TxAlerts (Flyer Program) Presented by Ben Patterson Alert Program Administrator
Missing Person Alerts TDEM oversees issuing AMBER, Silver, Blue and Endangered Missing alerts requested by local law enforcement agencies Alerts (4) AMBER Children under age 17 Silver Blue Endangered Missing Description Older adults with Alzheimer's/dementia Suspects who injure or kill law enforcement Intellectual disability/developmental disorders
Anderson Andrews Angelina Archer Arm- strong Atascosa Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Bexar Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Burnet Caldwell Callahan Cameron Camp Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Child- ress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collings- worth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Deaf Smith Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Ector Edwards Ellis El Paso Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Fisher Floyd Foard Fort Bend Franklin Free- stone Frio Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glass- cock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hall Hamilton Hansford Harde- man Hardin Harris Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hill Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hunt Hutch- inson Irion Jack Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jim Hogg Jim Wells Johnson Jones Karnes Kauf- man Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Kinney Kleberg Knox Lamar Lamb Lampasas La Salle Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Lime- stone Lipscomb Live Oak Llano Loving Lubbock Lynn McCulloch McLennan McMullen Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick Medina Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Mont- ague Montgomery Moore Morris Motley Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Ochiltree Oldham Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shack- elford Shelby Sherman Smith Starr Stephens Sterling Stone -wall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throck- morton Titus Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Upton Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Ward Webb Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wil- barger Willacy Williamson Wilson Winkler Wise Wood Yoakum Young Zapata Zavala Aransas Calhoun Jackson Somervell Rockwall Delta AMBER, Silver, Blue AMBER AMBER AMBER, Silver, Blue, Endangered AMBER, Silver, Blue AMBER, Silver, Blue, Endangered AMBER, Silver, Blue AMBER AMBER AMBER AMBER, Silver, Blue, Endangered AMBER AMBER AMBER, Silver, Blue AMBER AMBER, Silver, Blue, Endangered AMBER, Silver, Blue 18 Local/ Regional Alert Programs AMBER, Silver, Endangered 1 1 17 6 14 18 5 4 10 2 8 7 15 16 12 9 3 13 11 VID
The Public Aside from law enforcement, the public is the next critical tool in finding missing persons The public usually hears of an alert through the media, e-messaging and highway signage
However, we have other ways of getting the message to the public
Net Analogy M i s s i n g Social Media E-Mails Neighborhood groups Private sector (Lamar, Clear Channel, etc.) Public Sector (TxDOT, TLETS, TLC, etc) News media FLYERS
Images Typically television, social networking and flyers are the formats the public gets the opportunity to get an image of a missing person
However Individuals don t tend to give the needed attention unless they are specifically directed to a missing person on a social network or to a specific flyer or are connected somehow to the case
Images versus Text Our brains don t see words as a series of letters, we actually seem them as multiple images. Images 65% Text 10%
Effectiveness Which is more effective the use of physically posting flyers or utilizing social networking. Mary Ellen O Toole, Former FBI Profiler appearing on CNN says Every medium needs to be used
Old and New Comparison
Old and New Comparison Availability for Use Older Flyer App. DPS Only TxAlerts DPS and Local/Regional Programs Color Grayscale Color Banner No Color Color-coded Social Media Friendly No Yes Application Programming Primary Data Fields (on first page) External Internal 2 4
Social Media TxAlerts allows for repeated social media sharing of missing person information in addition to printed flyers. Much more people are now carrying mobile devices 95% cell phones and 77% smartphones
TxAlerts Login
Flyer Creation
Flyer Creation
Flyer Creation Note that only 2 boxes contain information that will appear on the flyer
Date/Time/Location
Victim(s)
Suspect(s)
Vehicle(s)
Distribution
Flyer (Final Product) Victim Suspect Vehicle
Edit/Preview/Delete/Discontinue Preview lets the user see the flyer Edit allows the user to update the flyer and send update Delete allows user to delete the flyer Discontinue allows user to discontinue the flyer and sends update
Basic Alert Training Browser search DPS MyTrain
Questions Ben Patterson Alert Program Coordinator (512)424-2445 or ben.patterson@dps.texas.gov If you ever have any questions, just as Blondie would always say Call Me
QR Code for TxAlerts https://txalerts.dps.texas.gov/users/sign_in