United States Senator Charles Schumer says the FCC has approved an order to modernize the Wireless Emergency Alert System so that it can provide photos or video of suspects and more information.
The New York Democrats has been pushing to modernize the system, which was based on original cellphone messaging technology and limited to only 90 characters of text. Schumer said that’s not good enough for the 21st Century.
Once it’s upgraded, WEAs to your smartphone will be up to 360 characters and may include embedded URLs that will display photos or videos of suspects. They’ll also be geographically targeted so the right people will see them.
Alerts and social media are credited with helping catch New York City’s Chelsea Bomber within 24 hours.