The Texas Active Shooter Alert program was created in 2021 by the 87th Texas Legislature. The alert is designed to notify people in close proximity of active shooter situations through their mobile phones, local broadcast media, TxDOT Dynamic Message Signs (DMS), and other resources.
The Texas DPS said, "The goal of the Active Shooter Alert program is to save lives and prevent mass violence by notifying the public of nearby active shooter situations and encouraging them to avoid the area or to shelter in place."
The DPS said an active shooter situation is defined by the FBI as an incident where "an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area."
Activation of an Active Shooter Alert can only be requested by an authorized person and several criteria must be met. To approve an alert, the active situation in their jurisdiction must be verified by the requesting agency, the shooter's location must be identifiable and the distribution of the alert would assist people and save lives in the shooter's location.
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TEXAS STATEWIDE ALERT PROGRAMS
Eight kinds of alerts can be issued for missing or endangered people in Texas. Below are links to articles with more information about each type of alert.
- Active Shooter Alert
- AMBER Alert & Athena Alert
- Blue Alert
- Silver Alert
- CLEAR Alert
- Camo Alert (no longer operational)
- Endangered Missing Person Alert
- Power Outage Alert
