Reverse 911 calls

[badatmath]

I just got one. It appears the police can call you if you have a land line - the phone company gives away your name even if unlisted (cells must be registered separately) and leave a message of important items. In this case it was a missing 74 year old woman. Does not appear to be any opt out. It is called CENS Community Emergency Notification System. Claims to be different than Amber alerts

Seems strange. I am not sure I like it or not. Certainly never heard of it before.

 

[Sunset]

I like it.

I don't have the radio/tv on all day.

So when some emergency happens, this might be the only way I find out.

Years ago, a neighbor came over and told us to lock the doors as there was a nut running around with an rifle and had shot people. We didn't know as no radio/etc on.

 

[badatmath]

Well I can tell you there have absolutely been emergencies on my street or near by and no call. . . had this number 20+ years though IDK how long the system has existed.

 

[braumeister]

You can also register your cell phone to get alerts that way.

While landline phones receive a recorded message, cell and VoIP phones are capable of receiving both a recorded message and a text message.

 

[MarieIG]

We get messages on our landline from the Town, i.e. regarding garbage pickup, an upcoming storm, concert, etc. We haven't gotten any yet from the police.

I'm fine with it.

 

[Sunset]

Well I can tell you there have absolutely been emergencies on my street or near by and no call. . . had this number 20+ years though IDK how long the system has existed.

Yeah, we didn't get a call about the shooter.

When I was in Canada one Summer, I got a presidential alert via my cell phone, a crazy gunman in Canada was on the loose. But it was really far from me.
The Canadian's around me didn't get any message.
Maybe it was a miss-dial as I don't know why I got this message.

 

[youbet]

We've had that here in our Chicago suburb for many years. It's OK. I can't say the system has ever saved me from anything. But, calls are infrequent and never pointless.

Just estimating, I'd say I get at least 20 malicious spam calls for every CENS call. So the CENS calls are pretty far down my list of issues......

 

[badatmath]

Wasn't an "issue" just a surprise. But unless the missing 74 year old knocks on the door I am not going to be the one to find her. Not planning to go out today.

 

[Koolau]

I just got one. It appears the police can call you if you have a land line - the phone company gives away your name even if unlisted (cells must be registered separately) and leave a message of important items. In this case it was a missing 74 year old woman. Does not appear to be any opt out. It is called CENS Community Emergency Notification System. Claims to be different than Amber alerts

Seems strange. I am not sure I like it or not. Certainly never heard of it before.

No land line, but get alerts (weather, Amber, North Korea inbound missile, etc.) It seems we get enough of them that I'm starting to tune them out. YMMV

 

[OldShooter]

Why don't you call your police department to ask about it?

 

[badatmath]

Not really important, I was expecting the bank cause I had left a call back rather than waiting on hold and when it said "reverse 911" I was thinking do they think I am dead? And then it played a message.

I just wondered if anyone had heard of it because I do not know many people who have a land line. If I had wanted it on my cell I would not have known you had to sign up specially for it.

 

[SecondAttempt]

...but get alerts (weather, Amber, North Korea inbound missile, etc.)

Wasn't the missile alert fun to wake up to? I immediately turned on CNN. When they did not have a story about it after 5 minutes I went down and made breakfast and set us up to be looking in the Oahu direction just in case there was a mushroom cloud. I think breakfast was kim chee and mushroom omelets but I could be mistaken.

We also don't have a landline but there is an opt-in service here to get alerts from the county, civil defense, police, etc. I find it very useful because they let you know when roads are closed for fallen trees, traffic accidents, etc.

 

[rk911]

I just got one. It appears the police can call you if you have a land line - the phone company gives away your name even if unlisted (cells must be registered separately) and leave a message of important items. In this case it was a missing 74 year old woman. Does not appear to be any opt out. It is called CENS Community Emergency Notification System. Claims to be different than Amber alerts

Seems strange. I am not sure I like it or not. Certainly never heard of it before.

the reverse 9-1-1 systems I'm familiar with simply batch-dial numbers in a pre-defined geographic area.

 

[marko]

Our town lets you sign up your cell/landline and text; it's been around for over 20 years. It is also neighborhood specific which is helpful.

Fire, police, trash collection, lost persons, coyote warnings etc.

 

[CaptTom]

Years ago, a neighbor came over and told us to lock the doors as there was a nut running around with an rifle and had shot people.

That's one brave neighbor. If there was a mad killer on the loose in my neighborhood, I'd probably stay inside. Running around could get you shot, if not by the mad killer, then by someone thinking you might be the mad killer.

 

[MC Rider]

We signed up for the voluntary alerts. The only one I recall recently was last spring. There was an evacuation order for the whole small town for land movement and mud and rock slide hazard. The problem area seemed to be one large hill and a couple miles away. Our immediate surroundings are flat or slope downhill, and we ignored it. Then a sheriff deputy came to the door and said it was mandatory but they could not enforce it due to manpower limits. It was barely raining. If we stayed the Yoyo rule was in effect. You're On Your Own. We said so be it. But it was good to be informed.

 

[tmm99]

I get amber alerts, tornado alerts and such on my cell. I didn't sign up for any alerts. Everyone seems to get them. I live in Ontario, Canada. I'm fine with it.

 

[badatmath]

These missing persons calls are getting annoying. . . . . . Yes I realize this makes me the ***hole.

But I can't really find the people while sitting in my LR and that is pretty much my plan for the rest of the evening. . .

I suppose it is good they haven't called me about anything worse yet but still sort of pointless.

 

[Koolau]

These missing persons calls are getting annoying. . . . . . Yes I realize this makes me the ***hole.

But I can't really find the people while sitting in my LR and that is pretty much my plan for the rest of the evening. . .

I suppose it is good they haven't called me about anything worse yet but still sort of pointless.

I guess there were just too many people crying "The gummint's got to DO something."

 

[ls99]

Some years ago got a phone call, saying this is 911, stay inside. I said how the hell do I know who you are? Hung up.

 

[rk911]

Our 9-1-1 system is funded through a small surcharge on landline and cell phone bills. The surcharge was approved and the surcharge amount set by referendums. The day after our referendums were approved we took a call in our center from an unhappy citizen demanding that "9-1-1 be removed from his telephone!" He went on and on about this and that. We let him vent and thanked him for his call. You can't please everyone.

9-1-1 saves lives. Every hour of every day. Both from people calling and by outbound calls from the call centers to targeted neighborhoods for missing persons, hazmat spills and so on.

 

[Koolau]

Our 9-1-1 system is funded through a small surcharge on landline and cell phone bills. The surcharge was approved and the surcharge amount set by referendums. The day after our referendums were approved we took a call in our center from an unhappy citizen demanding that "9-1-1 be removed from his telephone!" He went on and on about this and that. We let him vent and thanked him for his call. You can't please everyone.

9-1-1 saves lives. Every hour of every day. Both from people calling and by outbound calls from the call centers to targeted neighborhoods for missing persons, hazmat spills and so on.

Last time I called 9-1-1 they put me on hold.

 

[badatmath]

Last time I called 9-1-1 they put me on hold.

Tell me you are kidding . . .

 

[rk911]

Last time I called 9-1-1 they put me on hold.

This can happen. It's all based on the nature of the call. In our area 9-1-1 is used anytime a police, fire or EMS response is needed...and not JUST for EMERGENCY calls. The calls are classified as:

- Priority 1: Threat to life
- Priority 2: Threat to property
- Priority 3: Everything else

We wanted all calls for service on 9-1-1 because we learned that some people could not decide what an emergency was. True example: A man was home cleaning his handgun when it went off and shot him in the abdomen. Thinking he was not hurt badly (he was) he called his local PD station number instead of us. The desk clerk was about to transfer the call to us when the caller passed out. Since the call went to the station we had no automatic address info or callback number but the caller got lucky because the desk clerk recognized his voice as a neighbor and notified us. We dispatched EMS which got to him in time.

During high volume call times the number of inbound 9-1-1 calls can exceed the number of available operators. An operator taking a Priority 2 or 3 call might have to put that caller on hold to answer another call to determine its priority. Didn't happen often but it did happen. And our operators were usually dispatching calls on the radio AND answering 9-1-1 calls which made for very busy shifts. Watching the activity in the center was like watching a ballet. Lots of moving parts.

 

[GrayHare]

Sounds like a slippery slope, one like weather alerts. After we were getting weather warnings for any thunderstorm within 50 miles, we turned off all the alerts. Somehow people survived years ago without so many warnings.