The Federal Emergency Management Agency is offering help for alerting authorities who want to use the new event code for Missing and Endangered Persons (MEP).
Each year, over 180,000 people go missing annually that do not qualify for an AMBER Alert, FEMA said. The three-letter event code that went live earlier this month is designed to produce quick action through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) because, as the agency explained, “every second counts when someone goes missing.”
FEMA said alerting authorities need to update their public alerting application permissions in the IPAWS user portal to use MEP for Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts.
The government agency says it will help by offering technical assisting to alerting jurisdictions to create message templates that send MEP alerts faster and more efficiently.
“The templates ensure that critical information − like physical descriptions, last known locations and contact instructions can be shared quickly when time matters most,” FEMA said in a release.
Implementation of the new code is voluntary for broadcasters. Stations will need to update their EAS devices to accommodate the MEP event code. When the FCC adopted the new event code in 2024, it gave EAS equipment manufacturers up 12 months to integrate MEP into new equipment and make software updates available to existing users.
State Emergency Communications Committees can often provide guidance for when and how to use the new event code, according to the release.
Before the FCC approved the MEP Alert in 2024, alerting authorities were using other event codes to send out alerts about missing and endangered persons. The commission has said it expects the MEP code to be used at least twice as often as AMBER Alerts.
FEMA said the new event code will be especially beneficial to Tribal communities who are at disproportionate risk of violence, murder or vanishing.
In 2024, former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel cited data from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which estimated there were more than 4,000 cases of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Natives that are unsolved.
FEMA said IPAWS’ technical support is staffed 24/7 with subject-matter experts experienced in emergency management, public safety communications, public works and broadcasting.
For more information or help, send an email to [email protected] or call, toll-free at (844)729-7522.
The FCC also hosted a webinar earlier this year on using federal alerting systems to find Missing and Endangered Persons:
