New York City Supports Longer Emergency Texts
The New York City Department of Emergency Management (NYCEM) told the FCC it supports proposed changes to the FCC wireless emergency alert rules, in a filing in response to a notice approved by the commission at its November meeting (see…
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1511190053). The FCC is correct to recommend longer emergency messages, the department said. “It is NYCEM’s position that 90-character messages are wholly insufficient to provide the level of information needed by the public in order to understand the scope of the emergency and take necessary precautions,” NYCEM said. NYCEM cited two examples. “Due to an active shooter incident at 42nd Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan, all individuals between West 45th Street and West 35th Street between 6th Avenue and 9th Avenue should move indoors now and stay indoors until further notice,” is the kind of warning possible if the FCC allows up to 360 characters, the department said. It's clearer than “Shooter near 42St/7Ave, MN. People nearby should go indoors and wait for more info,” it said. NYCEM also supports a proposal to lift a ban on including phone numbers and URLs in emergency texts, but with a caveat: “The Commission should caution alert originators to ensure that the website and/or telephone number that they are directing people to for more information (e.g., government websites, 311 systems, etc.) are prepared to handle the rapid influx of network and/or telephony traffic.” NYCEM also said the FCC should require carriers to target their messages within a smaller geographic area. The filing was posted in docket 15-91.