In Alabama, we ONLY send out a WEA message through EAS/IPAWS for AMBER and Blue Alerts, which hits all phones in the State (unless the cell customer has turned the alerts off).
However, Alabama does send out a WEA message through CodeRED to notify the public of Emergency Missing Child and Missing & Endangered Person Alerts. Persons wishing to receive these messages (EMCA and MEPA) must subscribe through CodeRED. When subscribing, the person has the option to choose how to receive the message; by text, email, and/or through the CodeRED app. This way only persons who have subscribed will receive these messages.
In the past, a county EMA office sent out what they called an AMBER Alert when the circumstances did not meet the criteria for an alert. When that happened, the State EMA office asked the County EMA’s to stop sending out missing person messages without first contacting the clearinghouse for confirmation. The message area for each EMCA/MEPA is decided according to the circumstances of the disappearance. Such as, if an elderly person or child walked away from an area, we generally only send out the message to that area. If the person or child is in a vehicle, then the message is sent out statewide. Very few counties in Alabama have a messaging system to use, and the ones that do use Everbridge. In addition, the message is sent to the Alabama Broadcasters Association who in turn makes sure all media outlets in the state receive the message.
In 2020, Alabama issued 6 AMBER Alerts (which is more than normal) and 1 Blue Alert through the EAS/IPAWS WEA messaging. However, we issued 48 Missing & Endangered Person Alerts and 24 Emergency Missing Child Alerts.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding our process (I may have made it sound confusing!), please don’t hesitate to give me a call.
Lesia Baldwin
AMBER Alert Coordinator
(334) 517-2677