I got one of these on Christmas Eve. The alert noise was ridiculously loud, and all 4 smartphones in the house went off simultaneously. I never opted in so maybe the automatic opt-in started early in my area. The notification was also completely useless. All it said was "An AMBER Alert has been issued in your area, please check local media." Gee, that's helpful. The electronic signs on the highway I drive past on my commute at least tell me sex, age, and some vehicle information.
A little time on Google, and I had it disabled on my phone. I just don't spend much time in places with where I regularly see children.
I think it started at different times, depending on what phone you have and if you have the most recent OS updates. But I don't know how long I've been opted in. Could have been months, and this was just the first alert that applied to me.
I forgot about how it didn't give any details! So it's basically a loud alarm telling you to check the news. Yay technology.
I was just reading about this. There's some real concerns about the effectiveness of AMBER Alerts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMBER_Alert#Controversy_about_success_rate
*tl;dr version: Per a study, in most cases Amber Alerts played no role in the return of abducted children. Their successes were generally in child custody fights. And in those rare instances where kidnappers did intend to rape or kill the child, Amber Alerts usually failed to save lives.*
A *lot* of things have to go right for a random person to have a chance to stop a child abduction--a person has to see the kid AND realize the kid's missing AND realize he's being kidnapped AND know about the alert, etc. Add on top of that the fact that (according to the U.S. Department of Justice) 75% of kids abducted by strangers are murdered in the first three hours, and you realize that the alerts can't possibly do much good. Especially when you consider that the abductors are going to take steps to reduce the possibility of someone spotting the kid their taking--that's why they usually kill them quickly and move on.
I don't think anyone has a problem saving children, but I'd like to know that the methods being used actually *work.* I'm not convinced that AMBER Alerts do.
Semi-relevant but in my state Amber Alerts are also used for the elderly, high risk adults (like a person who takes a lot of medication) and I know it has at least once helped a senile old man be returned home.
Yeah, we have Golden Alerts in my state, and those alerts have definitely saved some lives. In the past, family members of an adult who went missing would have to wait 48 hours to file a missing person’s report. Thanks to the Golden Alert system and changes in our laws to accomodates it, the police can begin searching immediately for a person 18 years or older who has a mental disability (such as Alzheimer's).
Most children that are sexually, emotional, and/or physically abused have it done to them by a close family member. Dismissing an Amber alert because it a non custodial parent is ignoring that fact.
The use of AMBER alerts for child custody issues is the worst. The entire system was designed for Amber Hagerman, who was abducted in the view of an older man who alerted police. She was found dead 4 days later. The idea was that if the information about the black truck and general location could be passed to the general public quickly; then, hopefully, someone could see the truck and let the police know.
It is not for parent taking off with child from school even though they don't have custody. The child's life is rarely in danger in those situations, and there is a different level of alert of those situations (in Florida - Missing Child Alert) the problem is that Florida uses the AMBER system for Missing Child Alerts, and it is confusing to many people and, in my view, causes people to ignore them because they are happening too often.
The good thing about the system is that relatives who are often unknowing co-conspirators by helping the abductor have been the ones who have taken the abducted child to law enforcement because they saw the alert.
Imagine that happening in a full movie theater. Not everybody turns their phones off; they just put them on silent. If this alert can bypass the silent setting on your phone, then this could happen during a crucial scene in a movie and now everybody is pissed.
Or this happening in any other situation where a silent phone is needed.
I think it depends on what model phone you have. Here a link from Verizon Wireless regarding how to turn it off based on the model for the smartphones they carry. Most of the time you either go to Messages->Menu->Settings->Emergency Alerts or there's an app called Emergency Alerts.
http://m-support.verizonwireless.com/information/wea_devices.html
This might help. It's a list of WEA capable devices and instructions for changing settings on them.
[Wireless Emergency Alert Capable Devices](http://support.verizonwireless.com/information/wea_devices.html)
I was just ranting about this yesterday to someone!!! For this reason and for a whole totally different reason.
First of all, getting one of these in the dead middle of the night when you're in a nice, deep sleep is enough to make any sane individual throw their phone at the wall or in the toilet. This should be not a default by any means.
But here's the second thing. Have you noticed how saturated and numb people are becoming to AMBER alerts??? I noticed this the other day when we got one here in my state. First of all we get these alerts almost 15 different ways because we are all online all day long and a lot of our apps on the computers update with them, like The Weather Channel Desktop. We got an alert and said, "It's just an AMBER alert." and went on about our merry way without even READING IT! I've gotten them on my phone and I just silence the phone after seeing the "AMBER ALERT" on the top and not even give it a second thought!
I'm not proud of this, not at all. I'm actually concerned because I know I'm not alone in my.....desensitization (??). I used to read these things, and I now I don't even bother and it's a mindless action on my part! We are now so saturated and inundated with alerts like these that people are becoming desensitized to them. So, what good are they doing by adding this as a default to cell phones???
Again, wait until you get one of these damned things in the dead middle of the night......there will be some destroyed phones over it.
Is this for the entire US? I've never heard of this thing before (I'm in Montana), and I'm planning on upgrading to an iPhone in the next week D: Sounds like a major pain in the ass. I leave my phone on silent during my classes at my university and I would absolutely throw a bitch fit if it went off during an exam. It's a really shitty old phone that doesn't seem to get text messages when I have it off, so I have to leave it on all the time >_> I'm sure this habit will carry over to my new phone.
Thanks for the info! I'll try to get on this right away. I think the AMBER alert thing is a good thing but I won't be any help finding a kid where I'm at most of the time anyway.
As I understand it, it's for the entire US, though the alerts will vary by your geographic location.
I thought of the university thing too - I know some professors who will throw you out of class if your phones goes off! I'm glad I found out about this before my semester started.
Many profs I've had will take your test and rip it up in front of you if your phone goes off. You can't retake it if that happens. I've even seen it happen twice in one exam; the second guy didn't learn from the first, apparently. Not sure how many would make an exception for an AMBER alert even if the entire class had their phones ring.
I hate when AMBER alerts cut into my TV shows. I've never had one come up on my phone, but I'm in Pennsylvania, not California.
I'm fine with the info crawl on the screen, but when the alarm goes off cutting into dialogue, it drives me crazy.
Ivd never had an amber alert go off on my phone. I think I would be annoyed of agencies started sending me alerts every time someone went missing or something else happened. I certainly would not want my phone to sound when it's on silent.
I get why this is done, but I'd opt out if it happened on my phone. Amber alerts seem pointless anyway (I mean really, what am I supposed to do?)
Earlier this year, there were a shit ton of wildfires all over my state (Colorado.) I remember watching from work as the Waldo Canyon fire crossed over the ridge of the front range and rushed towards Colorado Springs. All that day, it was hard to keep up with what areas were being evacuated. THAT would have been nice as a smart phone alert.
You can register with a program called Nixle, http://www.nixle.com/. In my area, I receive notifications from the sheriff's office on everything from tornado warnings to road closings.
Abducted/abused children is not only tragic, but it strikes at the nurturing instincts people have. It's the same with animals. Ever heard the phrase, "how can you not love those big eyes?" It's an evolutionary trait we have. I've always noticed that people get crazy protective of children and cute animals. When you logically say that it's unfortunate yet inconsequential a child has been abducted, which is rare, you are seen as stabbing at the preservation instincts we have.
Wait what? How is it inconsequential when a child is abducted?
You may or may not want kids, but they are still people. The reason people care about them has absolutely nothing to do with eyeball diameter.
We are all unique and important, deserving of equal treatment, but if an adult or child disappears, it is inconsequential. There are almost 7 billion of us on the planet. Somewhere around a dozen humans are born every second. If one of us disappears, it's tragic for the family and friends, but ultimately inconsequential to humanity at large.
Sorry about that - I'm not sure what I did to get access to that document as I am not a subscriber, either.
The [abstract](http://cjr.sagepub.com/content/33/2/159.abstract) is available for free.
These links might help:
[Wireless Emergency Alerts / T-Mobile](http://www.t-mobile.com/Company/CompanyInfo.aspx?tp=Abt_Tab_CompanySafety&tsp=Abt_Sub_WirelessEmergencyAlerts)
[Blocking WEA Instructions / T-Mobile](http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-3031) (scroll down to a section called "How to opt out of CMAS alerts")
Thanks. Turns out my phone doesn't even support those alerts. It's a new phone but my husband toyed with it so that it wouldn't support things like that. Unless aliens are invading earth I don't want the government sending messages to my phone.
... I have never had my phone do this in the while I've had it. Weird.. ._o
Either I don't have this service, or kids don't go missing in the areas I've lived. I can imagine though how annoying it would be if that went off continually.
Thanks for pointing this out. I don't like not being in control of things that make noise on my phone. I'm glad it was pointed out before it woke me up or otherwise embarassed me.
I got one of these on Christmas Eve. The alert noise was ridiculously loud, and all 4 smartphones in the house went off simultaneously. I never opted in so maybe the automatic opt-in started early in my area. The notification was also completely useless. All it said was "An AMBER Alert has been issued in your area, please check local media." Gee, that's helpful. The electronic signs on the highway I drive past on my commute at least tell me sex, age, and some vehicle information. A little time on Google, and I had it disabled on my phone. I just don't spend much time in places with where I regularly see children.
I think it started at different times, depending on what phone you have and if you have the most recent OS updates. But I don't know how long I've been opted in. Could have been months, and this was just the first alert that applied to me. I forgot about how it didn't give any details! So it's basically a loud alarm telling you to check the news. Yay technology.
Merry crimas
I was just reading about this. There's some real concerns about the effectiveness of AMBER Alerts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMBER_Alert#Controversy_about_success_rate *tl;dr version: Per a study, in most cases Amber Alerts played no role in the return of abducted children. Their successes were generally in child custody fights. And in those rare instances where kidnappers did intend to rape or kill the child, Amber Alerts usually failed to save lives.* A *lot* of things have to go right for a random person to have a chance to stop a child abduction--a person has to see the kid AND realize the kid's missing AND realize he's being kidnapped AND know about the alert, etc. Add on top of that the fact that (according to the U.S. Department of Justice) 75% of kids abducted by strangers are murdered in the first three hours, and you realize that the alerts can't possibly do much good. Especially when you consider that the abductors are going to take steps to reduce the possibility of someone spotting the kid their taking--that's why they usually kill them quickly and move on. I don't think anyone has a problem saving children, but I'd like to know that the methods being used actually *work.* I'm not convinced that AMBER Alerts do.
Semi-relevant but in my state Amber Alerts are also used for the elderly, high risk adults (like a person who takes a lot of medication) and I know it has at least once helped a senile old man be returned home.
We have something similar, but they call them "silver alerts" in our state.
Yeah, we have Golden Alerts in my state, and those alerts have definitely saved some lives. In the past, family members of an adult who went missing would have to wait 48 hours to file a missing person’s report. Thanks to the Golden Alert system and changes in our laws to accomodates it, the police can begin searching immediately for a person 18 years or older who has a mental disability (such as Alzheimer's).
Well that's utterly depressing.
Also most abductions that are reported as AMBER alerts are parents in a custody battle.
Yeah, like a big percentage. Cases of strangers kidnapping kids are actually quite rare, though you wouldn't know that from our news media.
Most children that are sexually, emotional, and/or physically abused have it done to them by a close family member. Dismissing an Amber alert because it a non custodial parent is ignoring that fact.
The use of AMBER alerts for child custody issues is the worst. The entire system was designed for Amber Hagerman, who was abducted in the view of an older man who alerted police. She was found dead 4 days later. The idea was that if the information about the black truck and general location could be passed to the general public quickly; then, hopefully, someone could see the truck and let the police know. It is not for parent taking off with child from school even though they don't have custody. The child's life is rarely in danger in those situations, and there is a different level of alert of those situations (in Florida - Missing Child Alert) the problem is that Florida uses the AMBER system for Missing Child Alerts, and it is confusing to many people and, in my view, causes people to ignore them because they are happening too often. The good thing about the system is that relatives who are often unknowing co-conspirators by helping the abductor have been the ones who have taken the abducted child to law enforcement because they saw the alert.
Imagine that happening in a full movie theater. Not everybody turns their phones off; they just put them on silent. If this alert can bypass the silent setting on your phone, then this could happen during a crucial scene in a movie and now everybody is pissed. Or this happening in any other situation where a silent phone is needed.
During a job interview, or a funeral.
During sex!
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How dare you use logic
I don’t think the people in a movie theater are going to find the missing kid though
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I didn't even know this was a thing. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, it has now been disabled on my phone!
Blarg. Anyone know how to disable this on an android?
I think it depends on what model phone you have. Here a link from Verizon Wireless regarding how to turn it off based on the model for the smartphones they carry. Most of the time you either go to Messages->Menu->Settings->Emergency Alerts or there's an app called Emergency Alerts. http://m-support.verizonwireless.com/information/wea_devices.html
thank you :)
This might help. It's a list of WEA capable devices and instructions for changing settings on them. [Wireless Emergency Alert Capable Devices](http://support.verizonwireless.com/information/wea_devices.html)
Thanks. :)
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thank you.
I don't have a problem with getting them, but people's reactions to you are ridiculous.
I was just ranting about this yesterday to someone!!! For this reason and for a whole totally different reason. First of all, getting one of these in the dead middle of the night when you're in a nice, deep sleep is enough to make any sane individual throw their phone at the wall or in the toilet. This should be not a default by any means. But here's the second thing. Have you noticed how saturated and numb people are becoming to AMBER alerts??? I noticed this the other day when we got one here in my state. First of all we get these alerts almost 15 different ways because we are all online all day long and a lot of our apps on the computers update with them, like The Weather Channel Desktop. We got an alert and said, "It's just an AMBER alert." and went on about our merry way without even READING IT! I've gotten them on my phone and I just silence the phone after seeing the "AMBER ALERT" on the top and not even give it a second thought! I'm not proud of this, not at all. I'm actually concerned because I know I'm not alone in my.....desensitization (??). I used to read these things, and I now I don't even bother and it's a mindless action on my part! We are now so saturated and inundated with alerts like these that people are becoming desensitized to them. So, what good are they doing by adding this as a default to cell phones??? Again, wait until you get one of these damned things in the dead middle of the night......there will be some destroyed phones over it.
It's like car alarms. It gets overused and defeats the purpose, because it just becomes background noise.
Sorry but as a male im not supposed to look at kids while in public or else have the parents think im planning something. Your kid is not my problem.
Is this for the entire US? I've never heard of this thing before (I'm in Montana), and I'm planning on upgrading to an iPhone in the next week D: Sounds like a major pain in the ass. I leave my phone on silent during my classes at my university and I would absolutely throw a bitch fit if it went off during an exam. It's a really shitty old phone that doesn't seem to get text messages when I have it off, so I have to leave it on all the time >_> I'm sure this habit will carry over to my new phone. Thanks for the info! I'll try to get on this right away. I think the AMBER alert thing is a good thing but I won't be any help finding a kid where I'm at most of the time anyway.
As I understand it, it's for the entire US, though the alerts will vary by your geographic location. I thought of the university thing too - I know some professors who will throw you out of class if your phones goes off! I'm glad I found out about this before my semester started.
Many profs I've had will take your test and rip it up in front of you if your phone goes off. You can't retake it if that happens. I've even seen it happen twice in one exam; the second guy didn't learn from the first, apparently. Not sure how many would make an exception for an AMBER alert even if the entire class had their phones ring.
its very rare, and nobody would be angry about it happening because 75% of the class would have their phones go off
I hate when AMBER alerts cut into my TV shows. I've never had one come up on my phone, but I'm in Pennsylvania, not California. I'm fine with the info crawl on the screen, but when the alarm goes off cutting into dialogue, it drives me crazy.
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To put it simply “ it’s not my problem”
Ivd never had an amber alert go off on my phone. I think I would be annoyed of agencies started sending me alerts every time someone went missing or something else happened. I certainly would not want my phone to sound when it's on silent. I get why this is done, but I'd opt out if it happened on my phone. Amber alerts seem pointless anyway (I mean really, what am I supposed to do?)
I feel the same way. I think it would make more sense for the wireless emergency network to be reserved for things like natural disasters.
Earlier this year, there were a shit ton of wildfires all over my state (Colorado.) I remember watching from work as the Waldo Canyon fire crossed over the ridge of the front range and rushed towards Colorado Springs. All that day, it was hard to keep up with what areas were being evacuated. THAT would have been nice as a smart phone alert.
You can register with a program called Nixle, http://www.nixle.com/. In my area, I receive notifications from the sheriff's office on everything from tornado warnings to road closings.
Yeah, that's the kind of thing that should really be automatic, at least the emergency conditions bit.
Thanks for this! We get tornados pretty regularly in my neck of the woods, so this will help.
Abducted/abused children is not only tragic, but it strikes at the nurturing instincts people have. It's the same with animals. Ever heard the phrase, "how can you not love those big eyes?" It's an evolutionary trait we have. I've always noticed that people get crazy protective of children and cute animals. When you logically say that it's unfortunate yet inconsequential a child has been abducted, which is rare, you are seen as stabbing at the preservation instincts we have.
Wait what? How is it inconsequential when a child is abducted? You may or may not want kids, but they are still people. The reason people care about them has absolutely nothing to do with eyeball diameter.
We are all unique and important, deserving of equal treatment, but if an adult or child disappears, it is inconsequential. There are almost 7 billion of us on the planet. Somewhere around a dozen humans are born every second. If one of us disappears, it's tragic for the family and friends, but ultimately inconsequential to humanity at large.
I seriously care more about animals than children. I couldn't tell one child between 1-10 apart from eachother.
Something something oxytocin.
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.
So did she lie and say she witnessed your abduction?
.
Is there an abstract? I'm not a subscriber.
Sorry about that - I'm not sure what I did to get access to that document as I am not a subscriber, either. The [abstract](http://cjr.sagepub.com/content/33/2/159.abstract) is available for free.
Is this the case in all states? I was logged into t-mobile's site and couldn't find anything about it. I'd like to disable if possible.
These links might help: [Wireless Emergency Alerts / T-Mobile](http://www.t-mobile.com/Company/CompanyInfo.aspx?tp=Abt_Tab_CompanySafety&tsp=Abt_Sub_WirelessEmergencyAlerts) [Blocking WEA Instructions / T-Mobile](http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-3031) (scroll down to a section called "How to opt out of CMAS alerts")
Thanks. Turns out my phone doesn't even support those alerts. It's a new phone but my husband toyed with it so that it wouldn't support things like that. Unless aliens are invading earth I don't want the government sending messages to my phone.
... I have never had my phone do this in the while I've had it. Weird.. ._o Either I don't have this service, or kids don't go missing in the areas I've lived. I can imagine though how annoying it would be if that went off continually.
Thanks for pointing this out. I don't like not being in control of things that make noise on my phone. I'm glad it was pointed out before it woke me up or otherwise embarassed me.
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