Area towns join local Reverse 911 system
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Region - Westborough, Northborough and Shrewsbury have all signed up to participate in the Worcester Regional Alerting System, better known as Reverse 911.

Southborough, Hudson and Marlborough have all been invited to join but have not yet officially done so. Westborough and Northborough signed on to the program within the last two weeks, while Shrewsbury joined in late January.

The program is being coordinated through the Worcester County Sheriff 's Department with funding coming through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security.

The system would notify residents by telephone - land lines only - in case of an emergency in their town or in their area of town.

"The great thing about the program is its GeoCast alert feature, which can geographically define notification areas," Northborough Fire Chief David Durgin said. "If a resident with Alzheimer's is missing, for example, then houses in a one-mile radius of the disappearance would be notified. If there is a Hazmat incident, the residents in that zone can be notified and instructed to stay inside until they receive further notification."

The Reverse 911 system requires that the phone call be answered, Durgin explained, adding that the system, which explains the emergency through an electronic message when the phone is answered, will not leave voicemail or a message on an answering machine or forward the call. The system will also record which addresses are notified and where the call has gone unanswered, Durgin said.

"It's just another great tool to help us keep the public safe and informed," Durgin said. "Joining is really a nobrainer."

Northborough Town Administrator Barry Brenner said the program will be funded through a grant received from the Department of Homeland Security at least until June 30, 2010. After that, towns could incur some costs to maintain the system, but both Brenner and Westborough Police Chief Alan Gordon think those costs will be negligible for the value of the service being provided.

"It cost $300,000 for the startup of the system," Gordon said. "If it costs half that for maintenance and upkeep, and there's no reason to think the cost could even be that high, but if it was, that would mean each of the 74 towns would be charged about $2,000. That would be well worth the service provided. In my opinion, so would $5,000 per town."

Gordon said the system was discussed at a recent meeting of police officers and chiefs from throughout the region and he didn't hear of any town being off ered the system not wanting to join.

The system was installed in December 2007 at the Sheriff Department's office in West Boylston, but Gordon said local towns and local officials would hold the responsibility for activating the event. He said the system will be able to be activated only by authorized members of the police, fire, school and public works departments as well as the board of health.

"It's imperative that the system is only used for emergencies," Gordon said. "We can't cry wolf with this system. If we do, people won't pay attention to it and it will lose its eff ectiveness."

Gordon said the system wouldn't be used, for example, to notify residents of school cancellations because of snow.