Cities Want to Participate in FCC WEA Tests
The New York City Emergency Management Department (NYCEM), Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management and Harris County, Texas, Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management expressed interest in taking part in targeted tests of the wireless emergency alert system later this…
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year or in early 2020. The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought expressions of interest last month (see 1906110065) and the three filed in docket 15-91 (see here, here and here) this week. “NYCEM considers WEA to be a mission-critical communication system and applauds the Commission for seeking participation of alert originators to test the accuracy of geo-targeting,” the department said. “NYCEM has conducted similar analyses of WEA delivery in the past.” WEA is a “powerful tool that is currently met with some skepticism in the City,” Philadelphia said: “Given the City's threat and hazard profile, we are very much interested in better understanding this tool and gaining confidence in its use.” Harris County, which includes Houston, offers “a very large sample population of 4.75 million,” it said: “We will work with the providers to help determine the best way to reach and recruit members of the public who subscribe to their services. We will be sensitive to privacy concerns and work to establish a methodology that will return the maximum amount of data while minimizing exposure of personal information.”