CodeRED® Emergency Notification System in the News

News

Officials implement CodeRED
Thursday, September 7, 2006 9:16 AM CDT

Emergency notification system can reach 60,000 residents per hour

Texarkana Gazette

One of the hardest parts of evacuating Texarkana neighborhoods after an October 2005 train derailment and explosion was notifying the residents at 5 a.m.

Local officials are hoping the implementation of CodeRED, an emergency notification system, will make future scenarios a lot easier.

“It beats leaps and bounds over knocking on doors. We have a lot better chance of reaching people this way,” said Capt. Shawn Vaughn, commander of the Central and Communications Division of the Texarkana, Ark., Police Department.

The cities of Texarkana, Bowie County and Miller County have contracted with Emergency Communications Network Inc. for its CodeRED high-speed telephone emergency notification services.

The CodeRED system gives city officials the ability to deliver pre-recorded emergency telephone notification/information messages to targeted areas or the entire city/county at a rate of up to 60,000 calls per hour.

The system will cost about $25,000 for the first year, and the cost will be shared by the two cities and counties. The cost will be about half that amount during subsequent years, Vaughn said.

Officials are urging residents to register for the service as soon as possible.

“If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called,” Vaughn said.

The CodeRED system not only offers faster calling rates and improved message delivery, it gives individuals and businesses the ability to add their own phone numbers directly to the system’s telephone database. Vaughn emphasized this is an extremely important feature.

“If it comes from that number, it’s a legitimate call dealing with a legitimate emergency.”

Incidents the system would be used for would include chemical incidents such as train derailments, freezing weather conditions or even a tornado sighting. It also could be used to notify residents of a specific neighborhood if they needed to evacuate in case of a hostage situation.

“It would tell the people in those neighborhoods to leave and what direction to go in,” said Officer Chris Rankin, spokesman for the Texarkana, Ark., Police Department.

Rankin said with the CodeRED system, officials can pull up a digital map of the city and focus on specific areas if needed. For example, if a child is reported missing near Spring Lake Park, residents in neighborhoods near the park would be notified and could be looking for the child.

Residents are encouraged to log onto the city of Texarkana’s Website, www.txkusa.org, and follow the link to the CodeRED Residential and Business Data Collection page.

Those without Internet access may call the Bi-State central records and communications department (903-798-3181) to give their information over the phone.

Required information includes first and last name, street address (physical address, no P.O. boxes), city, state, ZIP code and primary phone number. Additional phone numbers are optional.

All businesses should register, as well as all individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, who have changed their phone number or address within the last year and who use a cellular phone as their primary home phone.

Vaughn explained street addresses are needed to select which phone numbers will receive emergency notification calls in any given situation.

“The system works fine for cell phones, too, but we have to have a street address,” he said.

People who have recently moved but kept the same listed or unlisted phone number also need to change their address in the database.

Vaughn said he understands some people may be skeptical about turning their phone numbers over to city officials.

“A lot of folks are going to be suspicious about giving out their numbers, but you are not going to be getting a call every week from CodeRED. If you get the call, it’s going to be a real emergency. It’s an excellent tool.”