The Saint Paul Police Department has a new tool to notify the public of emergency situations. In cooperation with Ramsey County, the department now has the ability to quickly send emergency alerts to residents, businesses and people who frequently visit Saint Paul.
The Emergency Notification System is a free service to which people can subscribe. The system will call, send text messages or email subscribers, alerting them of developing situations that immediately affect the areas in which they live, work or visit.
“Saint Paul is a vibrant, thriving city in which hundreds of thousands of people live, work and play every day. This tool will help keep everyone safer by ensuring they are informed of local emergencies and know what actions they should or can take to protect themselves,” said Mayor Chris Coleman.
The alert system will only be used for incidents where there is an imminent threat to health and safety, such as active shooter events, in-progress searches for violent suspects or anything that immediately impacts public safety and awareness is urgently needed to aide law enforcement. The alert is geographically specific and will only notify people in the area who could be affected by the event. Subscribers of the service may choose the specific geographic areas for which they would like to receive alerts.
Anyone interested in receiving alerts must sign up by going to stpaul.gov/publicsafetyalert.
Messages will be sent to the subscribers through their preferred communications channel—cell phone, SMS (text), home phone, email, to ensure real-time access to potentially lifesaving information. Land line phones in the area of an emergency will all received the emergency notifications whether they are signed up or not.
Saint Paul City Councilmember Dai Thao, who has been a strong advocate of using technology to keep the city safe, says the Emergency Notification System is a an important step in helping police officers and the people they serve work together in the interest of public safety.
“We all can play an important role in protecting one another,” Thao said. “Sharing timely and accurate information with people who could be affected by major incidents is a great way to prevent crime and empower people to keep themselves, their families and their neighbors safe from harm. I encourage everyone to opt in and subscribe to this service.”
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