New Event Code Would Help Issue Alerts to the Public About Missing and
Endangered People, Build on Efforts to Collect Data on Missing Indigenous Persons
Cases
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2024—FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel today announced the
Commission will vote during its August Open Meeting to adopt a new event code that would
deliver critical messages to the public over television and radio about missing and endangered
persons. Adding a new “MEP” event code to the nation’s Emergency Alert System would help
law enforcement agencies to galvanize public attention to missing and endangered people of all
ages who do not qualify for AMBER Alerts, including those who meet the criteria for Ashanti
Alerts.
“Law enforcement agencies successfully use AMBER Alerts on TV and radio to help mobilize
public attention and recover abducted children. Yet we do not have a similar code in the
Emergency Alert System dedicated to sounding the alarm over other missing and endangered
persons, particularly the thousands of missing native and indigenous women who have
disappeared from their homes never to be seen again,” said Chairwoman Jessica
Rosenworcel. “Today we move forward with establishing a ‘Missing and Endangered
Persons’ alert code to close this gap. This will help ensure no person who is missing, at risk of
being overlooked and in danger is left behind. With this new code we can save lives.”
Similar to how law enforcement agencies successfully use AMBER Alerts on TV and radio to
help mobilize public attention and recover abducted children, this new Missing and
Endangered Persons event code would mobilize the public’s help in recovering missing and
endangered persons more broadly. This initiative would be particularly beneficial to Tribal
communities, where American Indian and Alaska Native people are at a disproportionate risk
of violence, murder, or vanishing. The initiative also would promote the development of
compatible and integrated Ashanti Alert plans throughout the U.S., consistent with the Ashanti
Alert Act.
Alert originators, such as state, tribal, and local law enforcement, use the Emergency Alert
System by selecting from a group of event codes based on the nature of the situation. For
example, “CAE” signifies a Child Abduction Emergency, otherwise known as an AMBER
Alert. These proposed rules would create a new “MEP” alert code for missing and endangered
persons who do not meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert. This would enable a more rapid
and coordinated response to incidents, and build on efforts by Tribal Nations, the Department
of Interior, and the Department of Justice, to collect comprehensive data on missing and
endangered Indigenous person cases in accordance with Savanna’s Act.
The Chairwoman will circulate her proposal to her fellow Commissioners for their review. As
is the general practice, a public draft of the proposal – officially a Report and Order– will be
made public on Wednesday on FCC.gov. At the Commission’s August 7 Open Meeting, the
Commissioners will consider and vote on the proposal.