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Hotline calls up in time of crisis
By RALPH MONTANO
Sacramento Bee (California)
Since Hurricane Katrina, flood and disaster preparedness has been a hot topic in Sacramento neighborhoods.
City officials have hosted seven neighborhood meetings on the subject, and at each gathering nothing has created more excitement than Reverse 911.
Its formal name is Emergency Telephone Notification System, but officials prefer to call it Reverse 911 because it offers a hint of how the system works.
If there is an emergency or disaster, the telephone program allows law enforcement agencies to notify every residence and business in a geographic area with a telephone call. At a rate of up to 4,800 calls per minute, the system can relay information about everything from evacuation routes to emergency shelter locations.
Last week, the Sacramento City Council gave Sacramento Police Chief Albert Najera authorization to negotiate with neighboring agencies to begin implementing the telephone system. Reverse 911 will be shared regionally with eight other agencies including area fire departments, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol and the cities of Roseville, Rocklin, West Sacramento, Folsom and Galt.
Officials said the system should be running by January.
“People are very excited about this,” said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo. “This has the potential to help us in a number of situations.”
Deputy Police Chief Rick Braziel told the council that the Police Department is setting up computer servers, software and databases and will launch the program with a phone call.
The call will notify residents that they are on the Reverse 911 database. It will ask the person who answers to call about a language preference for future messages.
For flood preparation, the system will ask residents if they anticipate needing assistance to evacuate their homes. Such information will be stored in a central database that will help area fire departments prepare for evacuations. Residents also have the choice of not being notified of public service bulletins by telephone. The system will still call them in city or neighborhood emergencies, Braziel added.
“It’s a very robust system,” Braziel said.
Officials said phone systems like this one are being used by hundreds of police agencies nationwide. The council authorized purchasing and installing the system in May using grant money from the federal Homeland Security Department.
Although the City Council voiced universal support of the system, there were several questions brought up about when and how it will be used.
Braziel said Reverse 911 has the ability to be used in everything from major disasters such as floods to smaller emergencies such as a missing child. The departments using the service will have to create a policy to guide what types of emergencies will merit a phone call. The resolution passed by the council also authorized the Najera to establish internal protocol for the city to use the Reverse 911 system.
In Sacramento, the authority to make an emergency call will rest with the chiefs of police and fire departments, officials said. The mayor and city manager may be notified before the message goes out, depending on the nature of the emergency.
Braziel said if the service is used for something other than a major disaster, the calls will be made during regular business hours.
Councilwoman Lauren Hammond asked about the security of the database and if it can be used for things other than emergencies. Braziel said the database of telephone numbers can be used only for emergency purposes. If someone hacked into the phone number database, they would face federal charges if caught.
“One of the pitfalls of the system is that it is only as good as its database,” Braziel said. Wrong numbers will occur, but the phone number database will be updated with the telephone company each month, he said.
The city has a three-year service and maintenance agreement for the Reverse 911 system, officials said. Future updates to the system could include the ability for it to send e-mails or text messages.