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Your Phone May Send You 'Blue Alerts' To Warn You When Local Police Are In Danger (androidpolice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the for-you-information dept.

The FCC recently announced a new alert program called "Blue Alert" that will notify the public of threats to law enforcement in real time. "With the creation of a dedicated Blue Alert event code in the Emergency Alert System, state and local law enforcement will have the capability to push immediate warnings out to the public via broadcast, cable, and satellite providers, as well as to consumer smartphones through the Wireless Emergency Alert system," reports Android Police. From the report: Much like both the SILVER and AMBER alert programs, and utilizing the same notification system, Blue Alerts aim to warn the general public of threats to public safety and/or imminent danger. However, the police force focused alert system provides timely information to the public when police officers may be in danger. Chairman of the FCC and recent deregulator of the internet, Ajit Pai detailed the new FCC order saying, "Similar to the Amber Alerts that many are familiar with, Blue Alerts will enable authorities to warn the public when there is actionable information related to a law enforcement officer who is missing, seriously injured or killed in the line of duty, or when there is an imminent credible threat to an officer."

The December 14 order from the FCC activates the Blue Alerts service for one calendar year to deliver the notifications over the Emergency Alert System, and for 18 months over the Wireless Emergency Alert system.

31 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Please, no... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, this is a good idea, let's all converge on the scene of a shootout... Or whatever.

    On the one hand, with typical "police behavior", often we are lucky when there are "citizen" observers.

    On ywt another hand, this presents a safety danger with unknown consistences many of which are not good.

    Another aspect that comes to mind is that this is just one more step in the direction of a "Police State" where our Law Enforcement are seen as some holy religious order, our Priests in Blue... We've all seen these 200 car processions when a police officer is killed in the line of duty...

    I don't think this is a well thought-out idea.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Please, no... by jdavidb · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think it's well thought out by those who want a police state where we view law enforcement as holy priests in blue. I don't want it, either.

      --
      Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
    2. Re: Please, no... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't want to kill cops, but I also don't care about them any more than I care about people in general. This new program is a clear example of "mission creep", and the likely result will be more people opting out of the increasingly stupid and pointless alerts.

    3. Re: Please, no... by JohnFen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A million times this.

      It's pretty baffling to me how anyone thinks this is a valuable thing to have. Cops have power and do a job knowing that they may occasionally be put into danger (although being a cop isn't even in the top 10 most dangerous professions, so there's that).

      That's a world of difference from helpless and innocent children being abducted, or being alerted to some imminent public danger.

      Although, I have to admit, I opted out once Amber alerts were brought on board. That was already too much mission creep for me.

    4. Re:Please, no... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Informative

      Oh, for fuck's sake, the National Guard is not the militia. They are part of the official armed forces of the US government. The militia is all male citizens from 18-45 able to bear arms. You classist bigoted slur is noted right along with your ignorance of the Constitution.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    5. Re: Please, no... by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Although, I have to admit, I opted out once Amber alerts were brought on board. That was already too much mission creep for me.

      I thought Amber Alerts were a pretty good idea until I got one in the middle of the night for a little girl who had already been found. Then I shut them off.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Please, no... by HiThere · · Score: 3

      The National Guard is a well-regulated armed body, but it sure isn't what the writers of the constitution meant by a well-regulated militia. They didn't trust the government. They may have meant a militia that was organized by the local government (as in town or village), but even that isn't clear.

      Remember the founders didn't want there to be ANY standing army. 1812 probably changed a lot of minds, but when you say "well regulated militia" you are invoking the US Constitution Bill of Rights, and at that time most of the founders didn't trust the Federal government, and weren't too sure about the state governments. The constitution is almost entirely about what the government is NOT supposed to do. But there's no decent enforcement, so it tends to get ignored except when major fights come up between powerful groups with both (all?) sides haven't lots of governmental support. If it were really enforced there's no way they could have stretched the clause about interstate commerce to cover a farmer growing something for personal use.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    7. Re: Please, no... by dwillden · · Score: 5, Interesting

      No, a "Well Regulated Militia" is in the definition of the term "Well Regulated" in 1790 a functional militia. That means the citizens who make up the militia have their own arms so that they can be called out by their local community leaders and respond with weapons (and ammo) needed to be a force to contend with. A disarmed populous that has to rely on a government stockpile of weapons being available is not a functional militia. The Minutemen didn't have time to head down to the villiage armory, wait for the armorer to be woken up and issue weapons. They heard the call, grabbed their weapons and responded. The founding fathers knew that. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were directly due to British efforts to confiscate gunpowder stockpiled by the communities. But the militia was able to respond with it's own weapons and history was set.

      Further the Militia Act clearly states that the National Guard is NOT the militia, it is part of the formal US Military. While nominally under control of the local state, it is funded and equipped by the Federal Government and can be called up over a Governor's objection. We the people are the Militia, and if we are not armed we are not a functional or "Well Regulated" militia.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    8. Re: Please, no... by chihowa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When cops feel threatened, they start randomly shooting at people.

      This alert is very useful for letting you know that you may want to stay inside and away from windows. If the 'threat' is driving a blue pickup truck, you may want to not drive your blue pickup truck (or white pickup truck, or red car), lest it be turned into swiss cheese.

      It's an alert that the police are off of their leash and won't be held accountable for any damage or injury that they cause.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  2. What the fuck are we supposed to do with that? by HotNeedleOfInquiry · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Grab our rifles and come help. No future to that.

    --
    "Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
  3. When *police* are in danger? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about an app that warns us when police are nearby and can be set to automatically record and stream to chosen sites if they get within ten feet? Cops nowadays are little more than sociopaths in military gear, and I'd rather not I (or possibly even my husband) get raped, killed, and our car arrested on suspicion of resisting.

    Just passing one by is quickly becoming a coin-toss as to whether or not we end up beaten and arrested on trumped-up charges especially if we're black. Police are not the ones that need protecting from anyone.

    1. Re:When *police* are in danger? by CaptainDork · · Score: 5, Funny

      ... PC education/brainwashing system ...

      And for Mac?

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    2. Re:When *police* are in danger? by ThanatosMinor · · Score: 3, Funny

      ... PC education/brainwashing system ...

      And for Mac?

      Apple brains come out of the womb pre-washed and knowing all the lyrics to that new U2 album everyone loves so much.

    3. Re:When *police* are in danger? by cenobyte40k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      LOL. I am going to get you are a white male from an upper middle class or better neighborhood.

    4. Re:When *police* are in danger? by ThanatosMinor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Here's a clue from a responsible adult - if you go into the world and treat the police like an enemy, or teach your kids the same - you are going to be in for a very rough time. Not because of the police - because of your own actions and statements.

      Many people have good reason to believe the police are not there to help them whenever they show up, and that at best they'll be thought of as suspects before victims, and not just suspects but guilty suspects. Trust must be earned. If the police do not have the public's (or any non-empty subset thereof) trust, that is the fault of the police and the criminal justice system as a whole and not that of the public.

      You may be responsible for yourself but you've also been tricked into thinking a police state is a good thing and trying to convince others of the same. But it's a cop's job to protect me, not the other way around. They're public servants and I'm the public so I don't owe the police anywhere near what they owe me. They should smile if I flip them off. Otherwise why am I paying for them?

    5. Re:When *police* are in danger? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Have you ever wondered about *why* white people from the suburbs are successful? It's not the "white power structure" or racism. It's that we aren't programmed to fail by being told nonsense about how the world actually works.

      Serious question - how would you know you weren't programmed with nonsense about how the world actually works if you've never had to leave the bubble of your white-centric upper-middle class neighborhood?

  4. Great, Now we'll know when to commit robberies. by technosaurus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What a total waste of money, time and infrastructure. Not that any PD would ever use it, but still...

  5. Black Alert? by duckintheface · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps a Black Alert to tell the public when unarmed black men are endangered by the police?

    --
    "He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
  6. Umm, OK, whatever by JohnFen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't have the foggiest notion what this is supposed to accomplish, really. If a situation is such that a cop is seriously endangered, what in the world could I do about it?

    It looks to me like all this does is to further decrease the signal-to-noise ratio in these sorts of things.

  7. Because police lives... by K.+S.+Van+Horn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...matter so much more than yours or mine.

  8. Why Would Ordinary People Need This? by mentil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can see this being useful for off-duty police officers, as there have been cases of them being accosted. However, ordinary people don't need to know every time a police officer gets hurt in a traffic collision (statistically, by far, the leading cause of unnatural serious injury or death to on-duty police.) I could maybe see this as some kind of active shooter alert system... but it's so overbroad it's almost never going to be such a scenario, and people will turn it off/tune it out and never get the message. Furthermore, if I'm hiding from a shooter and my phone starts a siren that can be heard a block away, I'm not gonna be hidden any longer.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  9. Re:Who do we call? by geekd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When the cops ARE the danger?

  10. This strikes me as propaganda by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    e.g. something to rile up people and maybe get some more "tough on crime" legislation. I can't think of any other reason to do this. This is not information the public needs to know on a real time basis.

    --
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  11. I just got one of these by jrumney · · Score: 5, Insightful

    BLUE ALERT: Officer has spotted a black man failing to indicate a right turn for at least 3 seconds before starting the maneuver. All residents are advised to remain indoors and definitely do not come out and record the shooting and post to social media.

  12. This should be fun by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    'Blue Alerts' To Warn You When Local Police Are In Danger

    Now we'll all get pestered whenever someone points a camera at the police.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  13. FOIA and create an app from that data by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If a city wants to track crime then put that free data to good use and create a useful app for good people.

    Buy up an entire towns worth of data on every person, home, crime and layer it.
    Not just the open free city data, all the pay to view private sector data that is collected on crime.
    Get all the data on crime, generations of criminals, insurance costs, rent costs, number of people sharing a home. All the hidden statistics that really show what a part of the USA is really like over the decades.
    Layer the numbers, crimes over an interactive real time map.
    Then FOIA the Blue Alert event code and layer that on top.

    Sell a demographics app to warn people from outside the city, the better parts of a town that they are entering a bad part of the town.
    A nice friendly bright normal map GUI in the safe areas.

    The more darker, gloomy colors with voice and GUI when entering an area that should always be avoided. A final apex predator warning for the no-go area parts of a city.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  14. Victim blaming? Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You're saying that all those unarmed black men killed by cops brought it on themselves?

  15. Re:Amber alerts, lol... by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Informative

    Exactly. This one would be switched off immediately.

    I mean, Emergency Alerts? Yeah, definitely. If there's a tornado or wildfire or something bearing down on me, it'd be nice to be notified (and not necessarily have to sit there with a TV/Radio on, just in case). AMBER alerts? Well, okay, I suppose that's helpful in certain situations and, besides, I turn it off anyway for much the same reason. I'd leave it on if it could be made smarter. I don't need this alert at 4:00AM when I'm sleeping, but it might be nice if it would store it so that when I start driving to work, it'll pop-up and say, "Hey, keep an eye out for a blue chevy..."

    I might understand something like this for a very narrow area--for example, if police are looking for a suspect hiding in your area, an alert to the people the, say, 12 block cordoned-off area saying that they should lock their doors and be on the lookout for a guy in a green hoodie might be useful. But I think this already exists.

    Again, this system is supposed to be useful for me. How is this proposed system helpful for me?

  16. What about "Black & Blue" Alerts? by gerald.edward.butler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Will they send "Black & Blue" Alerts whenever the police are beating the shit out of someone who is subdued? Will they send "Black & Red" Alerts whenever the cops unload their magazines into unarmed suspects? Will they send "Yellow & Blue" Alerts when they Tazer grandmothers? Will they send "Spotted Alerts" whenever they shoot someones dog? Will they send "White" Alerts when they shoot babies in their crib during SWAT home invasions? Just wondering.

  17. Why is this my problem? by rossz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Since the police have no legal duty to protect my ass, why should I care if they are in danger? Am I supposed to grab a gun and run to their rescue - probably getting shot by cops in the process since they such scared little girls who like to shoot people?

    --
    -- Will program for bandwidth
  18. Mutual Aid. Use THAT. Not amateurs by RubberDogBone · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I used to listen to a police scanner a lot. I mean, a LOT lot. Had radios at home, in my car, and even a handheld to keep me tuned in even on the toilet. No I didn't have a girlfriend at the time, how did you possibly guess? Geez. Mindreaders.

    Anyway, the thing with scanners is you know what the hell is happening, to an extent, as soon as the police do. It can drive spikes in blood pressure listening to a traffic stop turn into a shootout, etc etc. And I had issues with that and the fact the the number one rule, as such, about listening to scanner stuff is never ever never ever never go to the scenes of what you hear. Stay the hell out of it.

    Eventually, the local PD moved to a trunked radio system and none of my radios could hear them. A girlfriend model was acquired and it didn't like listening to police radios either. So I quit. I have no clue what my local PD is doing and I don't care.

    I do not need or want shit alerts showing up to tell me they ran out of dougnuts or some bullshit deemed a police emergency. If they have an emergency, fuck it, they have mutual aid agreements with ALL the adjacent police agencies. They can call up those folks and get trained, real cops to come help. Do that thing. Don't try to get amateurs into the act. The Pros are bad enough,

    --
    Sig for hire.