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[HUELEN10]

But still though, acting high and mighty in the face of those who have chosen not to partake isn't right. People with amber alerts off aren't causing any harm, they just aren't doing any good.

There IS a difference.

 

[old manatee]

My dream is that some day I'll be standing at a gas station and the Amber Alert will go off and the car will be in front of me and I just have to dial 911 and I get to be a child saving hero for doing basically nothing. It's like if the lottery was free and the reward was people thinking of you as a child rescuer.

But still though, acting high and mighty in the face of those who have chosen not to partake isn't right. People with amber alerts off aren't causing any harm, they just aren't doing any good.

There IS a difference.

I would argue that until we come up with a better way to find missing children the least you could do to honor the social contract is glance over at your phone once in blue moon and verify that the person they are looking for isn't in your vicinity.

 

[Cyan]

Amber Alerts are extremely loud and annoying and I can understand why people would want to turn them off. On the other hand, if everyone turned them off the system would stop working. Which suggests that the best solution is to turn off Amber Alerts but then pretend you didn't and also loudly argue that everyone else should leave them on.

Anyway, obviously I have Amber Alerts turned on and you should too.

 

[creationtheory]

My daughter is adopted but was kidnapped shortly before we adopted her. An Amber alert was issued and she was found because of it. If you turn it off you are an asshole.

 

[studyguy]

But still though, acting high and mighty in the face of those who have chosen not to partake isn't right. People with amber alerts off aren't causing any harm, they just aren't doing any good.

There IS a difference.

Or you could just turn it off and not say anything. It's really not a big deal if you turn it off, but downplaying it like some people have in this thread is equally silly. It saves kids. If you want to turn it off, then turn it off and leave it at that. Don't justify, just turn it off and let the system do its thing for the rest of the people.

 

[Vestal]

This thread is killing my belief in humanity.

I really can't believe that people could be so self important that an alert that might go off once in a blue moon is an annoyance and an inconvenience to their lives. If just 1 child is saved over an entire year because of this alert going to everyone's phone, then it is well worth it.



Disgusting.

 

[border]

Its not about you actively going out and looking for them. Its about you maybe noticing something that may help the case using the details provided in the amber alert. The reason they give you amber alerts for missing children that are 2-6 hours away I presume is because if they were kidnapped, the kidnappers may have gotten very far away from the kid's original location.

All they do is give you a license plate number along with the make/model of the car. Not a lot that I can do with that information.....it's generally not on my mind after a little while.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

But still though, acting high and mighty in the face of those who have chosen not to partake isn't right. People with amber alerts off aren't causing any harm, they just aren't doing any good.

There IS a difference.

People acting below what I think is a good standard for being a decent neighbor is essentially causing harm the way I see it.

Wanting a better chance to save kids is not high and mighty.

 

[Sephzilla]

It's almost as if the sound is designed to relay the importance of a child being kidnapped in your community.

Except the alerts I got were never in my community and are usually for towns/areas an hour or more away from me. I keep the alerts turned on, but I'm not going to lie when I say it gets annoying getting an amber alert for a person in a town 40 minutes away that I never visit for any reason.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Amber Alerts are extremely loud and annoying and I can understand why people would want to turn them off. On the other hand, if everyone turned them off the system would stop working. Which suggests that the best solution is to turn off Amber Alerts but then pretend you didn't and also loudly argue that everyone else should leave them on.

Anyway, obviously I have Amber Alerts turned on and you should too.

Same here i was kidding earlier about turning it off.

 

[sangreal]

I would turn them back on if they supported geofencing. What am I supposed to do about it at home in bed? Out and about sure -- but then I see the giant amber alert signs anyway

 

[old manatee]

All they do is give you a license plate number along with the make/model of the car. Not a lot that I can do with that information.....it's generally not on my mind after a little while.

They aren't expecting you to track the person down like Jodie Foster. The idea is that everyone at once within a certain radius stops what they are doing and looks around at the cars nearby. If you have it off you will never know if you were stopped behind one of these missing kids at an intersection when their alert went out.

Except the alerts I got were never in my community and are usually for towns/areas an hour or more away from me. I keep the alerts turned on, but I'm not going to lie when I say it gets annoying getting an amber alert for a person in a town 40 minutes away that I never visit for any reason.

You honestly can't see a situation where someone would take a child and drive out of their town?

 

[jmizzal]

But still though, acting high and mighty in the face of those who have chosen not to partake isn't right. People with amber alerts off aren't causing any harm, they just aren't doing any good.

There IS a difference.

But are the people shaming the people who turn them off, out looking for the kids?

I leave mine on but one day I got 3 of the same one

 

[eagledare]

Just so you guys know, Amber alerts have saved 800 lives:

http://www.amberalert.gov/statistics.htm

So yeah. Probably should keep 'em on.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Florida, turned them off this week

I've been having trouble sleeping already and one of them woke me up a couple days ago. Not worth.

See, I'd recommend to you what I do every night: Put the phone on Airplane mode. There is absolutely nothing worse than having a vibrating phone or ringing phone interrupt your sleep. A few weeks ago from of my frat brothers were texting to the group in the middle of the night and I couldn't get back to sleep. It fucked up my sleep cycle for almost 2 weeks. After that I swore never again.

Airplane mode --> sleep --> Alarm to wake --> turn off Airplane mode.

You don't miss anything you would have wanted to or been able to respond to and you don't get your sleep interrupted. And obviously we're not spotting missing children from the comfort of our pillows.

 

[sangreal]

Just so you guys know, Amber alerts have saved 800 lives:

http://www.amberalert.gov/statistics.htm

So yeah. Probably should keep 'em on.

Amber Alerts encompass way more than the mobile phone alert we are talking about

 

[HUELEN10]

They aren't expecting you to track the person down like Jodie Foster. The idea is that everyone at once within a certain radius stops what they are doing and looks around at the cars nearby. If you have it off you will never know if you were stopped behind one of these missing kids at an intersection when their alert went out.

Which is part of my point.

If I am not driving, I am indoors where I can't see cars in the first place, so there goes that.

If I am driving, I don't read text alerts on a phone, so I wouldn't be able to act on the alert anyways. If I chose to, it would actually endanger me, and those around me.

Something to think about.

Note that I have yet to disclose wether or not I disabled alerts, so don't assume.

 

[Risette]

I turned mine off after an unfortunate night time alert but felt bad after doing so. Just, I have an extremely hard time sleeping and being woken up after 2.5 hours of sleep for something that happened several hours away from me and was never able to get back to sleep... can't do that. Sorry.

If they didn't go through the Do Not Disturb settings I wouldn't have turned them off.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Amber Alerts encompass way more than the mobile phone alert we are talking bout about

Yeah more importantly they are on most digital highway signs.

 

[WanderingWind]

Amber Alerts encompass way more than the mobile phone alert we are talking about

Uh. Think about that one for like, just a second.

 

[Stumpokapow]

They aren't expecting you to track the person down like Jodie Foster. The idea is that everyone at once within a certain radius stops what they are doing and looks around at the cars nearby. If you have it off you will never know if you were stopped behind one of these missing kids at an intersection when their alert went out.

So the correct behaviour for someone getting a 3AM Amber Alert for a community 5 hours away is that you should stop what you were doing (sleeping) and look around the cars nearby (out your bedroom window) to see if the kidnapper is there?

But your driving example presents an interesting moral dilemma. If I get an Amber Alert while driving, should I check my phone? If I don't, I am -- in the words of this thread -- cancerous and an asshole, but if I do, I endanger myself and others on the road.

 

[Vestal]

But are the people shaming the people who turn them off, out looking for the kids?

I leave mine on but one day I got 3 of the same one

Its not the idea that you actively go out and look for kids, its covering an entire are with millions of eyes, law of averages is that someone may have seen something. The idea of taking a snapshot at a moment in time and see if you get a hit.

 

[Sephzilla]

You honestly can't see a situation where someone would take a child and drive out of their town?

That's kind of unimportant for my situation though. I work a cubicle job, live literally 3 minutes from my job (and my job is on the same road as my apartment) and I usually don't go out that frequently especially on weekdays. I'm not even in situations where I'm going to be looking for or noticing any vehicles that match the description of the alert in the first place.

 

[border]

Just so you guys know, Amber alerts have saved 800 lives:

http://www.amberalert.gov/statistics.htm

So yeah. Probably should keep 'em on.

On the other hand, if everyone turned them off the system would stop working..

"25 children have been rescued because of Wireless Emergency Alerts!"

Out of 800 rescues, 25 can be linked to the wireless alert system. Roughly 3%. The effectiveness of the Amber Alert system doesn't really seem to be at all linked to cell notifications. The effectiveness of wireless alerts is probably questionable if these statistics hash out.

 

[LyleLanley]

Are people really getting amber alerts often enough to consider turning them off? I feel like I go months without getting one.

 

[Agent Cooper]

The alert is annoying, but being kidnapped is even more annoying, I bet.

I would never turn mine off. If I could change the alert noise, though, I would.

Look at the license plate number and go back to sleep. Just because the kid was kidnapped two hours from you doesn't mean they aren't coming your way.

 

[perfectchaos007]

So the correct behaviour for someone getting a 3AM Amber Alert for a community 5 hours away is that you should stop what you were doing (sleeping) and look around the cars nearby (out your bedroom window) to see if the kidnapper is there?

But your driving example presents an interesting moral dilemma. If I get an Amber Alert while driving, should I check my phone? If I don't, I am -- in the words of this thread -- cancerous and an asshole, but if I do, I endanger myself and others on the road.

Also in many states, checking your texts and messages while driving is illegal

 

[BreezyLimbo]

I tried to turn off amber alerts but my android phone is weird and I can't find those alerts so I guess I'm stuck with them

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

But still though, acting high and mighty in the face of those who have chosen not to partake isn't right. People with amber alerts off aren't causing any harm, they just aren't doing any good.

There IS a difference.

It's acting high and mighty to be pro-amber alerts?

 

[old manatee]

So the correct behaviour for someone getting a 3AM Amber Alert for a community 5 hours away is that you should stop what you were doing (sleeping) and look around the cars nearby (out your bedroom window) to see if the kidnapper is there?

But your driving example presents an interesting moral dilemma. If I get an Amber Alert while driving, should I check my phone? If I don't, I am -- in the words of this thread -- cancerous and an asshole, but if I do, I endanger myself and others on the road.

JUST BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE AMBER ALERT DOESNT APPLY TO YOU DOESNT MEAN THAT NO AMBER ALERT WILL EVER APPLY TO YOU.


fuck this conversation. you guys justify it however you want.

 

[Jack Scofield]

"Another Amber Alert? I don't have time for a dozen useless notifications! Oh dope, Suzy liked my Instagram post."

 

[HUELEN10]

Are people really getting amber alerts often enough to consider turning them off? I feel like I go months without getting one.

In some parts of Florida, you can get up to 6 a week, at the worst of times, interrupting sleep and endorsing you on the road the morning after due to lack of sleep to safely drive.

Or so someone I know found out, and crashed drowsily behind the wheel.

It's acting high and mighty to be pro-amber alerts?

I did not say that.

 

[meltingparappa]

Just so you guys know, Amber alerts have saved 800 lives:

http://www.amberalert.gov/statistics.htm

So yeah. Probably should keep 'em on.

Saving lives and retrieval are two very different distinctions.

A Scripps Howard study of the 233 AMBER Alerts issued in the United States in 2004 found that most issued alerts did not meet the Department of Justice's criteria. Fully 50% (117 alerts) were categorized by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as being "family abductions", very often a parent involved in a custody dispute. There were 48 alerts for children who had not been abducted at all, but were lost, ran away, involved in family misunderstandings (for example, two instances where the child was with grandparents), or as the result of hoaxes. Another 23 alerts were issued in cases where police did not know the name of the allegedly abducted child, often as the result of misunderstandings by witnesses who reported an abduction.

Seventy of the 233 AMBER Alerts issued in 2004 (30%) were actually children taken by strangers or who were unlawfully travelling with adults other than their legal guardians.[68]

According to the 2014 Amber Alert Report, 186 Amber Alerts were issued in the US, involving 239 children. 60 (25%) were taken by strangers or people other than their legal guardians.

The 30% and 25% figures represent absolutely harrowing cases potentially being prevented, but to celebrate the successes of the program it's important to not overstate it's efficacy. Nobody in this thread actively wants children to be murdered.

 

[Vestal]

"25 children have been rescued because of Wireless Emergency Alerts!"

Out of 800 rescues, 25 can be linked to the wireless alert system. Roughly 3%. The effectiveness of the Amber Alert system doesn't really seem to be at all linked to cell notifications. The effectiveness of wireless alerts is probably questionable if these statistics hash out.

You are wrong.. as soon as 1 child was found by the system, the system proved itself to work. 1 child >>>>>>>>>> annoying sound.

 

[sangreal]

Uh. Think about that one for like, just a second.

AMBER alerts are a system of which the phone messages are one small component. I don't see anything wrong with what I said

Specifically, it is a component of the AMBER Alert Secondary Distribution system

 

[HUELEN10]

Also in many states, checking your texts and messages while driving is illegal

Exactly!

The systems is flawed.

 

[Stumpokapow]

JUST BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE AMBER ALERT DOESNT APPLY TO YOU DOESNT MEAN THAT NO AMBER ALERT WILL EVER APPLY TO YOU.

You should use highlight text instead of just all caps, it will make your point more loudly.

fuck this conversation. you guys justify it however you want.

Yeah but if you leave the conversation you won't be able to call me a cancerous American (which is weird because actually America is the only country in the world that has an AMBER Alert system to begin with?)

 

[creationtheory]

You guys have rationalized convenience above human life.

 

[brandonh83]

I get them all the time because I live in Florida where no one wants to act like normal human beings.

 

[HUELEN10]

JUST BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE AMBER ALERT DOESNT APPLY TO YOU DOESNT MEAN THAT NO AMBER ALERT WILL EVER APPLY TO YOU.


fuck this conversation. you guys justify it however you want.

There is nothing TO justify, looking objectively, the points some of us critics have raised are factual.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

You guys have rationalized convenience above human life.

what's worse

the person who gets the alert and goes on to ignore it
or
the person who doesn't get the alert therefore doesn't have to make a moral choice to ignore it

 

[Vestal]

There is nothing TO justify, looking objectively, the points some of us critics have raised are factual.

So you think its the right thing to do, to turn off an alert because it annoys you even though there is a very small chance...(less than .01%) that you may in fact be able to assist in the recovery of a child that has been abducted?

 

[Vestal]

Exactly!

The systems is flawed.

Amber alert sounds on your phone, you check the radio in your car.. No need to look at the text.

Next?

 

[DedValve]

Didn't even know you could turn it off. I'll keep it on, no harm in that (in my case) extremely rare vibrate that lasts all of 1 second. Honestly I think I've gotten a total 4 amber alerts in the last 2 years and I've gotten way more weather alerts (which never affect me).

NYC area. Hey guys Bronx/Manhattan is child safe!

 

[rrc1594]

Wow sorry if missing children have become a inconvenience.

 

[studyguy]

There is nothing TO justify, looking objectively, the points some of us critics have raised are factual.

Your point is meaningless though.
It's a passive system meant to work through pushing the info along to as many people as humanly possible.

If you're losing sleep trying to justify shutting it off then stop. No one is holding a gun to anyone's head here. The funny thing is that if even a person in this thread shuts it off, their significant other or family likely has it on anyway. So by design it's likely to still cause you problems anyway.

 

[HUELEN10]

So you think its the right thing to do, to turn off an alert because it annoys you even though there is a very small chance...(less than .01%) that you may in fact be able to assist in the recovery of a child that has been abducted?

I didn't say that.

Shit, I am saying what I am saying because it really is that simple, don't try to interpret or read something between the lines because you will find nothing.

All I've said in this thread? It means exactly what I've said, no more, no less, because it really isn't that hard.

 

[Christine]

My phone doesn't get Amber alerts. I've had it on me when everyone else's phone was getting them. Maybe the prior owner turned it off? I dunno, never looked into it.

 

[Eye for an Eye]

"25 children have been rescued because of Wireless Emergency Alerts!"

Out of 800 rescues, 25 can be linked to the wireless alert system. Roughly 3%. The effectiveness of the Amber Alert system doesn't really seem to be at all linked to cell notifications. The effectiveness of wireless alerts is probably questionable if these statistics hash out.

Even of those 25 children, how many actually fell into the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert?

1. Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place.
2. The child must be at risk of serious injury or death.
3. There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor's vehicle to issue an alert.
4. The child must be under 18 years of age.

Many law enforcement agencies have not used #2 as a criterion, resulting in many parental abductions triggering an Amber Alert, where the child is not known or assumed to be at risk of serious injury or death. In 2013, West Virginia passed Skylar's Law to eliminate #1 as a criterion for triggering an Amber Alert.

 

[darthbob]

Anyone know how to turn off Emergency Alerts on Android Marshmallow?