Emergency Notifications...Your Thoughts?

Below is a news article out of the News Tribune in Tacoma. Our own county has a very similar system of "reverse 911" called Emergency Community Notification System (ECNS). This system has been in place in Cowlitz County for several years and has been used primarily to evacuate neighborhoods in flooding situations. We test this system every winter to make sure that it is still viable and running properly. We will be conducting a test this Monday, November 30th, in the Ryderwood area. At any rate, here is the article:

County's emergency robo-calls annoy, confuse Lakewood residents
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 7:17 AM PST
By Brent Champaco
The News Tribune

TACOMA, Wash. -- Pierce County’s emergency call system sent an automated plea for help to about 11,000 Lakewood homes when a disabled man went missing last week.But it appears the system might have prompted more questions and complaints than assistance from residents annoyed by the late-night and early-morning robo-calls.It all started when a 50-year-old man who recently moved to Lakewood went missing from his health care facility Thursday night. Authorities were concerned because he is deaf, has serious medical issues and has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old.Police enlisted the help of the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management and its automated, reverse-911 call system, the Intrado Notification System.At the request of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, the system called 11,000 homes in the city’s southeast corner about 11:30 p.m. Thursday. A recorded voice asked residents to call police if they spotted the missing man. Those same residents got another call around 6 a.m. Friday.The good news was someone spotted the man in Federal Way early Friday. Police eventually found him at a bus stop, and he was taken back to his home.But the incident marked the first time Lakewood residents got calls via Pierce County’s emergency system, and some people weren’t too happy with the technology.“We certainly got quite a few calls Monday,” said Sheri Badger, spokeswoman for the Department of Emergency Management.Someone with the screen name “karlveek” wrote about the inconvenience on The News Tribune’s Web site.“I’m glad they found him,” the person wrote. “But did the Lakewood Police have to robo-call me at 6:30 a.m. today to inform me that he was missing(?) I don’t mind the computer-generated calls, but 6:30 in the morning is a little too early.”Badger said despite the complaints, the reverse-911 system works.The county’s emergency management department has relied on the system since 2003. It can geographically identify, warn and provide instructions to residents during an emergency, according to Intrado’s Web site.Up until this year, the county used the system primarily for evacuations and other emergencies. For example, Fife requested thousands of calls to warn people to evacuate during the region’s heavy flooding this year.Now, the county is also using the system to help find missing people. In October, it sent calls to Spanaway residents when a 75-year-old Alzheimer’s patient went missing. The system notified residents in South Hill of a missing 16-year-old girl this month.In both cases, the system helped police find the missing person safely, Badger said.Lakewood’s instance marked the third time the county used the system for missing persons.In every case, an incident commander decides whether to notify residents by phone and how many people the system should call. It’s capable of placing 41,600 calls per minute.Last week, an incident commander with the Sheriff’s Department decided to place calls to southeast Lakewood, Badger said.The system isn’t perfect. Someone with the county typed last week’s message into system incorrectly, so the voice told residents to dial “nine hundred eleven” rather than “9-1-1.” Badger said that won’t be an ongoing problem.Lakewood City Councilman Walter Neary was one of the 11,000 residents who got last week’s calls.But instead of needing help, he assumed the missing man might be dangerous. The recorded voice didn’t make it clear.Neary said he appreciates how the system can help authorities.“I just think we need to educate people on what the plan should be,” he said.

I want YOUR thoughts. What do you think of using this type of notification system in a missing person situation? Please vote in the poll on the right-hand margin.