CodeRED 12-10-2006

From the Plainview Daily Herald

12/10/2006

By RICHARD ORR

Herald Correspondent

Should the council grant approval at Tuesday night’s meeting, city residents will gain the benefit of a computerized telephone warning system alerting them to any number of emergency situations.

Called CodeRED, the $10,000 system’s annual cost would basically employ the same mapping network used by the city’s 911 emergency system. It can alert the city as a whole or pinpoint a given neighborhood of anything from storms and gas leaks to terrorism threats, hazardous-material spills, nuclear threats, Amber alerts, jail breaks, fires and contaminated water.

“It can even be used in the case of a convenience store robbery by notifying other convenience stores to be careful,” said Chief of Police Will Mull, who outlined the system at Thursday’s agenda work session.

The city scrapped its antiquated siren alerts in the 1970s. Currently, the only warning system comes via Lubbock TV and the local cable channels that primarily carry storm alerts through the National Weather Service.

But, as Mull noted, upwards of 30 percent of city residents “may not have cable and have to rely on the broadcast channels.”

CodeRED uses the 911 phone database to contact affected city residents of pending or existing emergencies. Rural residents are covered by the county’s emergency-alert system that’s also based on 911 data.

One potential problem is that cell phone users without a landline could be left without coverage unless they notify the city of their cell phone number and street address, said Mull.

CodeRED is free to city residents, and they don’t have to subscribe to it.

“But they do have to tell us if they have cell phones because cell phones don’t carry addresses like landlines do,” Mull added, noting that “any cell phone numbers and addresses are strictly confidential and not released to unauthorized parties.”

The $10,000 cost affords the city 30,000 call minutes, with a 33-cent charge for each minute over that limit. The system has bilingual capability.

Tuesday’s meeting starts at 7 p.m.

(Contact Richard Orr at royko@sptc.net)