Sheriff's Office updates 911 system

The Phillips County Sheriff’s Office has completed an upgrade to an enhanced 911 system. This system replaced an aging outdated system that had worked well for over 10 years. The new E911 system has more accurate GPS locating abilities for both land line calls as well as cellular.

Due to sometimes poor cell service in parts of Phillips County, the new E911 includes the capability to Text to 911 with your emergency. In your messaging recipients box put 911 and then a message as to your emergency. The dispatcher can respond with questions and guidance, and the system will plot your location to assist emergency responders. It is however important to try to use voice calls whenever possible to aid in a quicker response.

Also now in place is a new Emergency Notification System (ENS) by AlertSense. In the event of an emergency Phillips County Dispatch can mass notify residents or make notifications based on a selected area of impact, such as flooding, tornado’s, incidents involving hazardous materials release, wildfire etc. The ENS can also be used for non-emergency notifications such as road closures, power outages, or other disruptive, or important incidents’ within our communities.

If you have a listed home phone your name, your address and home phone number are already entered through our local phone companies. However if you have moved recently, have an unlisted home phone number, or solely rely on cellular service you will need to self-register your numbers.

This process is quick and easy:

Just go to http://public.alertsense.com

You will be given the options to receive alerts by home, cellular phones and e-mail. You will also be able to sign up for your choice of specific weather alerts from the National Weather Service.

For more information please visit our web page at http://www.phillipscountysheriff.org or our Facebook page.