Who is Dr. Jeannette Sutton, and how did she become one of the most influential voices in emergency alerting and warning research?

In this special episode of The Alerting Authority, co-host Eddie Bertola turns the tables and interviews Dr. Jeannette Sutton about her personal journey, professional influences, and vision for the future of emergency communication.

From her early work as a chaplain and victim advocate following the Columbine tragedy to conducting rapid-response research after 9/11, Dr. Sutton shares the experiences that shaped her career in disaster research, risk communication, and public warning systems. She discusses the mentors who influenced her, including Dennis Mileti and Kathleen Tierney, and reflects on groundbreaking research involving social media, disaster communication, and public response to emergencies.

The conversation also explores:

• The evolution of emergency alerting and warning systems
• Why research and real-world emergency management often struggle to connect
• Common mistakes in emergency alerts and warning messages
• The importance of plain language communication
• Public trust, alert fatigue, and over-alerting
• The future of AI-generated emergency alerts
• New warning standards and best practices
• The Warning Bootcamp and improving message design
• Dr. Sutton’s life outside of academia, including quilting, birdwatching, hiking, and endurance trail events

Whether you're an emergency manager, public safety communicator, researcher, student, or simply interested in how life-saving alerts are designed, this episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the field’s leading experts.

Every second has a story—and today, you’ll hear Dr. Jeannette Sutton’s.

What makes an emergency alert effective—and what causes public confusion, panic, or frustration? In this episode of The Alerting Authority, emergency communication experts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola analyze some of the most memorable emergency alerts ever sent.

From the infamous Hawaii ballistic missile false alarm to controversial Texas Blue Alerts, poorly written Amber Alerts, wildfire evacuation messages, and successful missing child alerts, they break down what worked, what failed, and what emergency managers can learn from each case.

Discover how message structure, location specificity, timing, jargon, abbreviations, public trust, evacuation warnings, and all-clear notifications impact public response during emergencies. Learn best practices for Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), IPAWS messaging, wildfire evacuations, Amber Alerts, Blue Alerts, and public warning systems.

Whether you're an emergency manager, public safety professional, dispatcher, communications specialist, or researcher, this episode provides practical lessons on creating clear, actionable, and effective emergency alerts that save lives.

Topics Covered:

• Hawaii ballistic missile alert false alarm
• Texas Blue Alert controversy
• Amber Alert messaging failures
• Missing child alert success stories
• Wildfire evacuation messaging best practices
• IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts
• Public warning research and communication strategies
• Emergency management training and policy development
• How to reduce confusion and increase public action during crises

This episode is sponsored by HQE systems. Learn more at HQEsystems.com

What separates good emergency alerts from life-saving emergency alerts?

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Dr. Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with Thomas Walmsley, Director of Emergency Management for Bernalillo County, New Mexico, and the 2024 IAEM USA Emergency Manager of the Year.

With more than two decades of experience spanning military service, law enforcement, local government, federal programs, and academic research, Tom shares how modern emergency managers can leverage data, AI, and evidence-based messaging to improve warning systems and community resilience.

The conversation explores practical lessons learned from real-world incidents, the future of alerting standards, multilingual communication challenges, and how emergency managers can use tools like ChatGPT and AI to develop stronger message templates and better preparedness programs.

In This Episode:

- How Tom Walmsley became IAEM's Emergency Manager of the Year

- Building stronger emergency alerts using research and templates

- Using AI and ChatGPT in emergency management

- IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts best practices

- Cross-jurisdictional support and mutual aid agreements

- Pace planning and alert system redundancy

- GIS, Esri, and demographic intelligence

- Bilingual emergency alerts and Spanish-language messaging

- Evacuation planning and transportation considerations

- National standards for emergency management

- EMAP accreditation and professionalization of emergency management

- Lessons learned from alerting mistakes

- How data-driven decision-making improves public safety

Whether you're an emergency manager, public safety professional, PIO, researcher, first responder, or simply interested in disaster preparedness, this episode offers practical insights you can apply immediately.

Emergency alerts and warnings can save lives—but only when organizations have clear, effective policies guiding their decisions. In this episode of The Alerting Authority podcast, emergency communication experts Dr. Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola discuss why alerting policies are often overlooked, how weak or outdated policies create operational risks, and what agencies can do to strengthen their public warning programs.

Eddie introduces the Alerting Policy Maturity Spectrum, a framework that helps organizations evaluate where they currently stand—from having no policy at all to maintaining a fully integrated, regularly tested, and continuously improved alerting program. The discussion highlights common challenges such as outdated documentation, verbal agreements, fragmented procedures, copied policies that don't fit local needs, and policies that exist only on paper.

The episode then dives into five essential policy elements every alerting authority should address:

• Geographic targeting strategies to avoid over-alerting and alert fatigue.
• Timing and quiet-hour considerations for effective public warning delivery.
• Approval authority structures that prevent delays during rapidly evolving emergencies.
• Training requirements that build confidence through realistic exercises and scenarios.
• Ensuring policies reflect operational reality and the unique needs of each jurisdiction.

Through real-world examples involving missing persons, hazardous materials incidents, flooding, severe weather, and public safety alerts, listeners gain practical insights into developing policies that support faster decisions, improve accountability, and enhance community safety.

This episode is especially valuable for emergency managers, public information officers, dispatch supervisors, public safety communications professionals, warning coordinators, emergency operations personnel, and government leaders responsible for emergency notification systems, IPAWS, Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), Emergency Alert System (EAS), and crisis communication planning.

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with Stuart Moffatt, Director of Emergency Management at the University of Utah, to explore the unique challenges of campus emergency communication, public safety planning, and crisis response in higher education.

From football games with 60,000 fans to healthcare operations, research facilities, student housing, and active threat preparedness, Stuart explains how the University of Utah functions like a city within a city — and what it takes to keep that population informed and safe.

The conversation dives into:

• Emergency management in higher education
• Campus alert systems and SMS emergency notifications
• Active threat communication strategies
• Standard Response Protocol (SRP) implementation
• Warning Lexicon research and protective action messaging
• Crisis communication for students, faculty, staff, patients, and visitors
• Event safety planning for college football and large public gatherings
• Lessons learned from COVID-19 response operations
• Building trust in emergency alerts and public safety systems

Stuart also shares his fascinating journey from multimedia design and software development into emergency management after Hurricane Katrina inspired a career change.

Whether you work in emergency management, higher education, public safety, or crisis communications, this episode offers practical insights into modern alerting strategies and the future of campus preparedness.

Subscribe for more conversations on emergency alerts, crisis communication, disaster preparedness, and public safety leadership.

#EmergencyManagement #CampusSafety #CrisisCommunication #UniversityOfUtah #PublicSafety #EmergencyAlerts #HigherEducation #AlertingAuthority #WarningLexicon #EmergencyPreparedness

In this powerful and deeply informative episode of Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola break down everything you need to know about AMBER Alerts: how they work, why they’re issued, and how effective messaging can mean the difference between life and death.

Eddie Bertola, a veteran law enforcement officer and national subject matter expert, shares firsthand experience from decades of working AMBER Alerts and missing person cases. Together, they unpack the tragic story of Amber Hagerman, the origins of the AMBER Alert system, and the critical role of timing, communication, and public engagement in successful recoveries.

This episode also dives into:

• The difference between AMBER Alerts and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)
• Why some cases qualify, and others don’t
• Common mistakes that lead to public confusion and opt-outs
• How poor messaging can reduce effectiveness
• Proven strategies for writing clear, actionable emergency alerts
• The importance of geographic targeting and avoiding over-alerting

You’ll also hear a real case where a correctly used alert system helped locate a missing autistic child, highlighting why understanding these tools matters.

Whether you're in law enforcement, emergency management, public safety communications, or just want to understand how these alerts impact your community, this episode delivers critical insight grounded in both research and real-world experience.

Sponsored by The Warn Room
Turn disaster science into life-saving action with expert training, consulting, and message templates designed for real-world emergencies.

What happens when people stop trusting emergency alerts? Do “false alarms” actually make communities less safe—or is the problem more complicated than we think?

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with disaster researcher Dr. Joe Trainor (University of Delaware) to break down the science behind false alarms, trust, and human behavior in emergencies.

Drawing on decades of research—from Hurricane Katrina to global disaster response—Dr. Trainor explains how people really interpret alerts, why the “cry wolf” theory is often misunderstood, and what emergency managers can do to improve communication and save lives.

🔎 What You’ll Learn:

• What a “false alarm” actually means (and why people define it differently)
• The truth about the cry wolf effect in emergency warnings
• How trust in authorities impacts whether people take action
• Why alert systems are a trade-off between over-warning and under-warning
• How modern tools like Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and AI could reshape alerting
• What makes an effective emergency message (and what most get wrong)

🎙️ About Our Guest

Dr. Joe Trainor is Interim Dean and Professor at the Biden School of Public Policy & Administration (University of Delaware) and a leading expert in disaster science, risk perception, and emergency decision-making. His work has supported FEMA, DHS, the National Weather Service, and more.

🤝 Sponsored by Everbridge

This episode is sponsored by Everbridge, a global leader in critical event management.

Everbridge helps over 6,500 organizations worldwide:

• Keep people safe
• Reduce operational disruption
• Build digital and physical resilience

Their AI-powered platform enables organizations to anticipate, mitigate, respond to, and recover from critical events.

👉 Learn more: https://www.everbridge.com

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In this powerful episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with emergency communications expert Jen Meyers to explore the evolving world of emergency alerts, FEMA IPAWS, public warning systems, and crisis communication.

With more than 25 years of experience in public safety, Jen shares her journey from 911 dispatcher to supporting over 2,200 alerting authorities nationwide through FEMA IPAWS Technical Support Services. She discusses how her experience during the September 11 Pentagon attack shaped her perspective on emergency communication, preparedness, interoperability, and public trust.

This episode dives deep into:

-FEMA IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

-Over-alerting and alert fatigue

-Emergency communication best practices

-Public trust in emergency alerts

-Message quality during disasters

-Geo-targeting and warning coordination

-Access and functional needs populations

-Active assailant alerting

-Cross-jurisdiction communication failures

-Emergency management training and preparedness

-Why alerting authorities need more research and better policy integration

Jen, Jeannette, and Eddie also discuss the growing importance of plain language messaging, why jargon in alerts can create dangerous confusion, and how agencies can better prepare for high-pressure incidents before disaster strikes.

Whether you work in emergency management, public safety, emergency communications, higher education, law enforcement, weather warning, or homeland security, this episode delivers critical insight into the future of alerting and warning systems.

A special thank you to our sponsor, HQE Systems
, for supporting this episode. HQE Systems helps agencies simplify and unify emergency alerting, mass notification systems, outdoor warning sirens, IPAWS integration, and crisis communication workflows through streamlined technology designed for real-world emergencies.

Subscribe, review, and share The Alerting Authority to help strengthen emergency communication nationwide.