Atlantic County is working on its reverse 911 system to reach everyone

Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012 11:59 pm | Updated: 4:43 pm, Sun Feb 19, 2012.

By JOEL LANDAU Staff WriterpressofAtlanticCity.com

encourage the public to make sure they are part of the system by signing in to the county’s website. This step is especially important for people with cellphones or online phone service who are not listed in traditional phone directories.

Residents can also personalize what type of incidents they want to be notified of.

This is the fifth year the county has run the system, which is about to undergo some changes, said Ed Conover, the county’s deputy emergency management coordinator.

The county partners with Verizon to obtain a list of all phone numbers in the county — regardless of whether people have another carrier, such as Comcast — but some numbers, especially cellphones, are still missing, Conover said.

Officials do not have an estimate of how many missing numbers there are, but Conover said the database has about 250,000 entrants.

Conover encourages people to visit ReadyAtlantic.org to register their home numbers and cellphone numbers if they are not already in the database.

“If something goes on during the day, you would get it immediately (on your cellphone) instead of waiting until you got home and checked your messages,” he said.

People can also register to receive updates through email, Facebook or Twitter, Conover said. This tool is particularly useful to quell erroneous rumors that spread during a disaster, he said.

The state Office of Emergency Management will start training the county this week to add text alerts to the system, he said.

People who live out of town but own properties in the area should also register, he said.

Notifications can be sent out on a variety of incidents, such as blizzards, fires, floods, low visibility, high winds, hurricanes, tsunamis or tornados. Residents can create their own account to customize the types of calls they wish to receive.

The system is also getting some improvements, Conover said. For example, the county now has the ability to send out warnings from the National Weather Service about events such as severe storms, he said.

This week, the system may change to give shorter messages but allow residents to call back and receive more information, Conover said. The message will provide a toll-free number to call to hear the message again and more information, he said.

“There is a lot of information to get out to the public. To call 250,000 homes takes a lot of time,” he said. “Rather then send out a minute message, we can send out a 20-second call faster and not overextend the Verizon network.”

The reverse 911 system was used to warn residents when an inmate escaped from the Hamilton Township Police Department’s custody Jan. 31. Authorities searched for Shane Hopkins for about 20 hours before he was apprehended.

Township Police Chief Stacy Tappeiner said there were several residents in the area who were not part of the system and were not notified. This has been a problem in the past, such as last summer following Tropical Storm Irene, when residents were concerned the dam at Lake Lenape would not be able to hold, he said.

“It’s a good system for informing people,” he said. “But the lack of numbers has caused some people to call the department and say, ‘Why is this person getting calls, and why am I not?’”

Tappeiner, who said the county runs the system and not the individual departments, encouraged people to sign up.

Hamilton Committeewoman Aline Dix said she is working with local seniors who do not have computers to help get them signed up. She said she hopes the county can add a way to accommodate these people.

Conover said a manual signup is not yet available but noted residents can access the Internet at their local library.

Contact Joel Landau: 609-272-7215 JLandau@pressofac.com