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Cell phone alerts jolt Pleasanton residents as police search for San Diego killer, kidnapper

Original post made on Aug 7, 2013

Many Pleasanton residents were jolted awake Monday night and during much of the day yesterday when they received unexpected Amber Alerts about two siblings who were reported missing
out of San Diego County.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, August 7, 2013, 7:55 AM

Comments (12)

Posted by mary
a resident of Del Prado
on Aug 7, 2013 at 8:49 am

As for the sound, if I'd been driving it surely could have contributed to having an accident.

As for the message, it had quite adequate information for the search going on, and, had it had more information, drivers would be spending time reading rather than paying attention.

One concern, when I open my phone, the message disappears leaving me with "no" information to focus on.

So, yes, it was a cacaphony of noise that was alarming to me, provided good information, but would need to be able to be seen after unlocking ones phone.




Posted by How about limiting the time
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 7, 2013 at 9:03 am

I usually leave me phone on at night,
my mother might call in an emergency.

How do we turn this "feature" off on an iPhone?
Can we limit the time of day so it doesn't wake me?

Overdoing it:
And
Most of these amber alerts seem to be domestic squabbles-


Posted by mooseturd
a resident of Pleasanton Valley
on Aug 7, 2013 at 9:41 am

mooseturd is a registered user.

How About.....: Amber alerts are serious events. They are not "domestic squabbles".


Posted by Claudette
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 7, 2013 at 10:48 am

Amber Alerts are Very Important to those involved. Loved ones are in Immediate Danger of possibly losing their lives. If you were an Involved party and needed the Amber Alert to find a child or family member, you would think differently and not consider it a Bother. For God's sake a Killer is out there and possibly driving behind YOU.

All iPhone users and cell phone users can easily purchase a Blue Tooth device to answer without having to Pull Over in traffic or otherwise. You should have your phone turned OFF if you can't Ignore a Call when driving!


Posted by Maira
a resident of Downtown
on Aug 7, 2013 at 12:43 pm

Thank you, Claudette!

I hardly call torching a house and murdering a child and woman a "domestic squabble".


Posted by Stella
a resident of Downtown
on Aug 7, 2013 at 3:10 pm

If you are that concerned that your mother may call you but you don't want to here the Amber alerts page, turn off the mobile data during the night. It's that easy.


Posted by Local Geek
a resident of Stoneridge
on Aug 7, 2013 at 8:59 pm

Amber alert has become to big. When they have the power to force this on everyone, it's just wrong. This use to be a good cause, but now it's to big and to much power. Who ever made this decision, it was a bad call !

I will not pay that much attention to amber alerts because of this and thats "sad". It should be that you "opt in" not have to "opt out".

Iphone users: goto settings, notifications, amber alerts and turn off.


Posted by Pleasanton Neighbor
a resident of Foothill High School
on Aug 8, 2013 at 8:56 am

Yes, I was jolted (my phone was on my nightstand) but once I read it and understood the seriousness of this,I was ok with.

The hard thing was, as someone mentioned above - finding the info again once I opened the phone. I did find it though.

We need to to do everything we can to help find stolen kids.

However, those that want to "opt-out" should be able to, specifically for people who are in bed and not likely to be on the road anytime soon.


Posted by Downtowner
a resident of Downtown
on Aug 8, 2013 at 11:53 am

Downtowner is a registered user.

It's not a big deal, but I got the Amber Alert anyway even though I have Amber Alerts turned off on my iPhone. It was apparently sent via the Emergency Alert system, which I signed up for with the Pleasanton Police Dept. which uses a system called Nixle.com. So I just got a regular text notification sound, not the "whoop whoop" siren or whatever. I didn't mind the notification, although something happening in San Diego does seem to be of limited relevance.

The Pleasanton Nixle alerts so far have not been well chosen. A couple have been road closures due to accidents or construction (useful, but hardly an emergency), and one was the robbery of a Verizon store near the mall (OK, might be important), and one was that a kid had a skateboard accident in a cul-de-sac (sorry for the kid & his family, but that has zero public impact and is not an emergency).

Hopefully the PPD will develop better guidelines for the Nixle notifications.


Posted by Turn it off! THANKS, but
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 11, 2013 at 9:23 am

My sincere THANKS to Local Geek*:

I'm going on travel, and do not need or want alerts that will not concern me.

I read it here!
I think this worked (from above) :
*Iphone users: go to: settings, notifications, amber alerts and turn off.

You have to scroll down to find it, it's pretty well hidden!

Wish whoever is responsible for this had been fair and made this an Opt in, rather than an Opt out. AND they could have told people about it BEFORE it woke them up at 11PM.

I am glad they caught the bad guy.
Wonder if we'll hear why they killed him?


Posted by Does the Amber Alert use up your minutes?
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 11, 2013 at 9:24 am

Does anyone know this?


Posted by Name hidden
a resident of Ridgeview Commons

on Apr 26, 2017 at 7:50 am

Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?


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