Wednesday, January 11

A Few Questions about the CEM

I am hearing from many of my co-workers that the foregoing civil emergency message was partially relayed on their televisions during the noon hour. No radio station I have been able to find has relayed the message.

The television alert is not relaying the details of the message. It is just saying that there is a civil emergency affecting a series of counties.

This is wrong. Many people depend on the television for information like this. Right now, there are probably many scared people in Cascade county who may be thinking that a tornado or prairie fire is coming their way. It is certainly windy enough today to worry.

Sheriff Castle should have ensured that the entire message was relayed instead of just notification of an emergency.

My next problem is timing. The message says that Haggard escaped between 7 and 7:30 this morning. The CEM was not issued until 12:25 p.m. This guy is far away by now.

I am interested in your thoughts. Is this an appropriate use of the civil emergency notification system?

1 comment:

a-fire-fly said...

Aaron- I heard it on 94.5 when I was picking my son up from school. They said they had been relaying it all day... That was the first time since early morning that I had been around TV or radio.