Reverse 911
Most residents of Jasper County know that they can call 9-1-1 to get police, fire, or emergency medical assistance.
Now, the County emergency response system can use the Reverse 911 Community Notification System to call residents and businesses with emergency
information. The Reverse 911 system is a valuable tool for emergency responders to alert the community of time critical messages.
How does Reverse 911 work?
The Reverse 911 system allows the Jasper
County Citizen Notification Partnership to rapidly notify residents and businesses
by telephone.
In the event of an emergency, an
operator in the Jasper County or Joplin 911 Center can identify the affected
neighborhood or region of the County and record a message that describes the
situation and recommends the protective actions residents should take. The
Reverse 911 system will automatically call out to all listed telephone numbers
within that geographic area and deliver the recorded message. If phone lines
are busy, the system will attempt to redial those numbers a predetermined
number of times to make contact. If an answering machine picks up the call, the
emergency message will be left on the machine.
System Features
Reverse 911 has a number of distinct
advantages over other components of the warning system.
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It can provide an initial warning as well as specific
instructions to protect at-risk citizens. Both factors are necessary for
an effective warning.
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Reverse 911 can target specific geographic locations,
warning only those people who are directly at risk.
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The system uses existing devices (telephones) to alert
citizens; there is no need for people to buy a specialized warning device.
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The system can deliver text messages to TTY/TDD
devices. This feature has the potential to greatly enhance our ability to
warn and protect citizens who are deaf or hard of hearing.
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System administrators can add telephone numbers to the
database. This can be used to add unlisted telephone numbers and cell
phone numbers to the system.
System Limitations
As with any component of the warning
system, the Reverse 911 system has limitations. These can be minimized with
diligent administration of the system, but they will always exist to some
degree:
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The telephone number database contains only the
telephone numbers listed in the White Pages for Jasper County. As a
result, unless manually added to the database, Reverse 911 will not notify
people with unlisted numbers or cell phones. To minimize this, Jasper
County has provided a form for residents to enter contact information for
addition to the database.
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Cell phone numbers are not included in the database.
Cell phone numbers can be manually entered into the system either as part
of a notification list or linked to a specific address. If linked to a
specific address, the location of the cell phone number becomes
essentially fixed to that location. This could lead to the situation of a
cell phone being notified when the user is mobile and well out of the
affected area. Or conversely, the situation where the user is mobile, is
in the affected area, but is not notified because the fixed location of
the number is in an unaffected area. Please consider this when registering
cell phone information for addition to the database.
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Reverse 911 is very effective for making notifications
within a well-defined geographic area. Due to the outgoing call capacity
of the system, the system becomes less effective as the geographic area
gets larger. For this reason, the County takes a systematic approach to
warning, recognizing that no single application can provide warning to all
citizens in all situations. The Reverse 911 system is an excellent
enhancement to our system, but it does not replace any of the other
components.
How will the system be used?
The system could be useful for many
purposes however, Jasper County is reserving it
exclusively for emergency or disaster notifications. Possible uses include:
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Severe weather. Severe weather usually affects the entire County, or at least large areas of the County
and is not typically an appropriate occasion for Reverse 911
activation. With one exception. The Department of Emergency Management is
working with community groups to develop a list of County residents who
are deaf or hard of hearing. The TTY/TDD capability of the system will be
used to alert this list of Tornado Warnings issued for Jasper County much
in the same way the sirens are used to alert the hearing community.
Register your TDD / TTY phone number and address with us on our Reverse
911 Sign-Up form.
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Hazardous materials release. An airborne hazardous
materials release or potential for a release where there is a need for
residents to evacuate or shelter-in-place.
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Community policing. Local police departments and the Jasper
County Sheriff's Department may use the system for a variety of community
policing situations, such as missing children alerts or prisoner escape.
- Public health alerts. Jasper County and the City of Joplin
public health departments may use the system to disseminate public health
information such as boil water alerts or outbreak of infectious disease.
Add your telephone number to the database
The system was initially programmed
only with those numbers published in the local White Page directories. Numbers
not included in the initial programming were:
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Unlisted telephone numbers
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Listed telephone numbers without a listed address
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Cell phone numbers
If you believe your telephone number
was not included in the initial setup of the system, you may have your home or
business included by filling out the Reverse 911 Sign-up form. You can also register your information by
calling Jasper County Emergency Services at 417-358-7000 or the City of Joplin
at 417-623-3131. Information provided
will not be released to third parties and will only be used for the purpose of
emergency notifications in Jasper County.