[EAS] Nevada Silver Alert

[WSAB]

Several years ago we had a state Senator who wanted to create a Silver Alert
in response to a problem one of his constituents had.  We worked with him to
shape the bill into the same kind of umbrella alert advisory that Utah
pioneered, the Endangered Missing Person Advisory Plan.  It does not use
EAS.  The Senator was quite willing to expand the concept because he was
also concerned about autistic kids and others who were missing and needed
assistance.  The bill itself did not contain the Plan, but simply authorized
the State Patrol to develop the Plan and adopt it.  The AMBER Alert Advisory
Committee, of which I'm Chair, drafted the Plan and submitted it to the
Patrol and it was adopted about a year ago.  The Plan itself aggregates all
of the existing (non-EAS) press and other outreach resources that law
enforcement has to assist in locating a missing person who does not qualify
for an AMBER Alert.

We also dealt with a Blue Alert bill this session.  Working with the prime
sponsor over our concerns about using EAS, he was quite willing to have any
Blue Alert not use EAS.  The bill is, however, dead.  In both of these
cases, the State Patrol and the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police
Chiefs were very much on our side and advocated with us to keep these bills
in proper order.  If anything, in Washington law enforcement and state
emergency management are even more protective than broadcasters of using EAS
only for AMBER Alerts when it comes to missing persons.

Mark Allen, Esq.
President & CEO
Washington State Association of Broadcasters
724 Columbia Street N. W., Suite 3190
Olympia, WA  98501
P:  (360) 705-0774
F:  (360) 705-0873
www.wsab.org
wa-broadcasters at earthlink.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On
Behalf Of Adrienne Abbott

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

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