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Amber alert on my phone.

wazzuFreddo said:
Once again, you are talking out of your ass. Remember the case in Sac where the guy killed his son?

I remember it, because he had a blue 4Runner and was headed north that day. I happened to be heading north in a grey 4Runner. Every cop between here and Bend ran my plate. :nchantr
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Every cop, sure.

Personally, I'm a little skeptical on the benefit of blasting these out to every phone in the vicinity.

Given mobile penetration, you can reasonably assume that the abductor now knows exactly when LE is going to start looking for them. (i.e. that it's time to ditch that vehicle or plates or find somewhere to hide.)
 
Marlowe said:
Personally, I'm a little skeptical on the benefit of blasting these out to every phone in the vicinity.

Given mobile penetration, you can reasonably assume that the abductor now knows exactly when LE is going to start looking for them. (i.e. that it's time to ditch that vehicle or plates or find somewhere to hide.)
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It may be that's what happened today, to the abductee's benefit.

Supposedly, about 637 children have been rescued as a result of the Amber program to date.
 
So you mean but to tell me thousands of drivers are reaching for their phone at the same time on these busy roads?
 
tzrider said:
It may be that's what happened today, to the abductee's benefit.

Supposedly, about 637 children have been rescued as a result of the Amber program to date.
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The problem is there's no way to control for this. How many would have been recovered anyway (I assume some are simple vehicle thefts gone wrong where they didn't notice a child in the back seat)?
 
I certainly didn't mean the original post to come across as a complaint. I'm glad this system exists, and there certainly aren't so many amber alerts to desensitize people, IMO. Extending it to mobile devices makes perfect sense, as long as it continues to be used sparingly. Who decides when the system is activated, and what the criteria are, I would love to find out.
 
Marlowe said:
The problem is there's no way to control for this. How many would have been recovered anyway (I assume some are simple vehicle thefts gone wrong where they didn't notice a child in the back seat)?
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I'm not really sure what your argument is. Do you really think they make no difference?
 
tzrider said:
I'm not really sure what your argument is. Do you really think they make no difference?
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I'm glad BARF hasn't run out of strawmen.

:laughing

C'mon, man, you know exactly what I was getting at -- impossible to quantify.
 
We're not talking about the entire program here, we're talking about the mobile notifications which are still very, very new.
 
Marlowe said:
We're not talking about the entire program here, we're talking about the mobile notifications which are still very, very new.
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It seems to me that the whole point of Amber alerts is to get the word out as quickly as possible to as many people as possible within the area of interest. The program claims a certain level of success and a lot of it predates mobile broadcasts. Of all of the media in use for these alerts, the mobile notifications probably attract the most eyeballs.
 
tzrider said:
It seems to me that the whole point of Amber alerts is to get the word out as quickly as possible to as many people as possible within the area of interest. The program claims a certain level of success and a lot of it predates mobile broadcasts. Of all of the media in use for these alerts, the mobile notifications probably attract the most eyeballs.
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Let's play "the boy who cried wolf." After a while nobody's gonna look at em because they never see the car they're supposed to be looking for.

Besides, (I'm feeling a bit cranky) my phone better not make a fucking noise unless I want it to. That means when it's silent, which is most of the time, IT BETTER STAY FUCKING SILENT. I didn't opt in to this program and some idiot federal mandate better not put me in without my permission.
 
Biased opinion: I'm a parent. Keep the amber alerts rare. Couple times a year, etc. More than monthly and people are gonna get jaded, fast. I'm willing to put up with two seconds of :wtf and annoyance a couple times a year if it helps get somebody's kid back home safely.
 
boney said:
Let's play "the boy who cried wolf." After a while nobody's gonna look at em because they never see the car they're supposed to be looking for.

Besides, (I'm feeling a bit cranky) my phone better not make a fucking noise unless I want it to. That means when it's silent, which is most of the time, IT BETTER STAY FUCKING SILENT. I didn't opt in to this program and some idiot federal mandate better not put me in without my permission.
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:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

You're more than welcome to exchange your mobile phone for pens and envelopes or a walkie talkie or some other such communication device which won't immediately notify you when a fucking INNOCENT CHILD IS ABDUCTED WITHIN YOUR AREA. Give me a break, I can't believe I actually read that response to this thread.
 
Go Sharks said:
:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

You're more than welcome to exchange your mobile phone for pens and envelopes or a walkie talkie or some other such communication device which won't immediately notify you when a fucking INNOCENT CHILD IS ABDUCTED WITHIN YOUR AREA. Give me a break, I can't believe I actually read that response to this thread.
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He won't be saying that when it's one of his family members he will probably be one of the first to cry for an amber alert.
 
No I'm not kidding. And now that I'm less cranky I'll give you a little more insight...

I pay over $100 for two mobile phones. The only people who get the phone number are people who I want to talk to. The phone is for me it is not for you (collectively not individually). If you'd like to pay me a stipend so I can receive an Amber alert in the middle of the night or when I'm in some meeting where it's verboten to have a phone that makes noise, then by all means pay up or get the government to give me a monthly stipend to receive them. But until then, I'll stand firm by my belief that since I'm paying for my phone, I get to control the content it provides me, and when.

I'm not a believer in the slippery-slope theory but I am a believer in the "government can't help itself" theory, where it does something like this, deems it a success, then completely abuses it to no end ruining the original point in the process. All the while everyone gets increasingly tired of the BS to the point where they ignore it.

You've probably guessed by now that I don't have children. I certainly don't wish harm to kids and don't have an issue at all with the current Amber alert set up, but causing an intrusion into whatever I may be up to when I would prefer, or sometimes can not to be intruded upon is not a way to gain my help.
 
You do realize you can leave your phone at your desk when you have to go to a meeting, right? Also when you go to the movies. Or just turn it off.

I'm thinking this is the least annoying thing that happens in my day.
 
Sure, SMike, *NOW* you can turn it off.

Wait until they're mandated to stay on, you know, for kids!

tzrider said:
It seems to me that the whole point of Amber alerts is to get the word out as quickly as possible to as many people as possible within the area of interest. The program claims a certain level of success and a lot of it predates mobile broadcasts. Of all of the media in use for these alerts, the mobile notifications probably attract the most eyeballs.
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I'm just saying, it's a double edged sword. Some day someone's going to kill the kid and hide the body when they get the alert.
 
Then it will go off at my desk. Or in my car if I am in the movie theaters.

I am not sure if people realize they control their own lives. If you don't want to be bothered by your phone, don't take it with you. We aren't so important that we need to be in contact 100% of the time. Yes, an emergency might happen that someone needs to get a hold of you, but you answering the phone won't stop the emergency.
 
Ok, so- Boneys a dick, and the rest of us would yanno, keep our eyes pealed for some fucking piece of shit who stole a car and baby.
 
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