Peoria County: News

City and County Offer Residents Emergency Notification

December 1, 2008 at 10:29AM (updated on December 1, 2008 at 11:37AM)

The City of Peoria and the County of Peoria have joined together in contracting with Emergency Communications Network, Inc., of Ormond Beach, Florida, for its “CodeRED” high-speed telephone emergency notification services. The CodeRED system gives City and County officials the ability to deliver pre-recorded emergency telephone notification/information messages to targeted areas or the entire County at a rate up to 50,000 calls per hour. The CodeRED system was chosen after the contract with the previous service provider expired and offers advanced notification features.
 
Public safety officials caution that such systems are only as good as the telephone database supporting them. If the telephone number is not in the database, it will not be called. The CodeRED system not only offers faster calling rates and improved message delivery, it gives individuals and businesses the ability to add their own phone numbers directly into the system’s telephone database. With more and more people using only wireless phones, this is a very important feature.
 
The CodeRED system is a geographical based notification system, which means street addresses are needed to select which phone numbers will receive emergency notification calls in any given situation. It is for this reason that you must input your street address when registering your wireless/cellular phone.
 
To ensure no one is omitted, individuals and businesses can click here and follow the link to the sign up form on the CodeRED Residential and Business Data Collection page. Those without internet access may call the City of Peoria Emergency Communications Center at 309-494-8000 to give their information over the phone. Required information includes first and last name, street address (no P.O. boxes), city, state, zip code, and primary phone number; additional phone numbers are optional. The information will only be used for emergency notification purposes.
 
Individuals and businesses that have changed their phone number or address in the last four months, and those who use a wireless/cellular phone as their primary home phone, should register. Individual or businesses that have NOT changed their landline phone number or address in the last four months do NOT need to register. The 9-1-1 database has already been put into the system. All listed and unlisted landline telephone numbers for residential and business phones should already be in the database.
 
Questions may be directed to David Tuttle, ECC Manager, City of Peoria Emergency Communications Center. His phone number is (309) 494-8035; email address is dtuttle@ci.peoria.il.us.