20 March 2009 Copper Message

On the 2nd of March, Victoria Police sent out a mass SMS to everyone in the state saying the follow…

“Extreme weather in Vic expected Mon night & Tues. High wind & fire risk. Listen to Local ABC Radio for emergency updates. Do not reply to this msg.”

What a fantastic use of technology. A great move by the Victorian Police, an organisation I would expect to be more bureaucratic than my university. But I have a problem.

Thankfully, legally the message is not considered spam, which was my first worry. But I am worried about the weather that actually occurred on the 3rd. Besides some slightly higher winds, it was like any other day.

Now while I’m all for being safe than sorry, what has this message done to the credibility of the next? Will people take the next message as seriously? It’s like the Government saying two drinks is a binge, bringing down the level of “binging”, giving it less of an impact.

I also have to question why wasn’t a message like this sent out a week earlier on Black Saturday?

Posted by Zac Martin
No Comments
  • Bones Lawley
    Posted at March 21, 2009 1:05pm, 21 March Reply

    pigs don’t fly. pigs annoy. It’s pig city, man, a police state, man. they’re taken over the streets on the weekend man the tv the radio and now my phone man.

  • Daniel Oyston
    Posted at March 23, 2009 8:35am, 23 March Reply

    Reminds me of the boy who cried wolf ….

    What about “please listen to ABC Radio”?

    1 – you would be unhappy if you were an advertiser on other radio stations and the police encouraged your market to listen to a station you weren’t advertising on.

    2 – why ABC? And what if you don’t have access to a radio station? Why did they limit it to one channel?

  • Ben
    Posted at March 23, 2009 12:04pm, 23 March Reply

    daniel – in response.

    1 – you would be unhappy if you were an advertiser on other radio stations and the police encouraged your market to listen to a station you weren’t advertising on.

    erm – are you serious? not sure where to start here. i’d say most advertisers wouldn’t care given the potential magnitude of the situation

    2 – why ABC? And what if you don’t have access to a radio station? Why did they limit it to one channel?

    because the ABC signal is accessible across the entire state. no other radio/other comms signal is. also – radio can be battery powered, so if power goes down etc you can still here it. most fire plans involve having a radio receiver with battery backup.

  • Daniel Oyston
    Posted at March 23, 2009 12:26pm, 23 March Reply

    @Ben – my point was a) why not broadcast it on all stations and b) what’s wrong with more text updates?

    And the ABC radio signal is only accessible if you have a radio …

  • Ben
    Posted at March 23, 2009 1:56pm, 23 March Reply

    i don’t know why it need to be broadcast on all radio stations?

    yep, understand that you can only get a radio signal if you have a radio … again refer to my point re fire plans and having a battery powered receiver on hand. same principal for everything innit?

  • lauren
    Posted at March 23, 2009 9:08pm, 23 March Reply

    i’m kinda glad i got that text – and you’re right, great use of technology and awareness of the reach of mobile market. i wonder if they’re using it internationally in areas of major conflict, terrorism and tornado warnings. i hope so.

    “slightly higher winds?” ermm. zac, where were you that day? i was sitting in a meeting room in a collingwood and i saw corrugated iron roofs flying across hoddle street, palms bending at 45º and we had to tape up the glass doors, just in case.

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