Jul. 17—Startled from your bed just after midnight by a piercing alert? No, it wasn’t a lost child or an imminent flood, though you might be forgiven for thinking it was.
Many residents of Bernalillo and Sandoval counties were awoken around 12:45 a.m. Thursday by a public safety alert blasted through their cellphones: 77-year-old Jose A. Lujan had driven away from home and was missing.
Within hours, Lujan was found dead in his Buick sedan alongside Interstate 25, near Socorro, by a truck driver who had recognized the car from the alert.
Despite its apparent effectiveness, those who lost out on beauty sleep took to social media to complain about the late-night disturbance. Known as a Silver Alert, it informs residents that an elderly person is missing.
In a new initiative, New Mexico State Police has begun sending emergency mobile alerts — often reserved for missing children and natural disasters — to notify the public when a Silver Alert or Turquoise Alert is issued. The alerts, which operate similarly to an Amber Alert, are sent through the Wireless Emergency Alert system to inform residents when an elderly person or a Native American is reported missing and believed to be in danger.
Previously, Silver Alerts were not broadcast through the WEA system and were limited to news outlets and radio stations.
Silver Alerts are designated for missing people 50 years or older who are believed to have signs of Alzheimer’s or other cognitive impairments.
Amanda Richards, public information officer for State Police, said users can expect around 50 Silver Alerts a year, based on an estimate from the current volume of alerts. So far, State Police has issued 26 Silver Alerts this year.
The Silver Alert was sent around 12:45 a.m. to Bernalillo and Sandoval county residents. Richards said State Police received a request for the alert around midnight. The alert was not listed as a Silver Alert and looked similar to an Amber Alert on cellphones.
“We are working with Homeland Security Emergency Management to learn why the alert did not read Silver Alert as it was intended to,” Richards said. However, it was not a mistake that the alert was sent as a high priority, she said.
“The tone and volume of WEA messages are designed for urgent matters and life-threatening emergencies,” Richards said. “The alert issued last night followed the state-mandated protocol outlined in the New Mexico statute, which requires Silver and Turquoise alerts to be disseminated through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. By default, they’re delivered at a high priority.”
State Police received several complaints about the alert that was sent just before 1 a.m. and said they appreciate the public for their understanding as the department adjusts to the system.
Richards acknowledged that the timing and nature of last night’s alert caught many people off guard. “Although the missing person was last seen around 7:00 a.m. the day prior, we sent out the alert in a timely manner as soon as we received the request.”
Users can opt out of the alerts, though State Police highly discourages it.
“It could be dangerous in the event of an immediate threat, such as a wildfire, flood, active shooter, or child abduction,” Richards said. “It’s important to note that we did raise these concerns with lawmakers prior to the implementation of this requirement. We expressed that overuse of high-priority alerts could lead to desensitization and reduced public engagement, which undermines the effectiveness of the system overall.”
Turquoise Alerts are “designed to help locate Native Americans who are in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death, and there is enough descriptive information about the missing person to assist in locating them,” Wilson Silver, public information officer for State Police, said in a news release Wednesday.
The Turquoise Alert system went into effect on July 1 after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation in April in an effort to respond to the increasing number of missing and murdered Indigenous people. The first Silver Alert was sent to the Las Cruces area Wednesday evening on behalf of the Gallup Police Department.
“Moments later, NMSP was notified the individual was located,” Richards said in a statement to the Journal.
Alerts will include the description of the person, their last known location, and any vehicle information if available.