There are a lot of reasons to establish a WEA policy early in your use of IPAWS - in particular, a policy can help to guide when a message is issued, by whom, using what channels, and the language/format that represents your organization.
A few ideas to consider: Your organization might create requirements for the type of hazard that deserves a WEA (i.e.; imminent threat only or include announcements and other public safety messages, or use a tiered approach that varies based upon the threat and the channel); or, your organization might also consider whether complete messages should be a priority, and make it a practice to use as many characters as are available to communicate all of the details available.
The message below is displayed for a few reasons - first it's incomplete (missing the message source, the time, and the protective actions); second, it is an exact replica of the 90-character message; third, it is sent to a very narrowly bounded geographical area of those on the highway at the time of the event; fourth, it is an example of a message commonly issued in the state of Texas - the state with the highest number of WEA opt-outs across the nation (according to results of a survey conducted by Rand following the 2023 nationwide test of the WEA system; presented at the FEMA IPAWS users conference April 2024).
Researchers has shown that when incomplete messages are issued, it can be very frustrating to people who cannot determine the source of the message, the location of threat, the actions they should take to protect themselves.
Regarding the opt-outs in Texas, We don't know if the reason for the high opt-out rates in Texas are due to messages like this alone. It may also be because AMBER alerts in Texas are frequently sent statewide, with little information. There may be other reasons, too, that we can't identify without a good survey with a representative sample. Data collection is currently underway in 5 states that will help to answer this question in other parts of the country. Perhaps Texas would like to know how their alerts are perceived by their populations in the future as well.
In the meantime, now would be a great time for your organization to revisit your policy on alerts and warnings and consider the practices that guide messaging within your jurisdictions.
For more recommended contents, be sure to download The Warning Lexicon - it's free and offers step-by-step instructions on how to write a better warning message.
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