This week’s Amber Alert was the first test of Alaska’s wireless emergency alert system

If you were surprised when an Amber Alert notification flashed across your cellphone Wednesday night, you weren't alone.

This week marked the first verified test of Alaska's wireless emergency alert system since it was put in place two years ago, according to Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters.

Under the wireless emergency alert system, cellphones in targeted geographic areas receive alerts about various threats.

Alaska hasn't had many Amber Alerts, Peters said — only seven since 2003.

The last time an Amber Alert was issued was in September 2015. A month later, Alaska got the authority to send Amber Alerts through the wireless system, Peters said.

Amber Alerts are used in cases where a child has been abducted and is believed to be in serious danger. The alert goes out on email lists, and interrupts broadcasts on local participating radio and television stations. Two highway signs just outside Anchorage — on the Seward and Glenn highways — can broadcast the alert. And now, Alaska's alerts go out on cellphones, too.

The Federal Communications Commission doesn't allow for system testing, though, so Wednesday was the first time the state was able to try it.

Wednesday's alert asked Alaskans to be on the lookout for a missing father and daughter in Anchorage. The Anchorage Police Department said Damon Demond Ward, 44, had illegally taken his 3-year-old daughter from her foster home Wednesday evening.

The Department of Public Safety found that the alert didn't reach some cellphones.

To receive the alerts, Alaskans who use GCI as their cell service carrier must download an app that can be found by searching their app store for "GCI alerts," said GCI spokeswoman Heather Handyside.

Handyside said GCI and other small carriers received a waiver from the FCC to integrate the wireless emergency alert system into their networks over an 18-month period. GCI's network will be ready "in the coming months," she said.

The Department of Public Safety also discovered that the text in the cellphone alert was limited to 90 characters, so the link to the full alert message was cut off. The Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is tweaking the text so that doesn't happen next time, Peters said.

Anchorage police can issue Amber Alerts without final approval from troopers. For all other local law enforcement, a trooper must sign off on the requested alert to ensure it meets guidelines.

Amber Alerts have to fit strict criteria, according to the State of Alaska Emergency Alert System Plan:

– The abducted person must be under 18.

– Law enforcement must believe the child to be in imminent danger.

– Officials must provide enough descriptive information of the victim, suspect and/or suspect's vehicle to where an alert would be helpful, and the information has to be entered into several databases.

– Runaways and family abductions aren't included in Amber Alerts, unless all other criteria have been met.

In Wednesday's case, police made the call to issue an alert because Ward didn't have custody of his daughter, and he was making suicidal threats, said police spokesman MJ Thim.

By Thursday morning, police said Ward was in custody on an outstanding warrant and his daughter was safe. No new charges have been filed, Thim said, and an investigation is ongoing.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from a GCI spokeswoman saying that the company's cell service customers must download a separate app to receive the emergency alerts, and that the alert system will soon be integrated with the company's network.