WEA sent 12/3/2022
While not a recommendation backed by empirical research, some WEAs include content about what the responding organization is doing to actively investigate, mitigate, or manage the threat. In this case, the BGPD issued an alert to notify the community of threats that they were actively investigating. Additional information about the threat and the public safety consequences were shared on Facebook, YouTube, and by local media organizations, with the end result being the cancellation of a holiday parade. No WEA was issued to include protective action guidance; a missed opportunity to alert people to stay away from the now-cancelled event. PIOs and crisis communicators are frequently trained to issue statements explaining what is known, what is not known, and what they are doing about the threat. These actions have been shown to increase organizational trust. Alert and warning scholars haven't yet advocated for the inclusion of response information; this is a topic of future research.
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