[EAS] Cell Phone Warning Failure

[Bill Ruck]

Warning!  Bill is getting up on his soap box.

1.  Even if we assemble a 100% reliable public warning system 
technology unless and until ALL of the people that originate those 
messages are trained and receive continuous practice and training 
don't expect success.  TRAINING is the Achilles's Heel of most 
things.  And my experience so far is that while there are grants and 
other funding sources to buy hardware there is no money for 
training.  Training is not free; it is actually very expensive. *

2.  My good friend Art said "That process is sufficiently well 
recognized that it has a name in social science... it's called 
"milling" and it has to do with the social construction of the 
meaning of an alert."  There are people that will procrastinate 
acting on any warning, including Mother Nature pushing water up 
against their house or a big black vacuum cleaner coming out of the 
sky or a wall of flames approaching them, until it is too late.

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco

* And this is not limited to Public Safety.  My sister tells a story 
about a hotel where she worked.  Management bought a new reservation 
system but "saved" money by deleting staff training.  The new system 
was cut over and chaos reigned for weeks.