A new emergency notification system alerting businesses and residents of incidents that may impact safety is in use by the Town of Oro Valley.
The high-speed emergency notification service is called CodeRED and is provided by Emergency Communications Network of Ormond Beach, Florida, said Oro Valley Police Department Cmdr. Jason Larter.
Larter said the townβs yearly contract for the Cloud-based system costs $13,125. Officials said the system was chosen for its reliability and accuracy, and its use globally.
Residents, businesses and town employees will be notified of an emergency through telephone calls, text messages, emails, Facebook and Twitter, said Larter.
The alerts will include evacuations, missing person notices, AMBER alerts, drinking water emergencies, water utility information and alerts of hazardous traffic or road conditions, according to a police department news release.
βThe system is operational now. It went into service earlier this week, but a test call is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 22,β said Larter.
βThere are 20,000 phone numbers β land lines β in the (database) system, and the numbers will go up when people register their cell phones,β he said.
The test call will let residents know what alerts the emergency notification system will deliver, and how residents can enroll additional contact information for emergency alerts.
To learn how the system works, go to vimeo.com/119148502 online.
To provide additional contact information, including cell phone numbers and email addresses, go to www.ovpd.org/Code-Red and click on the CodeRED logo, officials said.
Before CodeRED, the town used the Reverse 911 emergency notification system for more than 10 years, said Larter. The use of that system ended last year.
