The Federal Communications Commission has received thousands of complaints from angry Texans over an early morning notification to their cellphones about the shooting of a police chief last week.
The Blue Alert rattled devices just before 5 a.m. on Oct. 4 in an effort to find and arrest Seth Altman, 33, who is the subject of a manhunt over the shooting of Memphis Police Chief Rex Plant in the Texas Panhandle.
The FCC said it has received 4,500 complaints about the safety alert. It was not clear how the agency would address the grievances.
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A Blue Alert was issued for Seth Altman after he allegedly shot a Texas police chief during an attempted arrest. (Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management)
The FCC told Fox News Digital it doesn’t send the notifications, noting that its primary role is to adopt technical and operational rules for the communications providers that deliver alerts to the public.
Plant and another officer were serving an arrest warrant on Altman at his home on Thursday night for a suspected burglary, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said. Altman opened fire and struck Plant before running away, authorities said.
The police chief was flown to a hospital in Lubbock where he remains in stable condition.
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Seth Altman, 33, is wanted in connection with the shooting of a Memphis, Texas, police chief last week during an arrest. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
Altman has been added to Texas’ Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list and is wanted for attempted capital murder of a peace officer, DPS said. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a $10,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Sheridan Nolen, the DPS press secretary, told Fox News Digital that Blue Alerts are meant to warn the public of possible danger.
“They are designed to speed up the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously wound law enforcement officers by generating tips and leads for the investigating agencies, and therefore giving those agencies the best opportunity to apprehend a dangerous criminal,” Nolen said.
On Monday, Crime Stoppers of Wichita/Sedgwick County in Kansas said Altman may be in its area.
“Seth may be in the Wichita Metro Area,” Crime Stoppers said in a Facebook post, noting that he stands about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs around 220 pounds and wears glasses.
The Blue Law program was signed into Texas law in 2008.
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Criteria for sending the alert includes when a law enforcement officer is killed or seriously hurt, when a suspect poses a serious risk or threat to the public, and when there is a detailed description of the offender’s vehicle, vehicle tag or partial tag that must be available for broadcast to the public. The investigating law enforcement agency must also recommend it, according to the DPS website.
