Ramsey County’s Emergency Communications Center (ECC) uses Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to alert wireless phone users who are geographically located within an area affected by a local emergency.
October 25, 2022 WEA alert incident
At 10:50 a.m. on Oct. 25, 2022, an emergency alert was sent following a request from Roseville Police to send a shelter in place notification. The area they indicated for the alert was approximately Snelling Ave/Highway 36 to Victoria St./Larpenteur Ave. Instead of the message being delivered to intended area, it was delivered to all of Ramsey County into bordering counties.
Once ECC became aware of the delivery issue with the original message, a follow up message was sent at approximately 11:15 a.m. to clarify the specific area the shelter in place order was intended to cover.
The homicide suspect was apprehended quickly as a result of the alert that was issued. A third message was sent at approximately 11:30 a.m. once the law enforcement issue was resolved rescinding the shelter in place warning.
Response and review
An internal review was conducted by ECC staff to determine the cause of the message being delivered to an audience that was wider than intended. It was determined that a polygon shape was drawn in the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) software to identify the intended area, but the system did not adhere to the shape that was drawn and reverted the shape back to the entire county. The findings are detailed in the internal report produced by Emergency Communications Center staff.
County staff presented the report to the state Statewide Emergency Communications Board who oversees the statewide plan for IPAWS, which includes Wireless Emergency Alerts. The presentation provided an opportunity to share findings with the state and with other clients that use the same software.
The county also met with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC team was satisfied with the county’s investigation, findings and follow-up efforts to learn from the incident.
Recommendations and next steps
The ECC has been working with the vendor on recommendations to improve the user interface and the vendor has shown strong interest in incorporating these recommendations into future software releases. Additionally, county staff have been trained to use alternate ways to draw the boundaries in the software to prevent a similar over extension of the intended area.
Emergency Communications Center staff have taken and will continue to take additional trainings on the IPAWS software. Ongoing training will be offered through the vendor, through FEMA, and internally.