The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office "reverse 911" program City Watch was recently bought out by another company - Code Red.
What this means for residents is that all information previously registered with the old program will be disposed of and re-registration with the new program will be necessary to remain on the call list.
Undersheriff Curtiss Kull said this is of particular importance for those residents who do not have land lines and communicate solely through cell phones. The county receives an annual report from AT&T containing the addresses and phone numbers of every resident with a home phone number. Residents without a land line are responsible for submitting that information themselves.
Kull said the system is used strictly for emergencies. It will never be used to promote someone's bake sale, he said; residents can be sure of that. Kull gave some examples of times when the system would be used: missing or abducted children, fires, gas leaks and emergency situations where the message has to be transmitted quickly.
One of the main functions of the system, according to Kull, is notification of search and rescue volunteers. Without it, someone would have to manually call a list of over 60 people when there is a search and rescue emergency.
"It allows us to deliver those messages instantaneously," he said.
The system is programmed to allow the sheriff's office to target specific areas of town and even specific streets and blocks. Residents can choose to be notified through a variety of avenues including land lines, cell phones, email, text and even social media.
To register, residents can visit the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office website at www.hcsonv.com and click the link at the top of the page. The link will direct residents to the Code Red website to fill out information.[[In-content Ad]]
