What happens when people stop trusting emergency alerts? Do “false alarms” actually make communities less safe—or is the problem more complicated than we think?

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with disaster researcher Dr. Joe Trainor (University of Delaware) to break down the science behind false alarms, trust, and human behavior in emergencies.

Drawing on decades of research—from Hurricane Katrina to global disaster response—Dr. Trainor explains how people really interpret alerts, why the “cry wolf” theory is often misunderstood, and what emergency managers can do to improve communication and save lives.

🔎 What You’ll Learn:

•  What a “false alarm” actually means (and why people define it differently) 
•  The truth about the cry wolf effect in emergency warnings 
•  How trust in authorities impacts whether people take action 
•  Why alert systems are a trade-off between over-warning and under-warning
•  How modern tools like Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and AI could reshape alerting 
•  What makes an effective emergency message (and what most get wrong) 

🎙️ About Our Guest

Dr. Joe Trainor is Interim Dean and Professor at the Biden School of Public Policy & Administration (University of Delaware) and a leading expert in disaster science, risk perception, and emergency decision-making. His work has supported FEMA, DHS, the National Weather Service, and more.

🤝 Sponsored by Everbridge

This episode is sponsored by Everbridge, a global leader in critical event management.

Everbridge helps over 6,500 organizations worldwide:

•  Keep people safe 
•  Reduce operational disruption 
•  Build digital and physical resilience 

Their AI-powered platform enables organizations to anticipate, mitigate, respond to, and recover from critical events.

👉 Learn more: https://www.everbridge.com

📢 Join the Conversation

We want to hear from YOU—your challenges, success stories, and questions about alerting and emergency communication.

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