolutely important and it is vital to recover them. The specifics with the Amber Alert as it was created, um, they they came up with criteria to try to say, okay, this, these are like the the most catastrophic ones that it that it could be. And Texas actually led the way. And Texas created the Amber Alert and it moved around through different um states as others adopted it. And then what happened is the federal government said, well, let me look, let's come up with some national criteria. It also it is all recommended because every state's just a little different. But these are the basics, and for those that are looking on screen, you can see them. I'll go through them. Um there has to be a reasonable belief that an abduction actually happened. And this one right here, that key first one, is one that is different in many states. Um, there are some where um it's an abduction or a child has been taken, because we get into parental issues, custodial issues. And right off the bat, I get questions of like, well, hey, if if mom or dad took the child, the child's safe. It's just a court issue, a custodial issue. Well, my thought to that is you're wrong. Um, and I what I mean by that is out of the kids that have been amber alerts that I have been a part of, where they have been found deceased, the vast majority have been killed by their parents, one of the parents. So simply telling me that, well, it's an amber alert, but mom has her. What's an amber alert, dad has him, that doesn't mean anything because it's still somebody that is in an altered mental state that is doing something, and this child is ultimately at risk. And so that that's why you have that first criteria. Again, it it does differ in different states, but abduction can be parental abduction rather than just stranger abduction. Um, then you have the second one is the law enforcement agency believes the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. And that's where we look into the record of whoever has their. If it's a stranger, that box is checked right off the bat. If it is someone that they know, that's where you look into seeing what's happening. Um and that that's really up to the law enforcement entity who is in charge of this to make that decision. Then it's is there information that you can use like descriptive? Do we know anything about the victim to help with the recovery? Um, this one is pretty easy. I mean, if you have a picture, if you have general information, um, then we get into is it someone that's 17 years or younger? This one is different too in different states. And I really appreciate Fournia made a really smart adjustment basically saying that, yeah, 17 years or younger or has an impairment. Because we do have some people that are older than 17 who have a cognitive or other type of impairment where they should be protected under this same law. And then the last one is their information needs to be entered into NCIC, which is the National Crime Information Center. Um, and what that does is let's say I'm looking for someone and we put that information into the N to NCIC, and that person is stocked, like in another state, could be four states away, it doesn't matter. And a police officer runs that information of the driver, potentially of the child, it will hit in that system. And so it's a way for agencies across the nation to communicate. Um so, with all that said, that is those are the criteria. And again, it does differ. And there are laws, if you look at Texas as an example, who have extra amber alert laws, which are essentially it's it's a new one that was created not too long ago, which gives the ability for local agencies to essentially call something an amber alert in a very local circumstance. In almost every single state, the only one who can make the determination of an amber alert if something really is an amber alert is what is the amber alert coordinator, which oftentimes is the state police or another state entity. But in Texas, as an example, they are now allowing locals to do it at a very local level to make that determination, even if it's just preliminary. Um, because as we'll get into in a little bit, timing is such an important part. So if you think about it, you could have crimes happening everywhere. If there is an abduction or a potential abduction and law enforcement is notified about it, the very first thing that should happen is within that response, if that officer even gets that inkling, this could be something like this, they should on they should be on the phone with their um state coordinator or whoever is designated within their jurisdiction to say, this is what I have, to allow the process of the Amber Alert to start. Um, because it is not just a switch that flips. There are pieces involved and there's different parties and stakeholders, and we need to get that ball moving, um, get that motion going so that we can activate everything as quickly as we can.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

It's a really complicated list of criteria and it represents so much information in just the title Amber Alert. I mean, it makes sense that people might not understand all of the different aspects that go into it. Um, and may there could be some confusion given the differences from one state to another.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Even even within, and so I have probably given, I don't know, 200 plus trainings on Amber Alerts specifically, um, nationally, I mean, in in different places and other other nations. Um, one thing I stress is don't make the call. If you are that first arriving officer, that supervisor, don't be the decision maker on that Amber Alert because you don't have the experience with the Amber Alert program. If you if you have just that inkling, if you're not sure, make that call to whoever's in charge of it for your jurisdiction and let them be in charge. Because it's I I've had it happen too many times where I'm talking to someone who was first on the scene or a supervisor, and they said, Well, we didn't get a hold of you, we didn't bring you in because it doesn't qualify. And I'm just like, it does. This absolutely would have qualified. We could have offered and done so many more, you know, so much more, but you didn't make that call. Um, if you think how confused can the public be about this, well, there's a lot of confusion, but that confusion doesn't end with the public. It still persists within law enforcement as to what this means.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, I remember you sharing a story about someone who called in and asked if their missing person qualified for an Amber alert. And when you said no, they hung up. And almost as though they believed there was nothing else that could be done. And that is not the case, especially when you think about wireless emergency alerts, which is what I'm gonna ask about you next. But do you want to say anything about that story?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Absolutely. Um and and this was an evening, I remember it quite clear, and a phone call was made um to where I worked with when I was with the California Highway Patrol. There was a 24 center that received this type of information and did other various things for the department. And the phone call came in, and it was not an amber alert. There was no abduction, not at all. And so the question when it was, hey, is this an amber alert? And it's like, well, no, it's not. And is we're about ready to say, but the phone went dead. And I remember looking around, I had an amazing team. And it's like, get that person back on the line now, get that person back, call them back. And and just trying to get in touch because there is this, I it's it's hard to find out, you know, where where the misunderstanding is specifically. But people attribute amber alert to wireless emergency alert, that the WIA, and they think it's like one in the same. And if there is a missing person, if it's not an amber alert, people think, well, I can't then use other, you know, specific methods. And I I repeat it in training all the time. An Amber Alert is not a wireless emergency alert. The wireless emergency alert is a tool that can be used for an amber alert, but it's also a tool that can be used for so many different things. And ultimately, we were able to get a hold of that agency back. Uh, I mean, we got him back on the line and basically said, do not hang up on me. Um, what is happening? And they explained it. I said, perfect, we are going to offer this to you. And we sent out a wireless emergency alert to an area that was outside of their original search area. And that's where the child was found. It was an autistic child who had gone missing. And just as I said in the beginning, we needed to use every resource at the same level to find that autistic child as we would have if she was, you know, abducted. I the tools are there to recover children and adults. Um, it doesn't matter if it doesn't necessarily qualify. We couldn't call it an Amber Alert because it wasn't, but it was still uh an endangered missing child. And so the tools were used effectively and we found her.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Thank goodness. And I'm I'm grateful that you can share that story because I do want people to understand that the Amber is just one of the five different types of a wireless emergency alert, and that absolutely there are ways to issue messages through WIA to help to recover to find other children who are missing. Before we get to the discussion about um all of the different types of WIA messages, can you share with people who are not familiar with the wireless emergency alert infrastructure? Can you talk about the technical infrastructure for Amber Alerts and how they are issued through wireless emergency alerts?

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Absolutely. There are a couple really key partners that Play into this whole thing. And the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, key stakeholder, the federal government, FEMA IPAUS, the integrated public alert and warning system, is an integral partner. We have FBI, we have others as well. Essentially, what happens if you are going to send a message, and we say send a message, there's a lot that goes into it, you'll use some type of software, and there's different software that's available to connect andor interface with iPause. You have that ability. Well, what happens is it can get sent out, and we've been through this on the call a little bit, through different methods, whether it's the emergency alert system, whether it's the wireless emergency alert system, or your non-weather emergency message, your NWS radio, that is all done through relationships with iPaws, with telecommunications companies. And here's a fun part. Let's say I'm from an agency or an entity that does not have a connection to this, to, to IPAWs. Okay. Well, then how does it work? Well, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been there from the inception of the Amber Alert and has basically said, we will send messages on your behalf. And they have. So I could call the National Center for NECMEC, right? And call them and say, hey, this is what's happening. It's an Amber Alert. Can you send a message to my area? They will say yes. And what's really amazing is, you know, they get it out. Now, here's one of the drawbacks, right? NECMEC, they don't edit your message. They take it and they say, we're going to get this out to you. So you've heard the phrase bad data in, bad data out. That that does play into it. So if you fail to do your due diligence and send them a message that has a bad code in it, as far as like a hyperlink, it has misinformation, lack of information, whatever it may be, they're going to reproduce it to cell phones as you direct, plus to all of their other different partners in this space. And it's just going to go out. So a bad message gets amplified a lot. Good messages get amplified a lot. So you got to be really careful with how you send it. But there's a lot of support for all missing persons, but specifically with the Amber Alert program.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Yeah, I remember when we were doing the analysis of messages that were issued as missing person messages, Amber Alerts, Ashanti alerts, silver alerts. But in particular for Amber, we saw so many messages from NECMEC. And, you know, we were working with Dr. Lauren Kane, who was doing all of the coding and analysis. And she kept saying, why does NECMEC send all these messages? And they're not very good, but they're a national agency. They should know better. Well, they do know better, but it is not their practice to edit the messages that are shared with them from the local alerting authority. Well, in that case, they're not even an alerting authority. They're at a local agency that needs help getting the alert out. Um, and so it really goes to the need for those local organizations to have training so that as that message is amplified, like you were sharing, like it is a good message that gets people to take action. Um and we are going to talk more about the contents of the message in in just a minute. So um, so Amber is one of five different types of WIA. We have the national alert, also called the presidential alert, imminent threat, public safety, and then you can also opt in to test messages. But then Amber is the fifth one. Um, so why is Amber a special case of WIA? Why isn't it just a missing person message that encompasses all the different types of missing person messages?

SPEAKER_00 26:09

I tell you, um that is a really good question and one that's been talked about and it is still talked about right now. So Amber alerts have been around for, again, quite a while when we talk about all of this space. And because there was national legislation, recommendations, everything that came with the Amber Alert, um, there was a push to create for our wireless devices a special code for Amber Alert. Now, this is the Amber Alert was well before all of the other types of alerts. And this is the turquoise, the green, the silver, the EMA, the EMPA, the M EPA, um, the blue. I mean, again, we're up to like 46 right now, different types of alerts that deal with missing and endangered persons. And so it's not as if we had all 46, and then the government said, you know, we're gonna choose one. They basically said, hey, we know that we have this alert, we want to apply it to the system. And so they came up with essentially a child abduction emergency or an Amber Alert code. And I have a slide that talks about the ones that Jeanette said that's up for all the WIA handling codes. So think if it goes to your phone, it's gonna be used under one of these five things. These are the only ones that that an alerting authority or someone like myself or many of you can click to get access to cellular devices. On a slide that I had up previously, just for a second, these are EAS codes. And the emergency alert system, if you think of TV radio broadcasts, um, this has been around for a very long time. And people often confuse the two. They'll be like, well, I have a local area emergency or even a child abduction emergency, I have a civil defense, hazardous warning, all these different things. And they think that these codes translate directly to cell phones, to a wireless emergency alert. And they don't. They are two completely different systems. They work together really, really well. But the codes for EAS, including one that we have talked about a little bit, the missing endangered persons code, that is an EAS code. That is not in the ones that that Jeanette just talked about for the WIA code.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

And so when we talk as a as a reminder, those ones are the presidential or national alert, the imminent threat alert, the public safety alert, the amber alert, and the WIA test message. Those are the WIA codes. They're different from the EAS handling codes.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

And there is not a missing endangered person's WIA code. And so, with all the discussions that we have had, um, and there are still, I really want to stress the FCC, EMA iPAUS, and all of the other partners and stakeholders are very much still involved. And having sat through, I don't even know how many hours of meetings or weeks or months or years of discussions, they very much want everything to be right. And and they feel the stress and the desire to make this system as seamless, as good as it can be. Um, and so there are discussions about is there value in adding another WIA handling code of a missing endangered person? Should you put amber alerts inside the missing endangered person one? Because, as the example I gave, if you have a five-year-old that is abducted, A, you you need to get that child back. If you have a five-year-old who's autistic who has eloped and walked away and is potentially walking towards water, is it any less important to recover that five-year-old? And my answer is no, it is just as important. And so then the question is, well, how do we include all of that together? And again, I there is not a simple answer. And I appreciate the passion and the the true feelings on both sides of all of these discussions. Um, but it's one that I think will get answered in the in the near future as as they're looking at trying to determine what's the best way to move forward um so we can so I don't know, so we can prevent more confusion that that already exists.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Right. Yeah. You know, my I think one of my concerns is if you put all the missing persons messages into Amber Alert and people choose to turn off Amber Alert, then none of those messages get viewed. But on the flip side, by emergency managers or law enforcement issuing missing persons messages as a public safety message or as an imminent threat message, then they're turning off imminent threat or public safety messages. And I only say that they're turning it off because we have one point of reference. We have one study, a national study that was conducted by Rand. In fact, we've interviewed their two researchers on previous podcasts. So please, you know, go back and listen to them. But that national study, after the national test, found that the amber category is the category that people most frequently opt out of. So there's something about amber alerts that people are choosing to turn them off. It's a really uh sticky subject because I actually think that it's possible that if we improve the messages, maybe people wouldn't be turning them off. Um, but you know, what are some strategies that we can use to keep people engaged? How do we reduce the number of people turning them off? And yeah, what's the solution?

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Well, I do have a slide I think that'll help um with this because I I definitely have feelings. And my first one, and this is I'm gonna be very straight with you out there who are in charge of these messages, because I if I am not honest with you, we can't actually talk about what we can do to improve. Like in this reality. Um, I think we need to stop, and I put it in here, scaring and confusing people with the way that we're sending messages. And I am this is a shotgun approach. I understand. Many of you have adopted newer practices, and I have read the messages, and they are so much better. Okay. But still, there are those out there that are sending incomplete messages. And I I say it often, you send enough information to scare and confuse your community, right? Well, is my child in danger? Um, is it my neighbor that was taking all this? And people don't know because you haven't told them. And simply following the research with understanding what is a complete message. And the feedback I I have gotten is well, what if I don't know? That's okay. Send what you do know. You do know more. And so put that information in. And then as you get more information, provide updates, help people feel connected. Um, and then we get to the third one, which I swear I'm gonna say this, and I already know the comments are gonna come in. But bring it on, folks, um, because a lot of you agree with me, is stop sending statewide amber alerts. Okay. I am a police officer. I have been a police officer for many, many years. I have been involved in I don't even know how many investigations. I can look it up here. And what's great is we have data. We have data from the FBI, we have data from other types of studies, not just from the FBI, that help us determine if we don't have credible information about who took the child, well then how far should we go out to do a search? And I would point to the FBI as having, I'd say the best data where they actually document where children or others are taken from versus their recovery. And what we have found is the vast majority are within about five miles, they're recovered. And it's actually even a lot closer often. And so as we look at that piece, and then I get things of, you know what? And California, you know, you're gonna go statewide. Um, well, during my entire time in California working with, again, an amazing team, we never sent one statewide amber alert. Never. I have sent many where we activate portions of California. And then as we get further information, we may turn that off and activate another portion. But it doesn't do any good to let everyone in the state know when there is no realistic piece of information that says we need to let everybody know, you know, eight hours one direction, six hours another direction. Um, the argument that goes against what I'm saying, I've gotten many times from sheriffs, from police chiefs who have said, well, we just don't know. And the child's been gone for six, six hours, for eight hours. My response is in the absence of credible investigatory information, rely on the data. Rely on the data until it's proven that it's not correct. And I don't think you're gonna go wrong with that. Um, and so what I would say is we can always alert bigger. We can, you know, get more toothpaste out of the tube, but it's hard to bring it back. And so as I look at Texas or others, I know, um, because I know the coordinator there, they are looking at this because they want to reduce the number of people who are opting out. Um, but what has happened is policies have existed for a long time. And a lot of those policies have said just we activate statewide because that's just what we do. When in reality, just what we do is not a good defense. Um, and so the RAN study, if you are an alerting authority, if you're a police officer, if you're involved in emergency services, a stakeholder at any level, you should look at this. And again, we had two episodes. I remember Jeanetta after the first one, and and we're talking after, and I'm like, I need more. Like, I need to understand this more. And so we had them on a second time to say, what do I need to change in my policy to help, you know, get my community in a better position? And it is the just the best resource that we currently have to help us understand who's opting out and why. And folks, Amber Alert, if we don't do better, we're gonna have less and less people that are gonna receive these messages. And that ultimately translates to less people involved in a recovery. So limit and go geographically targeted. That's the whole if you go on IPAUS on their website, it actually says the wireless emergency alert is designed to be geographically targeted, not jurisdiction-wide. Um if you're in Rhode Island though, I get it. I've talked to them, they go statewide on everything, go for it. Um, but especially for the bigger ones, let's let's be cognizant.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's fantastic advice. Um and maybe someday in the future we'll get a second RAND study and see how things have improved or maybe not improved. Um my fear is that there will be more people opting out, but we need to know more about opting out, and we will learn more about that to help us to develop better policies. And in the meantime, these suggestions about sending complete messages, providing updates, and making your messages geographically targeted, those are excellent strategies from my research perspective and your practitioner perspective. Um let's talk a little bit about Amber message content because you talked about a complete message. And we have research on this now. Thanks to Dr. Lauren Kane for leading the effort on a content analysis and also an experiment. And she's presently working on a missing and endangered person lexicon manuscript, which will go out for review. Um, so we'll have that soon. But based on your experience, what is the standard of practice for Amber messages and what has research shown you about how to improve them?

SPEAKER_00 39:22

Okay. I can tell you, and I am not ashamed to say this. When I first started and I was in charge of developing the content, I did my very best. And I'm, I am, I can say that and I feel good. I did my best. I did not have the luxury of all of the research that has happened since. And I want to be careful when I, you know, if we say, hey, we look back, you know, 10 years ago and say, well, why didn't you do it differently? Partly it, we just didn't know how. And so we really had to rely on everything that we knew and our experience alone. Um, I can say confidently now that there is a lot of research. And I think the bigger challenge, and and Jeanette, you've mentioned this before, and it is absolutely true. Um, the next greatest challenge isn't necessarily to do more research. We always need to, but it's get it into the hands of the practitioners so that the research makes a difference. So it changes everything. Um, it looks at your policy, procedures, everything. So message content. I have, I look at messages totally differently now. I I everything from understanding that we need an order, that I need to give, you know, the source, who is sending this, the hazard, what's going on, where, where are we? Like, is there a is there a timing element? Is there a protective action or another action that I'm asking people to take? Um when I am when I'm sending these messages, their their stress level goes up. If you're receiving it, you're like, what's happening? I need to provide that type of guidance. And then I need to give some way for them to get more information if I have it. Something where, because it is very natural for us to look around and say, okay, what's everybody else doing? Is there more information? Um, and I can I can say I wasn't doing all those things. I was essentially trying to throw all my chips into using a hyperlink to get people to go to social media or wherever else, because then they could see pictures, updates, and it was it was very effective. But going back, or should I say, now moving forward with the science, I would do the same by putting a wonderful link, but I would preface that with a complete message of saying, this is who I am, this is what happened, this is where it happened, this is either how it affects you or impacts you, and what I'm asking you to do to either protect yourself or someone else. And this is where you can go to find information. And again, what we have learned through tragic things is I can need to tell you when it's happening. Because if that message goes out at a different time or to an area that is not involved in this, I don't want to cause undue stress to others. And so having that timing element is very important. So understanding that, then I put a few other things in here that are common amber message content issues. Um we had the opportunity to work with an amazing group in New York going through this. And beyond research, just in other discussions, we talked about how important it is to know the different distribution methods. If you are creating content and using it universally the same through your digital messages, your emergency alert system messages, or your WIA messages, you're doing it wrong. And you're doing it wrong because those channels or distribution methods are meant for different audiences. And those audience need audiences need different aspects or elements. While your messages can be similar, you don't have the same amount of space on a digital sign that you have with a 360-character wireless emergency alert. And so understanding the key components of it are going to help you. Uh, I really appreciate, and I'm jumping a little bit, car details. I love playing the game, and Jeanette's played it. And others, if you've been to my training, have named that car or describe that car. We we get so picky on saying it's a 97 Toyota Corolla, you know, white license plate. But when you're driving on a freeway, how practical is it for you to be like, oh, oh, I'm driving up? Oh no, that's a Honda Civic, not a Toyota Corolla. Okay. Because I've seen that little emblem. It doesn't make sense. Uh, we get so specific. And so one thing that we've worked on that I'm really proud of, and I'm I we're we're promoting is understanding what details should you use? What shouldn't you? What does the public understand? And there definitely needs to be more research done on it. Um, but it's understanding that every message delivery system is a little different. Um, content too. One of my fears, folks, is you're taking too long to send the message because you're waiting for all the pieces to come in. And in a perfect world, in a scenario, tabletop, great, you have everything. Oftentimes you don't. You got pieces. So take the pieces that you do have, do your very best, and you can send that message. But understand you've got to send that update and complete the information as you get it. Um I will be honest, and Jeanette knows I have sent some messages in all caps before. Um I she taught me. This is why it's so good to work with her. I have I've learned um how people read. And through that research, where our eyes go in messages. And if you're using all caps, folks, stop. I mean, really, they're they are harder to read. And it's not just me saying it. Like they I can look and explain why. And through all the the amazing academic um things that they have done to see where eyes track and the the way people understand it. Um, my message style and the way I write has absolutely changed. Um, I have stopped making assumptions on what people know. Um, there's the old clothing brand, FooBoo, for us by us. Well, that's the way that most law enforcement wrote messages, right? We did it in a way that we understood, hoping that the public would, and it was really difficult. And so if I don't, if I take away those assumptions and if I don't use jargon and I'm talking to you in a very normal way, plain language, that is going to increase the efficacy of those amber messages. I mean, you're going to see such a difference. Um, last things are timing. Um, you could have the best message in the world. How it's timed when you send it is very important. And that's, we can get into discussions. That's often more policy related. Um, but you have to take it, you have to just think about and understand it. And then I would say the last part, and this is a content thing, is your stakeholders. Um, because your stakeholders are key in the Amber process. It is not a one-person game. And if you can provide enough information through your message, you are going to trigger a wave of support amongst so many stakeholders that are going to really add to the hope that you are going to recover this individual alive. Um, but if you don't provide good content, your stakeholders are going to be there on the sidelines just waiting to jump in and help, but you're not giving them that information that they need. Um, so again, I'm being honest, I did not write the best messages at first compared to now, but I did the best I could with what I had. And and we were still incredibly effective. But I look at it now, and it's it's a whole amazing like new game.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Yeah, well, we didn't have the research until recently either, honestly. And there's a lot of research on amber alerts and uh thinking about the whole process, the policing process, the law enforcement process. But in terms of the messages, that was not ever studied until just the last couple of years with that funding from FEMA. Um, and I'm really proud of the work that we've done in that space because it's so necessary to help to improve things. And then I'm I love also that we've been able to take that academic research and help to translate it for practitioners with things like you were what you were just talking about, with these very practical applied steps that can be taken to improve message content. And I wanted to say one thing about your last point about stakeholders, because I remember seeing some Amber messages and other missing persons' messages that I thought that's really good. And the things that stood out to me about stakeholders was it gave really clear instructions to somebody within their local community about what they could do within their own backyard. Go outside and check on your into your covered porches, look inside your vehicle, check your pond in your backyard, look on your your ring door camera because you have those keys. But I don't think that people are aware that those are the kinds of instructions that that they're supposed to assume when they receive an Amber alert. Um, because so frequently the messages are emphasizing the vehicle, but it may be that the person, any missing person or or person who's been abducted, they may be still local, and there's other things you can do.

SPEAKER_00 49:46

No, I I think that's critical is and this goes to assumptions, and there are assumptions within the community and assumptions within law enforcement. And that lack of understanding, I think is a it doesn't help the program because if if those that create the message are not providing specific, actionable instructions, call them invitations, guidance, whatever you want, because your life may not be in danger, but we're asking you to take an action to help potentially save the life of someone else. If I don't give you anything specific, you could have the greatest desire in the world, but you're like, what do I do? What do you need me to do? What can help? And that's where I think we can do better in our message content of providing this is what we're looking for, right? Um, and you may not be good at cars, but if I ask you to find like what we had where I live currently, where it was sent out, where it's a red pickup truck with a silver camper shell. We had multiple people call and say, I remember that one. I've seen that one. It wasn't uh, you know, 2004 Ford Ranger, blah, blah, blah. It was red pickup, silver camper shell. People understood that. And so that type of content, it's incredible when you can get it into the right hands.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

Yeah, yeah. All right, let's sum it up. What are the top three things that you want people to know about Amber messages?

unknown 51:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

Um I tell you guys, and I I can talk about this for a long time, and I'm not trying to make this into a whole amber class. I I think it's important timing you are only. I guess it's it's frustrating at times when you're in the seat of the person who's trying to make this amber alert happen. Because you can only control what you can control. And it's vital for the public, for alerting authorities, everyone to understand there are multiple phases in this process. I cannot control when that family calls 911. I've had it happen where families wait six hours, 24 hours, 20 minutes. Um it's up to them. And that time is critical. Every minute is critical. I can't control when that first officer gets on scene to when they make that decision to say, hey, we think this is something else. But what I can control is when that phone call is made to me to say, hey, I think this is what we have. Can we send out an alert and warning? I can be on that and I can make sure that I'm prepared. I can make sure that I have my templates ready, that I've that I have the research to back up everything that's made my message the best possible, that I understand where to send it, how to send it, the time to send it, all those things. So get good at what you are responsible for. Okay. You cannot control things outside of that. But I will tell you, for every success, it feels great, right? But for those times when it does not end up in a success, and you end up are now switching either to a recovery or the person is found deceased. You live with those. You you do. And um, before the show, I was telling Jeanette that as we're preparing for this one, I have a lot of memories that are coming back that I that feel just as if they happened yesterday. And they're not just numbers, these are faces, um, they're families. Um, they're they're people that I did everything I could to help, and they were found deceased. And I can look back, though, and really say, I know I did absolutely everything I could. And then even after the fact, I went through and said, How can we make this better? What can we do different? So again, be good at what you're good at and take responsibility for that. The second one is this is real. This is not just academic, this is not just tabletop, this is not just, you know, to, you know, one thing that that happens. When you're in the moment, it is critical. You need to make sure that the education, whether that's internal, external, um, to your community, to the people around you, your stakeholders, make sure that's already happened. Because when the moment arrives, all the time for preparation is done. You just have to act. And minutes truly matter. And so the last one I would say is don't let fear win. You're going to think twice and say, what should I send in my message? How should I send it? Do I wait? What timing? What area? Do not let fear win. Be decisive. I would rather have you make a big mistake in a certain part, you know, and we can work through that mistake, then you make that decision of not sending anything, right? It's that inaction that comes through paralysis. Um, don't let fear win. It is not a defensible space to stand to say, well, I didn't send it for whatever. If you should send it, then send it. And uh we'll be there to back in and to have discussions. And we can always make improvements, but just don't let fear win. Um, the Amber Alert program does work, and it can work even better if we all understand our roles and are willing to just be the best we can in them.

SPEAKER_01 55:47

I am grateful that you shared your decades of experience and knowledge with us today. It's such an important program representing so many young wives and their parents and their grandparents and their siblings. Um, just it has truly made a difference across the United States and around the world. Um, so thank you so much for sharing this, for living it in your daily life. I know you continue as a law enforcement officer and you help within your own community and you continue to advise nationally. And thank you also for being my colleague and partner in training at the Alerting Authority. It is truly a pleasure to get to walk alongside of someone who has been there and who truly understands what all of our colleagues and peers go through every day as they're making these life-saving decisions. So thank you. And um now I'm getting all teared up as I'm thinking about how important your work is. Um, but I want to I want to also highlight for all of our listeners, because um, this has been a lot of information. And there's some information about the Amber program that is probably fairly complex or maybe new to you. And that is one of the reasons that the Alerting Authority was formed um last year to help to bring this kind of information to your community and help you to become better at what you do. So if you need help with this particular topic, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are available to provide uh counseling, advising, looking over your templates, training, working with you through your policies and processes, and helping you so that when those minutes matter, you are prepared and you have the confidence to issue those messages in a timely manner. Um, so again, Eddie, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 57:58

And honestly, thank you. I, guys, this this is a it's a lifetime thing that many of us are doing here. And I am not the only one that's that's involved in this. I have been surrounded my entire career with amazing individuals, amazing in law enforcement and in other groups. Um and so a sincere thank you to everyone involved. Um, and especially just my final shout out to those families that have been impacted by this, whose children have not come home. And for those that tire tirelessly work still in trying to help others in that situation not go through what they've gone through. And so while whatever sacrifice I have made, um, and it there have been hard days, um, it's nowhere in comparison to some of the ultimate sacrifices that have been made. And so I just want to, again, just say my sincere thank you to them for everything. And as Jeanette said, this is why we're here. This is the alerting authority. Every second has a story. And I want to thank you guys for letting me share one of mine.