A proposed new event code to deliver broadcast alerts about missing and endangered adults is moving ahead at the FCC.
We reported earlier that the commission planned to consider whether to open a notice of proposed rulemaking. It did so today unanimously.
“Adding a new ‘Missing and Endangered Persons’ event code to the nation’s Emergency Alert System would help law enforcement agencies to issue timely alerts in accordance with the Ashanti Alert Act and galvanize public attention to these cases,” the FCC said in a press release.
“Similar to how law enforcement agencies successfully use Amber Alerts on TV and radio to help mobilize public attention and recover abducted children, this new Missing and Endangered Persons event code would trigger Ashanti Alerts to sound the alarm over other missing and endangered persons.”
Here is the text of the NPRM, as released in draft form prior to the vote.
The FCC says that in the United States in 2022, about 187,000 adults went missing but fell outside of the criteria for Amber or Silver Alerts. It says the new code would be particularly beneficial to native and indigenous women who have disappeared.
The federal Ashanti Alert Act of 2018 established a voluntary nationwide communication network to aid in the search and recovery of missing adults. It was named in honor of Ashanti Billie, who was abducted and killed in 2017.
Noting that alert originators use EAS by selecting from a list of codes — such as CAE for a Child Abduction Emergency, known as an Amber Alert — the FCC is asking for comment on creating an MEP alert code.
The commission noted that several states, territories and tribal communities have Ashanti Alert plans or missing/endangered person plans, or legislative proposals in the works. It wants comments about how those would fit in with its own plan. It’s also asking for comments on whether and how this idea could be used with the Wireless Emergency Alert system, which does not use event codes.
Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement that violence against Native women has a long history. “The cruel reality is that we continue to have a crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people, and it is especially acute for women and girls in tribal communities.” She said the success of Amber Alerts over three decades shows that the event code approach works.
Rosenworcel credited Native Public Media for its efforts to call attention to the issue of missing indigenous persons.
[Read a blog post on this issue from Native Public Media.]
As with other non-presidential EAS alerts, whether stations carry Ashanti Alerts and use the MEP event code would be voluntary. As far as what would be required on the broadcaster side, the FCC noted that EAS participants are required to have equipment capable of being upgraded by software to accommodate modifications. Stations would not be required to add the code until their equipment or software was replaced. The FCC added, “We also see no reason why a new event code could not be bundled with a software upgrade that EAS participants would otherwise install anyway, during the regular course of business.”
Once the NPRM has been published in the Federal Register, the comment deadlines will be set. Comments should be made in the FCC online system under PS Dockets 15-91 or 15-94
