The Boise Police Department first issued a missing person report for a woman Sunday 14 hours before an alert went out on people’s cellphones.
Darin Oswald
doswald@idahostatesman.com
As Treasure Valley residents slept early Monday morning, some were awakened by the piercing sound of an emergency alert on their smartphones.
At about 12:30 a.m., residents received an emergency alert notifying them that an endangered adult, 60-year-old Brenda Hardinger, was missing. (She was located Monday afternoon.) While many people on social media were sympathetic and expressed wishes that the woman was safe and would be found, they wondered why the alert was sent out at such a time.
The Twitter comment section on the ISP alert turned out to be a place where some vented their irritation with the late-night alert. Some wondered why it wasn’t sent out sooner, while others used language that the Idaho Statesman cannot publish.
“It is not the goal of the alert system to disrupt people’s lives — rather, at times, law enforcement needs the public’s help to keep others safe,” Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell told the Statesman by email. “While late-night alerts inconvenience me personally, I recognize the danger someone else is facing if not found.”
A few users pointed out that sending alerts so late might even prompt people to start deactivating them. Snell countered that he hoped people would recognize “their loved one may need community help one day.”
ENDANGERED MISSING PERSON ALERT-BOISE, ID The Boise Police are looking for missing and endangered Brenda Hardinger who walked away from care facility located at 10000 block of W Smoke Ranch Ave in Boise. If seen please call 911 or Boise Police at 208-377-6790 pic.twitter.com/ZFFp5goFnT
The emergency alert for Hardinger was issued around 14 hours after the Boise Police Department’s initial Twitter post notifying the public that she was missing. BPD spokesperson Haley Williams told the Statesman by email that once temperatures began to drop Sunday night, police felt they needed to notify more people — especially since there was concern Hardinger could have been hitchhiking.
Williams said police spent most of Monday trying to find Hardinger, and her family was “obviously very worried about her.”
A step-by-step look at how to turn off emergency alerts on an iPhone. Idaho Statesman
Want to turn off your alerts? Here’s how
Treasure Valley residents who were THAT bothered by last night’s alert and still want to turn them off can do so with a few clicks in their phone’s settings menu.
In iPhone’s notification settings toward the very bottom, there is a “Government Alerts” section that allows the user to turn off varying things, including Amber alerts for missing children and other public safety notifications.
There is also an option to turn off the sound, which can be done by turning off the “Always Play Sound.”
Android users can consult this list for model-specific instructions governing alerts on their phones.
This story was originally published February 13, 2023 at 4:32 PM.
Alex Brizee covers criminal justice for the Idaho Statesman. A Miami native and a University of Idaho graduate, she has lived all over the United States. Go Vandals! In her free time, she loves pad Thai, cuddling with her dog and strong coffee.Support my work with a digital subscription
