Cellphone Alerts Used in Manhunt for NYC Bomber

September 21, 2016 by Arkady Bukh

Just before 8 in the morning Monday, New Yorkers’ phones started screaming — in unison. Each phone received the same message:

“WANTED: Ahmad Rahami, 28-year old male. See media for pic. Call 911 if seen.”

No links. No images. No context into which one could place the message. Some people stumbling around before the coffee kicks in may have glanced and mistaken the message for an Amber Alert.

In subways chock-full of persons, it’s not hard to imagine everyone looking up from their telephones and scrutinizing each other. Maybe one of their co-passengers was Rahami. A young man with brownish skin could have thought: Maybe someone mistakes ME for Rahami.

The alert was the original of its kind according to the New York Times. At least it was the first time the Wireless Emergency Alert system had been utilized as a wanted poster. The system usually brings information about weather emergencies and child abductions. The signal went through New York City following the choice from the mayr’s office to use the notification method.

By twelve, the suspect had been caught. Still, there’s no indication that the cell phone system played any part in helping authorities locate him.

De Blasio’s press secretary, Eric Phillips, tweeted the capacity to use “mobile push warnings” in a manhunt is an added benefit for police.

Others weren’t so sure and were critical of the city leader’s determination to utilize the system for this purpose. Brian Feldman, writing in New York magazine, labeled it an “extremely critical alert to burst across New York metro.”

Without providing any useful contextual data, it deputizes the boroughs and pushes people to treat anybody who resembles the description with suspicion. In a nation of people already bothered and attacked for just looking like they may be Muslim, experts feel the latest use is ill-advised.

A basic rule of crime writing is you don’t describe a suspect until you have sufficient data for people to realistically distinguish that person from another of similar age, race and build. To engage citizens in a hunt for a “28-year old male with dark skin and brown facial hair is dangerous. People are being asked to find a stereotype — not a particular person.

Authorities were under pressure to do what they could to find the suspect. But the current system — used for this purpose — is intrusive and potentially harmful when employed in an ad hoc fashion.

If authorities have the right person, everyone can be thankful for their investigative work. Let’s hope the authorizations are a little more carefully next time so they don’t put innocent people in danger.