When trouble strikes: County looking to get mass notification system

By this summer, if severe weather is coming or a child goes missing, an alert could be targeted specifically to cellphones and land line phones in Johnson County.

And if certain areas are at risk of flooding or a police situation prompts lockdowns, then phones in just those areas would be sent alerts.

The county is looking to get a mass notification system, which would send alerts to all cellphones and landlines in a certain area during an emergency, similar to the notifications you get now during an Amber Alert. But the technology would allow officials to specifically target all or parts of Johnson County, Johnson County 911 Executive Director Ryan Rather said.

Having a mass notification system has been a topic of discussion by county officials for years, and is long overdue, Sheriff Doug Cox said.

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“It’s a great idea. We are one of few counties that don’t have a mass notification system and it’s time for us to get on board,” Cox said.

The system the county is seeking, by Ohio-based Inspiron Logistics, would cost $8,985 the first year and $13,975 the years after, Rather said. The system has gotten approval from the county commissioners, and the cost would need to be approved by the county council before the contract will be finalized, he said. His hope is to have the system in place by early summer.

The notification system has two parts: one that automatically sends emergency alerts to all phones in the targeted area, and another that allows people to opt in to get specific notifications, such as a string of home break-ins in their community or alerts during the Johnson County fair.

Currently, the county uses a system called Nixle, which allows people to opt in for alerts. The sheriff’s office has used the system in the past to alert people of recent home burglaries or car break-ins. But getting the word out to get people to sign up for the alerts has been difficult, and that means warnings are only going to a few thousand people, when the county’s population is nearing 150,000, Cox said.

With the new system, not everyone would receive every alert, but if something met the criteria of a life-threatening emergency, then a notification would go out, Rather said. That could include a missing child, a tornado warning or a severe thunderstorm warning with a tornado watch or a lockdown due to police action, he said.

He pointed to several examples where the system could have been useful, such as when a child in Whiteland was missing recently and multiple agencies were out searching. He also noted when Greenwood police were searching for suspects in a shooting at a home on Meridian Street in December, and called nearby schools and day cares to warn them. Two of the suspects ended up going to a nearby church, which has a day care. If the county would have had the system, officials could have alerted all the schools and day cares in that area at once, he said.

The county can also load information into the system about the flood-prone areas in the county, so if flooding was expected, residents and businesses in those areas would get a warning and could also get information about resources available after the flood, such as shelters, he said.

“Being able to achieve something like that for this area is really needed,” Rather said.

And those alerts will go out much sooner, since the county could send the notification, rather than waiting for another agency, such as Indiana State Police or the National Weather Service. That means residents would get alerts faster about approaching severe weather or when a child goes missing, Rather said.

Because the system targets phones in a geographic area, the alert would also go to people passing through the county, such as motorists on Interstate 65, he said.

Rather said people should not expect to get too many alerts, because officials don’t want them to start ignoring the notifications.

“We don’t want to put out a bunch of messages and abuse it. We just want it for those life-threatening times,” Rather said.

“If everyone’s phone is going off, you know something major is going on.”

But if people want more alerts about what is going on in their community, they will have several options they can select for notifications for the opt-in system, he said. For example, if they plan to spend the week at the county fair, they can get notifications when storms are approaching or a child is lost. Or if they want to know about crime in their neighborhood, the county can send alerts out to people within a certain distance of a point on the map, he said.

“Something like this is just going to keep us safer,” Rather said.

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The county is looking into getting a mass notification system, which would send alerts for emergencies and other situations. Here’s a closer look:

Who: All cellphones and landline phones within the county or a targeted area would receive emergency alerts. Other alerts, such as for recent break-ins, would go to people who opt in to the system.

How: The system uses landline phones and cellphone towers to locate phones within the targeted area to either send a text alert or notification call.

What: The alert would be similar to the ones you receive during an Amber Alert.

When: County officials hope to have the system in place by the summer.

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