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View Winners → California issues inaugural cellphone Amber Alert; catches subscribers by surprise
Arcadia Weekly Aug 08, 2013
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Monday marked the first time in California that officials notified the public of a statewide Amber Alert through their cellphones, according to the California Highway Patrol.
It differed from phone to phone, but sometime between late Monday and early Tuesday thousands of cell phone users received an Amber Alert related to two missing children in San Diego.
The alert was not only text but also an audible alarm similar to the tones used when there is a flash flood warning on the television.
Not everyone got the text as well as the audible alarm but the Wireless Emergency Alert program sends messages to cellphone owners who may be in the proximity of an emergency situation. It is apparently nothing to do with cell phone numbers, according to reports.
The Amber Alert was initiated in 1996 to honor Amber Hagerman, 9, who was abducted and murdered in Texas.
