FCC to Vote on Emergency Alert Code for Missing & Endangered Persons

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the Commission will vote during its August Open Meeting to adopt a new event code that would deliver critical messages to the public over television and radio about missing and endangered persons. Adding a new “MEP” event code to the nation’s Emergency Alert System would help law enforcement agencies to galvanize public attention to missing and endangered people of all ages who do not qualify for AMBER Alerts, including those who meet the criteria for Ashanti Alerts. Similar to how law enforcement agencies successfully use AMBER Alerts on TV and radio to help mobilize public attention and recover abducted children, this new Missing and Endangered Persons event code would mobilize the public’s help in recovering missing and endangered persons more broadly. This initiative would be particularly beneficial to Tribal communities, where American Indian and Alaska Native people are at a disproportionate risk of violence, murder, or vanishing.