On Valentine's Day at Northern Illinois University, Steven P. Kazmierczak shot more than 20 people, killing five before turning the gun on himself. Within moments, school officials sent e-mails and voice mails to students warning them to avoid certain buildings on campus until authorities could figure out when the danger had passed.
The national news is filled with reports of such shootings or of natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and tornados. Even Mt. Lebanon emergencies have made headlines, such as Richard Baumhammers¹ 2000 shooting rampage. In the wake of such catastrophes, notification systems like the one Northern Illinois University used have become critical components in the effort to save lives.
Towns like Mt. Lebanon are investing in new technologies to get the word out. Enter LeboAlert, a community notification system that will contact residents and businesses the minute an emergency happens. Another component of the system, called LeboLink, will allow residents to sign up for non-emergency information about municipal programs and services‹road repairs, new recreation programs or weather-related program closures, for example. The goal is to have both LeboAlert and LeboLink fully functional by the end of the year. The project was budgeted at $59,000 but could cost less than that.
The emergency notification function of LeboAlert has the higher priority and will be the first to be implemented. Mt. Lebanon Fire Chief Nick Sohyda says the first segment to be operational will be the dial-out system, which initially will call landline phones using lists of Verizon and AT&T service customers. But the municipal staff realizes there are other phone services out there‹and growing numbers of people use cell phones as their primary phone. Everyone will have a chance to log on to the Mt. Lebanon Web site to add or revise phone numbers or even to say you would prefer to get an e-mail or a notice on a PDA. Plus, you¹ll be able to change your contact options any time you want.
The system is very efficient, able to dial up to 600 phone numbers a minute, notifying the entire population in a flash, Sohyda says. It can even be used in cooperation with our GIS system to hone in on particular areas to be called. For example, if there¹s a gas leak in your neighborhood, only your neighborhood would be called.
Examples of emergencies serious enough to warrant contact include weather emergencies, hazardous materials incidents, hostage situations and local Amber alerts. Other contacts might alert residents to potential disasters. For example, if the 911 system is out, you would get a phone call giving you a temporary number to call for emergencies.
The municipality plans to partner with the school district for LeboAlert. The system will access school district as well as municipal phone lines to make emergency contact. One example of a perfect use for the system would have been last fall when the high school lost power on a beautiful, sunny morning. There would be little chance most residents would have turned on Cable Channel 7 or 19 to learn of the closure unless they were tipped off. But LeboAlert will be able to call the homes of all the high school students to say school is canceled for the day. If a building needed to be locked down, parents could be notified on their cell phones at work.
Once the emergency aspect is operational, the system will kick in its LeboLink component. Residents will have the option to sign up for customizable information updates that will keep them plugged in to the community and increase quality of life‹from preschool soccer registration times to leaf pickup schedules. You can choose as much or as little information as you want, and just like the emergency arm of the system, you can update your personal data any time via software that will reside on Mt. Lebanon¹s Web site.
Community notification systems are the wave of the future; in several years, we won't know how we got along without it.
