SALT LAKE CITY-On the heels of an AMBER alert that did not include complete information early Sunday morning, the Utah Department of Public Safety confirmed they will pause sending future AMBER alerts through the wireless emergency alert system.
A thorough review of the system is presently being conducted, the DPS proclaimed in a news release.
This means that wireless emergency alerts will not be available for local law enforcement agencies to send AMBER alerts until a complete review of the system can be completed.
These alerts only represent one component of alerting, per the release. Various other systems will still be available, including direct messages to law enforcement, news media, social media and to the Web site at alert.utah.gov.
Wireless emergency alerts will still be available for evacuation orders, hazardous materials warnings or other civil emergency messages.
The DPS says that things went awry when the software did not include the wireless emergency alert. Instead, it only contained the message header.
Because wireless emergency alerts cannot be tested in a demonstration mode, authorities say this is the first time any issues were experienced.
The code for these alerts, per the DPS, has since been updated to ensure both the header and message are sent in the future.
Some phones received these alerts multiple times. The DPS confirmed that this is just something that happens with these types of alerts and they have no control over it.
Therefore, the DPS stated they are turning off wireless emergency alert AMBER alerts until a complete review of the system and its history in Utah have been completed.
In conclusion, the DPS said they will continue to review their policies and procedures. They will also work to complete more offline testing of the system until there is perfect confidence in it on their part.
For the time being, DPS said, they will continue to only send AMBER alerts directly to law enforcement, the news media, to social media and alert.utah.gov.
System glitches have caused at least three botched AMBER alerts to occur in the prior few months.
