Shrewsbury considers implementing Reverse 911 program
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - The Shrewsbury Police Department and the town of Shrewsbury were recently accepted as part of the Worcester County Reverse 911 program.

Reverse 911, a program offered by the Worcester County Sheriff 's Office, is designed to alert residents in case of an emergency and is available to all public safety agencies throughout central Massachusetts.

"Reverse 911 is an eff ective tool to notify the public in emergencies involving missing or endangered persons, a hazardous materials event, criminal activities or weather-related evacuations," Shrewsbury Police Chief James Hester said.

According to Hester, his department is preparing to begin training with the Sheriff 's Office.

The system uses a global positioning system (GPS) and 911 phone listings to contact residents beginning with those who will be most aff ected by the situation, and then notifying others who are not directly aff ected but should be informed.

Hester said the ability to quickly notify people could make all the diff erence in an emergency situation.

"In situations such as a missing or endangered person [for example], the public could quickly be made aware of the description of the person and [could] notify authorities if observed in their area," he said. "Having the ability to quickly and efficiently notify a large number of people in a specific geographical area can greatly assist public safety in search efforts and help to bring these incidents to a successful conclusion."

Notifications would come from the Police, Fire, Public Works, Health or School departments, depending on the nature of the emergency.

Each department would have a designated person trained to use the Reverse 911 system and be responsible for making many decisions, including who should be notified and in what order, which residents are at the highest risk of injury or exposure, what wording will be used in the message that's played over the phone and how many contact attempts will be made to reach each person.

Hester said there have been times in the past when such an alert system would have come in handy.

"The system would have been beneficial in making notification to area residents during the 2005 incident involving the hazardous material spill from a tanker truck traveling on Route 140," he said. "Notifications to area residents could have been made to inform them as to the nature [of the] incident and precautions to take."

The program is being off ered to all central Massachusetts towns at no cost for the first year, as it has been funded by the Central Region Homeland Security Advisory Council, at a total cost of about $250,000.