SCARBOROUGH, Maine — With fewer people using landlines, police are trying to update the town’s Code Red Emergency Alert system with cellphone numbers.
The Code Red system has been in place 10 years and is used to quickly notify large numbers of people about an emergency. Lead dispatcher Joe Thornton said the town’s contract with the alert system includes all publicly listed phone numbers.
“With more young people only having cellphones, and not home phones, we’re trying to encourage people to submit their cellular numbers,” Thornton said.
Thornton said the system can send text messages and email alerts, and there also is a Code Red Mobile Alert app for smartphones. When Scarborough residents sign up with their cellphone number, they can choose if they’d like to be notified by phone call, text, email or app alert.
Thornton said the updated technology also can text or email photos to cellphones in the case of a missing child. In the past, people would only receive a phone call providing the name of the child but wouldn’t be able to see what the child looked like.
The Code Red system also is used in cases of extreme weather, where evacuation may be necessary. Thornton said that in the past five years, the system has only had to be used in Scarborough once or twice.
Thornton said there haven’t been any problems, so far, because of people not submitting their cellphone numbers, but the police want to be prepared. If an alert does need to go out, he said they want to reach as many residents as possible.
“We’re trying to pre-emptively strike by having people give us their cellphone numbers,” Thornton said.
Residents can sign up by visiting the Police or Fire Department social media pages, or by going to the Code Red website.