Wednesday, July 7, 1999 | 10:22 a.m.
In future emergencies Henderson residents may get a call from their local police or fire department instead of vice versa.
The Henderson City Council on Tuesday approved the purchase of a Reverse 911 system that gives police and other city agencies the ability to quickly communicate with city residents.
The system, developed in 1993, is the first of its kind in Southern Nevada and is expected to be up and running in the city's dispatch center by October, city spokeswoman Vicki Taylor said.
The geographically based calling system can be used in a variety of ways to help police, according to Henderson Police Chief Tom Burns.
"In those first few minutes of an emergency, there is usually a shortage of manpower in the Emergency Operations Center," Burns said. With the Reverse 911 system, police will be able to simultaneously notify neighborhoods and businesses of emergencies, he said.
"If a child is reported missing, we now have the ability to notify neighbors in the area to look for that child," Burns said. Other uses could include evacuations, water shortages and sexual offender notification.
Officials in Sparks installed a Reverse 911 system last year to notify residents of floods, but has ended up using it on a daily basis, Sparks Police Department computer coordinator Debbie Bartley said.
Once a day the system calls homebound senior citizens to check on them, Bartley said. If any don't respond when the system calls, police go out to make sure everything's all right.
Sparks officials have also used Reverse 911 to notify residents about an overflow of the Truckee River, a lost child and a missing Alzheimer's patient, Bartley said.
Bartley thinks Henderson residents will appreciate the extra security the system will provide.
Sprint is providing the city with phone numbers of Henderson residents, which will be listed in the system's memory, Taylor said.
Donations by Kerr McGee, Pioneer Chlor Alkali and Timet, plants in the BMI complex, will pay for the $45,000 Reverse 911 system, while the annual $10,000 operating costs will be covered by the city.
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