[EAS] Vermont BLU Blue Alert EAS test - doesn't seem like best practice ...

[Dave Kline]

That "test" is just chock full of all kinds of wrong.
To include a description as if there was an actual incident, is in my opinion, no different that yelling "this is a test, this is only a test" in a crowded theater right before yelling "fire."
The authorities that issued that Blu alert have no business being in the business they are in.

Yes, NWS does the same thing with their annual Tornado Drill  (Here, at least). You can say it is a test, all you want. Someone (more than just one) will not hear the TEST part. If the message sounds real and someone acts on that information thinking it is real, then who is responsible for the consequences. Suppose some vigilante type (not that any of those exist in reality) took it upon themselves to impose his own form of justice on someone just because he might match the description of John Doe? Yes, the guy who carries out his own brand of justice is responsible, but we don't need people in authority giving some self appointed crazy an excuse to act om their self appointed craziness.

The system being tested does not care about the content of the test message, just that the all components of the system function during the test. You could recite "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as the test message and the system does not care.

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 1:07 PM Ed Czarnecki <ed.czarnecki at digitalalertsystems.com> wrote:
>Vermont just fired of an EAS test of a BLU alert via IPAWS CAP.   Anyone on the list from Vermont that can tell us if there was public outreach before the test?

>The message raises a number of concerns, at least to me:

>"A civil authority has issued A BLUE ALERT for the following counties or areas: Vermont; at 1:49 PM on AUG 23, 2019 Effective until 3:49 PM. Message from IPAWSCAP. This is a TEST of the Vermont BLUE Alert notification system. This is a TEST of the Vermont BLUE Alert notification system. Only a test. - On Friday, August 23rd at approximately 9:30 am a Vermont law enforcement officer was shot and killed near Pond Road in the Town of Amsterdam in France County, Vermont - by John S Doe in blue 2007 Honda Civic with Vermont registration A B C 1 2 3 4. - Suspect John S Doe is described as a white male approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall, 160 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a grey Patagonia T-Shirt, dark-colored sneakers, and a black baseball hat. - If the suspect and or vehicle is encountered DO NOT make contact. Call 9 1 1."

>While they say it's a TEST three times, I do have voice a concern over including simulated Blue Alert text in the test message.

>And if by some coincidence, my name was John Doe, and drive a 2007 Honda, I might want to say out of sight for  a while ... there are at least 54 people actually named John Doe in Vermont.

>Over EAS relay it would, of course, simply be a BLU alert - no text crawl reference to this being a test: "A civil authority has issued A BLUE ALERT for the following counties or areas: Vermont; at 1:49 PM on AUG 23, 2019 Effective until 3:49 PM. Message from IPAWSCAP."

>One of the key reason why we put in Triggered CAP Polling as a feature - grab the full CAP message instead of the short less-informative EAS text.

>Edward Czarnecki | Senior Director - Strategy & Government Affairs | ext. 122
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Dave Kline - Solder Jockey
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