Sheriff Touts Reverse 911 Emergency Notification System

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s spokesman Alex Tipolt sent out an informational press release today regarding his department’s Reverse 911 system, an automated tool designed to communicate urgencies to the community during emergency events. The system notifies community members when an emergency occurs. With this automated system, authorities will be able to contact the people within danger zones during an emergency and help them seek refuge. Now, the Sheriff has extended the opportunity to participate in the Reverse 911 system to residents without landlines. Anyone wishing to add their number into the system can now do so by visiting the Sheriff’s website. Registering landlines is not necessary unless the given party lives in a particularly rural area.

The system is not perfect, Tipolt also noted, and cannot guarantee citizens will receive timely notification in the event of a large scale community emergency. Should such a situation arise, the public should be sure to watch other public safety warning systems such as the radio and television, he said.