State Telecom Activities

摘要

California residents shouldn't opt out of getting AMBER alerts on their cellphones, said Bob Hoever,nNational Center for Missing and Exploited Children special programs director, in an interview Wednesday. Officials sent out an AMBER alert through cellphones for the first time Aug. 5 (CD Aug 8np12). When the customers got multiple messages, late messages, messages which later disappeared fromntheir phones or alerts lacking specific information, people wanted to opt out of the service, said Hoever.n“Unfortunately, people did not understand what these messages meant and their purpose,” he said. “It’sncritically important the public does understand, and we get their eyes and ears if there’s a dangerous situationnto help find and rescue that child.” The AMBER alert program relies heavily on public participation,nwith 676 children rescued to date from the program, said Hoever. Opting out of the system could meannopting out of all emergency alerts for some carriers, which “could be a matter of life or death,” said CalifornianAssembly Speaker John Perez during a news conference Monday (http://bit.ly/14EHVKU). ThenAssembly is in discussions to start an educational campaign with the California Emergency ManagementnAgency to allow the Assembly to fund outreach efforts through savings in its operating budget, said Perez.nThe Assembly will hold a special hearing this fall to examine additional ways the wireless alert systemncan “work better in California” and ways the Legislature can “facilitate that happening,” said Perez.