Unanimous Approval Expected for New Missing Adult Alert Code

The FCC’s draft order that would create an additional alert code for missing and endangered adults will gain unanimous approval during Wednesday’s open meeting, agency officials told us. The item received widespread support from alerting officials, industry trade associations and indigenous groups. The final order is expected to have changed little from the draft version, an FCC official said. While the new alert code will be used for any missing person older than 17 with special needs and circumstances or who is endangered, abducted or kidnapped, it's aimed at addressing the rising problem of missing and murdered indigenous people, the FCC has said. Speaking at an indigenous women’s event Wednesday, Rosenworcel said the item will gain approval and credited Native groups for the proposal. “The action the FCC is taking next week is in direct response to a call sent out by Native communities after enduring a crisis of the missing for far too long,” she said. The code will be “a really powerful tool," said Loris Taylor, president of Native Public Media (NPM) and an advocate of the new code.

The draft order would create a Missing and Endangered Persons (MEP) emergency alert system code for missing people who don’t meet the age criteria of Amber or Silver alerts. The draft also allows for MEP wireless emergency alerts. A new code is intended to help authorities coordinate responses and disseminate information about missing adults across multiple jurisdictions, the FCC said. The draft order gives EAS participants and EAS device manufacturers 12 months after the effective date to implement the code. The WEA MEP alerts would be classified using the existing Imminent Threat And Public Safety Message designation, which wireless industry commenters said will allow quick implementation.

The FCC addressed the MEP alert proposal after calls from Native American groups for government action to address the disproportionate issue of missing and victimized indigenous people. Native American rates of murder, rape, and violent crime are higher than the national average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs website. Female American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) experienced the second-highest rate of homicide in 2020, and men in that demographic had the second-highest rate among racial and ethnic groups, according to BIA figures. In November, the National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution urging the FCC to create the MEP code. In addition to the usual comment periods, the FCC held tribal listening sessions to gather feedback from native groups on the code proposal.

The draft order doesn’t consider proposals from several native groups arguing that there should be a separate alert code only for missing indigenous people or that the MEP code should specifically reference indigenous people. “Failing to explicitly name the alert for indigenous individuals risks misalignment with the intended purpose of serving the AI/AN [American Indian and Alaska Native] population and could lead to the system being used for other purposes,” Native Public Media said in a comment filing. “We believe," the FCC said, "a single MEP event code will advance the cause of aiding in the rescue of Native persons and will monitor implementation of the new event code to make sure that is the case.” Taylor said she isn't disappointed with the FCC’s draft order, and added that individual jurisdictions would be to call the code by a name that reflects the indigenous focus if they chose.