Douglas County law enforcement agencies remind residents and businesses to sign up for CodeRED, emergency notifications
Recent events involving multiple law enforcement agencies looking for suspects in residential neighborhoods highlight the importance of signing up for emergency notifications.
The Douglas County Emergency Telephone Service Authority wants to stress the importance of being able to connect with the community during emergencies, such as: law enforcement in your area dealing with criminal activity, wildfires and other potentially life-threatening events.
Even if you have a home number and you get a reverse 911 you should still sign up for this service so that yo can be notified of any emergency situations when you are away from your home via your cell phone. When you sign up you can choose to be notified via phone call, text message, email or all three. You can also edit the information if you go on vacation and want the person watching your home to be notified.
CodeRED is a high-speed telephone emergency notification system that allows public safety personnel to send messages directly to residents – whether they are home or away – during an emergency. The system can target specific areas with prerecorded phone messages, emails or texts.
In order for CodeRED to perform at its best, it needs an accurate database of contact information, associated with addresses. That’s why the public’s help is needed. To ensure your information is included in this database, you must sign up. Registering is free online at http://NotifyDouglasCounty.org
You will need to enter your full name, street address, city, state, ZIP code and primary phone number. You may also enter a cellular number and/or email address, so you can be contacted even if you are not at home. Data will be kept confidential.
Recognizing CodeRED messages: CodeRED messages will have caller ID No. 866-419-5000 and the name “Emergency Comm.” We recommend programing the number into your cell phone as a new contact using the name “CodeRED Emergency,” so that you can call the number to hear the message again if you need to.
You can also install the smart phone app for iPhone & Droid users by scanning this CodeRED QR Code:
However, the system does not include weather alerts. Douglas County and its municipalities encourage residents to stay tuned to weather radios and local media for information during severe weather.
NWS alerts are now automatically being sent to all cellular phone subscribers during any severe weather conditions that occur within the county of the cellular subscriber. Douglas County does not have any control over those alerts and unfortunately, the NWS alerts are not an opt-in/opt-out service so the only way that you will not receive those alerts is through a setting on your cellular phone.
How reliable is this system?
According to national averages, emergency notification systems connect with users 70 percent of the time. CodeRED has been tested in the County, and reports are showing it connects an average of 85 percent of the time. Cell tower connections and technology issues impact these statistics.
DISCLAIMER: The CodeRED™ notification service (the “Service”) is provided as a supplemental emergency communication method and should not be relied upon exclusively. Neither the Douglas County Emergency Telephone Service Authority (the “Authority”)nor Douglas County (the “County”) make any warranties of any kind, either express or implied, with regards to the Service, including without limitation, warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or delivery of any information posted or transmitted by the Authority through the CodeRED™ System. There is no guarantee that a notification will reach any particular resident upon activation. By providing the Service, neither the Authority nor the County assume a duty of care, nor do they waive any of the protections of the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (24-10-101, et seq., C.R.S.). Neither the Authority nor the County, nor any of their affiliates, agents, contractors, or respective employees, shall be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, reliance, punitive, or consequential damages or for lost profits or revenues or lost data or costs of cover relating to the Service, regardless of the legal theory under which liability is asserted.
The post Sign up for CodeRED emergency notifications appeared first on Best of Castle Rock Colorado.