By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Citizens will soon be able to receive critical alerts about terrorist threats on their cell phones as a new national alert system called “Personal Localized Alerting Network” (PLAN) officially kicked off yesterday in New York City and Washington DC.
According to the New York Daily News, the PLAN system uses cell phone towers to send critical alerts to everyone in a certain area, regardless of whether they’re visiting from out of town or have a phone registered elsewhere. The messages, which will include urgent blasts from the President, information on imminent threats and Amber Alerts about missing children, will supercede all other phone traffic so there is no chance the messages will be delayed.
“Making sure that [people] get useful and life-saving information, quickly and easily, right on their mobile phones, will help more people get out of harm’s way when a threat exists,” said Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate.
According to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), consumers would need a PLAN-enabled mobile device and a participating wireless provider to participate. Verizon and AT&T, the nation’s largest providers are already on board. Consumers don’t need to sign up for the service, which is provided free of charge.
PLAN covers only critical emergency alerts such as : 1) alerts issued by the President; 2) alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life; and 3) Amber Alerts about missing children. The alerts will come in the form of text messages and will be accompanied by a unique signal and vibration.
The alert system will eventually go national, but is being implemented first in New York City and Washington DC and is expected to be up and running in those cities by the end of the year.
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