Thursday, July 20, 2006
Tiverton Police can issue emergency warnings by phone
TIVERTON – Tiverton residents just become part of a high-tech notification
system that will enable police to alert them by automated phone calls about
emergencies in their neighborhoods. It's sort of an electronic Paul Revere.
Called "CodeRed," the innovative messaging system that became
operational about July 15, will enable every household in town to be notified
of an emergency by phone within 15 minutes, said Police Chief Thomas Blakey.
CodeRed has the ability, he said, to send messages out at the rate of 60,000
per hour. About two-thirds of the 6,000 units in Tiverton are enrolled in the
database the department. Those not yet in the system, the chief said, could
be newcomers to town, people who have moved or those with cell phones or
unlisted numbers, or businesses and others who have simply changed their
number in the last year.
"No one should assume his or her phone number is included,"
Chief Blakey said.
The CodeRed alert system is only as effective as the database allows it to
be. "If your phone number is not in the database," said Chief
Blakey, "you will not be called."
Enrolling and getting calls
Individuals and businesses may enroll in the service by accessing the
Tiverton police department website (www.tivertonpd.org) and follow the link to the
"CodeRed Residential and Business Data Collection" page. Those
without internet access may call the police department (625-6716) and provide
the data by phone.
Needed are first and last names, street address, town, state, zip code,
and primary phone number. Additional or secondary phone numbers are optional.
Because messages may target particular geographical locations, actual
street addresses must be provided.
Situations in which the emergency notification system might be used,
according to Chief Blakey, could include a hurricane, a water pipe break or
flooding, a missing Alzheimers' patient or child, a hazardous materials
spill, a rash of break-ins, or other criminal activity that might warrant
maintaining a lookout in a particular neighborhood.
"We have to maintain credibility and make sure it's a true
emergency," the chief said. "We're trying the program out," he
said, and the types of occasions that the alerting system would be used for,
the timing of the calls, and the best wording for different messages are all
still under review.
The phone-alert system would utilize a customized pre-recorded telephone
message, most likely voiced by Chief Blakey or a by ranking officer of the
department, that would be sent out automatically at extremely high speed to
all on the database.
The caller would identify himself or herself, then recite a brief message
that might be up to 30 seconds long. The message could be sent out at any
hour of the day or night, depending upon the nature of the emergency, and
could be accompanied by instructions about where to go, what to do, or how to
get further information. The message would be left on an answering machine.
Service provider and costs
The service is provided by Emergency Communications Network, Inc. of
Ormond Beach, Florida, and is used by a number of communities throughout the
country, many of them in areas susceptible to tornados, hurricanes, flooding,
forest fires, and similar emergencies. The company maintains a website: www.coderedweb.com.
Tiverton has a one-year contract with the company for the CodeRed system,
paid for from a federal grant made available through the U.S. Department of
Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which promotes
training and upgrading of equipment and systems to law enforcement agencies.
Communities using the service pay a negotiated fee that is based in part
on the number of minutes contracted for and used. Tiverton is allotted 25,000
minutes for the first year. A sampling of communities using the service have
purchased from between 15,000 to 40,000 minutes, paying fees ranging from
$5,000 to $15,000.
Chief Blakey stressed that the data gathered (names, addresses, phone
numbers, etc.) will remain in the custody of the Tiverton Police Department
and "will only be used for emergency notification purposes."
BY TOM KILLIN DALGLISH
tdalglish@eastbaynewspapers.com
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