California residents received their first Amber Alert on their cellphones on Monday, and some are not too fond of the notification they received.
Joe Curren, of Sacramento, Calif., talked to the Los Angeles Times about the notification he received at 11 p.m., describing the notification as a loud squeal, similar to a fire alarm.
"It was the sound of the future, and Curren didn't like it," the LA Times reports.
It was the first time California had notified the public of an Amber Alert for suspected child abduction using the cellphone network. Firefighters in Boulevard, Calif. found the body of Christina Anderson of Lakeside, the LA Times reports. Officials reportedly found a child's body in the wreckage of the burnt building.
According to the LA Times, many around the state were asking themselves the same questions after receiving the alert: Will the children be OK? What am I supposed to do on the other side of the state?
"This is among the most unintelligent, histrionic, intrusive programs ever," Curren told the LA Times. "I felt like the San Diego police reached into my pocket."
Police say home owner James Lee DiMaggio, 40, allegedly killed Anderson and abducted her daughter Hannah Anderson, 16, and son Ethan, 8. DiMaggio is believed to be headed to Texas or Canada in a blue Nissan Versa.
The Amber Alert program was created in 1996 in memory of Amber Hagerman, 9, who was abducted and killed near her home in Texas. Since its creation, there have been many alerts sent through radio, television or on familiar roadside signs.
Since the nation is going mobile and many adults in the U.S. own cellphones, it made sense to launch a wireless program for the Amber Alert system in 2005. It is not the notification people are upset about, but rather the loud noise it transmits, even if the cell phone is silent.
According to the LA Times, cellphone users are automatically signed up for the program and the alerts can reach 97% of the 300 million-plus active cellphones in the U.S.
Critics of Amber Alert understand the need during natural disasters and major events that effect large areas, but felt Monday's incident did not require statewide distribution.
"It's a privacy intrusion, to in effect attempt to make people into informants or law enforcement subagents," Herb Pounder told the LA Times, who received the alert Tuesday in Castaic. Pounder said he is "sympathetic toward the children," but "concerned with what I see as a movement toward a police state in this country."
Renae Bowman told the LA Times she received the alert 12 times, and they didn't stop until she figured out how to disable them at 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday.
"If I only get it once, I think it's an amazing idea," Bowman said.
