Police update emergency communications

The Farmington Police Department recently upgraded equipment in its Emergency Operations Center.

Emergency Management Director Dan Duncan said the department recently installed a radio antenna at the police department which functions independently of the main police radio system.

“Should an incident occur and the main transmit/receive line go down, we will still be able to communicate with public safety officials from our Emergency Operations Center,” said Duncan. He said they also will be able to communicate directly with Parkland Health Center, Mineral Area Regional Medical Center, Farmington Correctional Center and Southeast Mental Health Center.

“As long as the critical infrastructure radio components on each end are operational during a disaster, communications should not be affected,” he said.

Residents are also encouraged to use the city’s CodeRED Alert System, an ultra high-speed telephone communication service for emergency notifications and the distribution of information considered to be important.

This system allows the city to telephone all or targeted areas in case of an emergency situation that requires immediate action, such as weather warnings, an evacuation, contaminated water, a hazardous chemical spill or other such emergencies. This system is capable of dialing all registered numbers within minutes. It then delivers a pre-recorded message describing the situation in the affected area, possibly including instructions requiring immediate action on the part of the recipient.

Anyone wishing to receive CodeRED emergency messages may sign up by going to Farmington’s website, farmington-mo.gov, and click on the CodeRED link, or by calling the Famington Police Department at 756-6686.

ECN, the provider of CodeRED for Farmington, has released an upgraded version of the CodeRED Mobile Alert app. It is available as a free download on both iPhone and Android smartphones. The upgraded application features a group of icon badges that alert the subscriber to those alerts not currently selected.

The app is highly customizable on the types of alerts the subscriber would like to receive. The enhancement was made to draw attention to the subgroups of alerts available.

CodeRED Mobile Alert subscribers may now view weather alerts for the entire country. They previously only had access to view a 500-mile radius around their location. The upgraded version allows subscribers a 5,000-mile radius view. After the subscriber browses away from their current location, they can also quickly re-center the map to show their present location.

The CodeRED Mobile Alert app made its debut in January 2012 for the iPhone platform, followed by a version for the Android market in May. The app is a free download on iTunes and Google Play.