Report finds few San Mateo County residents have signed up for emergency alerts

A San Mateo County civil grand jury investigation found that as of October 2019, only 10.6 percent of the county’s 765,000 residents had enrolled in SMC Alert, the county’s emergency alert system.

The grand jury released a report Monday, which found that the county’s subscription rate is lower than national averages of 12 to 16 percent. Rates vary across the county’s 20 cities, from 2.2 percent in East Palo Alto to 58.1 percent in Portola Valley. SMC Alert is run by the county’s Office of Emergency Services.