New software paves the way for AMBER Alert
Navajo Times | File Navajos demonstrate for an Amber Alert system in this October 2016 photo.
WINDOW ROCK
Key software will make it possible for the Navajo Nation to establish its own Amber Alert and Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye has signed a contract to purchase it.
This will be the first time a tribe spanning three states will own and operate this system on its own. Not only will the system include the AMBER Alert, but also other hazard alert systems specific to the region.
“The purchase of this software will provide us to begin an AMBER Alert system on Navajo and other emergency needs,” said Begaye. “There’s going to be communication that’s more extensive than before.”
Harlan Cleveland, acting director for the Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management, was given the task of working on the project and, according to Navajo Department of Public Safety Director Jesse Delmar, Cleveland has been working on the initiative for about a year and a half.
“He sure took this project by the horns and ran with it,” Delmar said.
“He did a wonderful job in getting this done. It took a lot of effort to work with folks like Federal Emergency Management Administration, getting clearances, and most of all selecting the software company.”
The company Everbridge manufactures this software, which costs about $63,000. Cleveland explained there are three levels: emergency alert system, wireless alert system and national alert system. All have different criteria.
“We have those three capabilities,” Cleveland explained. “Of those there are different criterias down to civil to danger warnings, law enforcement warning all the way down to child abduction warning.” …
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