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Children Organizations Partners

In the event that a child goes missing, rapid and effective public alerts are crucial to return that child to safety. For this reason, the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Program Management Office (PMO) has partnered with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to ensure that life-saving AMBER Alerts can be disseminated to more people through more devices. 

The AMBER Alert Program, also known as America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response Plan, is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, and transportation agencies to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly enable the entire community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of the child.

IPAWS and AMBER Alerts

When law enforcement has been notified about an abducted child, they determine whether the case meets their AMBER Alert program’s criteria. If it does, alert information is assembled such as descriptions and pictures of the missing child, the suspected abductor, and suspected vehicle, along with any other information available and valuable to identifying the child and suspect. 

Currently, the information is then disseminated through the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which leverages the communication support of radio, television, cable, and satellite providers (EAS Participants) and NOAA National Weather Radio.  In addition, localities may use digital signage or other alerting technologies if they are available.

IPAWS offers alerting authorities the opportunity to simultaneously send an AMBER Alert through all the current dissemination tools, and all other available CAP-compliant dissemination technologies.  These include the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), internet messages, and future technologies that are brought online using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). 

Alerting authorities issuing the AMBER Alert will be able to geographically target their alerts and trigger all alert dissemination technologies simultaneously, saving time when time matters.

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Delivering AMBER Alerts to Mobile Devices

When delivering a message through IPAWS, alerting authorities will have the option of using the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) to send the AMBER Alert to cell phones and other mobile devices in a selected region.  CMAS is a partnership between the FCC, FEMA and wireless carriers that uses a unique signal and vibration to attract attention and provide an alert that will not have to be opened like SMS text messages, but will “pop up” on the device’s screen.

Unlike current mobile AMBER Alerts, the public does not need to sign up to receive CMAS alerts; CMAS capable phones will have the service already opted-in.  Alerting authorities will not be charged for CMAS messages they send and individuals will not be charged for CMAS messages they receive.

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Authenticating an Alerting Authority to use IPAWS

FEMA authenticates all alerting authorities who use IPAWS to ensure proper use of the system.  To become authenticated, alerting authorities must secure a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with FEMA to establish an IPAWS Collaborative Operating Group (COG).  The COG administers individual member accounts through its software system and may be established at the State/territorial, regional, or local level.  Additionally, alerting authorities must acquire IPAWS-compatible alert authoring software and complete EMI Independent Study IS-247 “Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.”  \

To learn more or download an application, click here: http://www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws/alerting_authorities 

 

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Last Modified: Tuesday, 22-Nov-2011 12:24:26 EST