New Yorkers Just Received a Terrible Emergency Alert

[Commentary] At around eight o’clock am Sept 19, anyone in New York City who has emergency alerts turned on got a blaring message on their smartphone. It reads: "WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 9–1–1 if seen." This is an extremely bad push alert to blast across the greater New York area. Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs for short), are to be used, according to the Federal Communications Commission, in three cases: Amber Alerts, alerts from the president, and alerts involving imminent threats to safety. This alert serves none of those purposes. It even acknowledges its own shortcomings: “See media for pic” is a stilted way of saying “Um, Google it.” It provides no useful contextual information, warns of no imminent danger. It essentially deputizes the five boroughs and encourages people to treat anyone who looks like he might be named “Ahmad Khan Rahami” with suspicion. In a country where people are routinely harassed and assaulted for just appearing to be Muslim, this is remarkably ill-advised.