This may be the first time the city put out a electronic "Wanted" alert, but it won't be the last.
At 7:54 a.m. Monday morning, smartphones around the New York City area blared with the screeching tone of an emergency alert that had nothing to do with a weather-related event or Amber Alert.
The corresponding message notified New Yorkers about a suspect wanted in connection to the Chelsea bombing that injured 29 people on Saturday night.
"WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-year-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen," it read. (Rahami was captured hours later, in Linden, New Jersey.)
The wanted alert appears to be an unprecedented move for NYPD officials who used the public safety messaging system to enlist civilians across the five boroughs in the manhunt, according to a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio.
First time something like has been done. Important added capacity. pic.twitter.com/9yOLS03JPx
— Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) September 19, 2016
"We think it's a very valuable tool," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference about the Chelsea explosion Monday afternoon. "From what we know right now, it definitely contributed to the successful apprehension of the suspect."
Law enforcement will use the Wireless Emergency Alert system again in future instances of imminent threat, he added.
"This is the future," NYPD commissioner James O'Neill said of the system, which enables authorized local, state and federal authorities to target emergency alerts to mobile phones in specific geographic areas.
An earlier warning issued Saturday night to people in the Chelsea area, read, "Suspicious package: residents on W 27th b/t 6th and 7th Ave stay away from windows."
The national messaging system sends three kinds of alerts, according to the Federal Communications Commission: alerts about public safety emergencies, alerts about abducted children, and alerts issued by the president. (You can opt to block the first two kinds, but not the last.)
Authorities send messages to wireless carriers that have volunteered to participate and push alerts from cell towers to mobile devices in the targeted area — even those that are roaming or out-of-state.
The public safety emergency alerts have been used eight times in New York City since 2012, mostly by the city's Office of Emergency Management, the New York Times reported. Three were sent during Hurricane Sandy, one alerted people to a travel ban during a 2015 winter storm, and the two sent during the Chelsea bombing.
