At the bottom: how to sign up for VT-Alert, how to keep it from ringing at 3 a.m., and where to find the alert switches on your phone.
Between 2 and 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, highway message boards, lottery terminals, TV and radio stations, and the phones of people signed up for the state’s VT-Alert service will all carry the same test message.
It’s the annual exercise of Vermont’s Blue Alert system, run by the Department of Public Safety. Test messages open with “This is a TEST of the Vermont BLUE Alert Notification system. Only a Test,” according to the Vermont Association of Broadcasters.
If you’ve never heard of a Blue Alert, that’s because it’s built for rare emergencies. Vermont joined the system in 2019, and its best-known use came in St. Johnsbury in December 2024.
What a Blue Alert is
A Blue Alert works like an AMBER Alert, except the person in danger is a police officer. The Vermont State Police say an alert can go out when:
an officer has been killed or seriously injured in the line of duty, the suspect hasn’t been caught, and the suspect is a threat to the public or other officers; or
an officer is missing on duty under circumstances that raise concern for the officer’s safety; or
a threat to kill or seriously injure an officer is judged imminent and credible.
In every case, police also need enough description of the suspect or vehicle that putting it out to the public could actually help, and the agency asking for the alert has to commit people to the investigation.
Vermont’s definition of “officer” is wider than most people would guess. The broadcasters’ guidelines say it covers judges, prosecutors, corrections officers, and probation and parole officers, along with police, at the federal, state and local level.
The alert doesn’t go out if the suspect is caught at the scene, and it isn’t used when a civilian is the victim. Police have other ways to warn the public in those cases.
Where it came from
Congress created the national Blue Alert network in 2015 and named the law for Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, two New York City police officers killed in an ambush in December 2014. States set up their own systems under it. Vermont joined in August 2019, when more than 30 other states already had one.
When Vermont used it
On Dec. 13, 2024, St. Johnsbury Police Capt. Jason Gray was shot and seriously wounded while answering a domestic violence call. The suspect fled on foot, and the state issued a Blue Alert. The search reached into New York, two $25,000 rewards were posted, and the suspect was arrested around 2 a.m. that Sunday in the house next door to where the shooting happened.
How an alert reaches you
Most Vermonters wouldn’t have to do anything to hear about a Blue Alert. It goes out several ways at once:
TV and radio, through the Emergency Alert System, the same system that breaks into a broadcast for tornado warnings.
Highway message boards run by the Agency of Transportation.
Lottery signs, kiosks and printed tickets at stores that sell Vermont Lottery games.
A Blue Alert can reach your phone two different ways:
VT-Alert is a subscription. You give the state’s vendor your phone number, email and the places you care about, and it texts, emails or calls you.
Wireless Emergency Alerts are the loud, full-screen warnings that come through your cell carrier. There’s nothing to sign up for; any compatible phone in the alert area gets them. The National Weather Service lists Blue Alerts among the warnings these can carry, and Vermont’s Blue Alert system is set up to send them.
Thursday’s test uses VT-Alert but not Wireless Emergency Alerts. So if your phone stays quiet Thursday, that doesn’t mean it would stay quiet for a real one.
Should you sign up for VT-Alert?
VT-Alert is free, and it’s the one channel you choose. Here’s how it cuts each way.
Reasons to sign up:
The state says VT-Alert carries the latest information at the time of an alert, so updates come to you rather than you having to chase them.
You can add up to five extra Vermont locations, such as a parent’s town or a child’s school.
VT-Alert isn’t just for Blue Alerts. The same account delivers evacuation orders, chemical spills, boil-water notices, severe weather and road closures, which in Vermont come far more often than a shot officer.
Reasons you might not:
Real Blue Alerts are rare, and TV, radio, highway signs and your phone’s emergency alerts would likely carry one to you anyway.
VT-Alert can wake you up. Vermont Emergency Management warns on its own sign-up page that subscribers who don’t set quiet hours will likely get phone calls in the middle of the night for non-urgent alerts.
You hand over your phone number, email and addresses. VT-Alert is run for the state by Everbridge, a private company.
The bigger question is your phone’s settings
Middle-of-the-night alerts are where other states have run into trouble. In October 2024, Texas sent a Blue Alert to phones statewide around 4 a.m., and the FCC said it received about 4,500 complaints. One Texan’s post summed up the mood: “I will not find the bad guy at 4am. I am not Batman.”
The FCC’s worry is that people respond by turning phone alerts off entirely. Phones don’t have a separate switch for Blue Alerts, so the setting that silences a Blue Alert can also silence a flash-flood warning. In February 2025, the FCC let agencies send silent phone alerts. It named statewide and overnight AMBER and Blue Alerts as a main use, to keep people from opting out.
For most readers, then, the real choice isn’t whether to sign up for VT-Alert. It’s whether to leave the emergency alerts on your phone turned on.
Check It Yourself
Compass gives you the information. Whether to sign up, and what to leave on, is your call.
To sign up for VT-Alert: Go to vem.vermont.gov/vtalert or sign up directly here. You’ll need a phone number or email, plus the Vermont address or addresses you want alerts for.
If you signed up before Dec. 1, 2025: You’re still getting alerts, but the state moved to a new system, so you need to create a new account to change your settings. The state says it takes about two minutes, and you can use the same email and phone.
To keep VT-Alert from ringing at night: When you choose your alert types, set “Quiet Hours” on non-urgent ones such as weather watches and advisories. Life-safety alerts, such as a dam breach or gas leak, still come through.
To find the alert switches on your phone:
iPhone: Settings → Notifications → scroll to Government Alerts. You’ll see switches for AMBER Alerts, Emergency Alerts and Public Safety Alerts.
Android: Settings → Safety & emergency (or Notifications) → Wireless emergency alerts. Menu names vary by phone maker.
Turning off emergency or public safety alerts can also turn off warnings for floods, tornadoes and other threats in your area. National alerts can’t be turned off.
If a real Blue Alert comes in: Watch for the person or vehicle described. If you see them, call 911 or the number in the alert, and don’t approach. The State Police ask that you not call 911 just for information about an alert.