[EAS] Nevada Silver Alert

[Lowell Kiesow]

We do not use EAS for silver alerts in WA, and I would strongly oppose any proposal to do so.  Any police detective that handles missing children will tell you that the time versus positive outcome of child abductions is totally different than for other types of missing person scenarios.  I know because I have had that conversation before we started Amber alerts.  In other words, there is a strong case for Amber alerts, but the case for using EAS for Silver alerts isn't well supported by facts.
 
Secondly, your legislature needs to understand the voluntary nature of state and local EAS.  For now, they don't have any legal authority to require broadcasters to run ANY EAS alerts.  They can put them out, but that doesn't mean they'll get on the air.  There is no event code for Silvers.  If CAE gets used for Silver alerts, chances are that many broadcasters will simply take CAE out of the watch list which means that Amber alerts will not get aired.  That would be a big step backwards that could put children at risk in your state.

 
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 10:36 AM, Adrienne Abbott <nevadaeas at charter.net> wrote:

>Our legislature is considering a bill to create a "Silver Alert" that would
>use EAS to broadcast information about missing seniors. The backers of this
>legislation say the measure is "similar to the AMBER Alert for missing
>children". How many of you have Silver Alerts in your state? How many of you
>have Silver Alerts that use EAS in your state? Do you know how many EAS
>activations there have been in your state for Silver Alerts?

>Adrienne

 
>--
>Lowell Kiesow, Chief Engineer
>KPLU 88.5, KVIX 89.3, KPLI 90.1
>www.kplu.org  www.jazz24.org