Nassau Launches Emergency-alert System      View Video

BY WILLIAM MURPHY | william.murphy@newsday.com
1:02 PM EDT, September 6, 2007
 
Nassau County can now send telephone warnings to all its residents -- or just a targeted area of the county -- about storms or other emergencies, County Executive Thomas Suozzi said Thursday.

"We can draw a circle anywhere on a Nassau County map and warn people in the area," Suozzi said at a press conference with James Callahan, his commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management.

Suozzi said the system has been in place since Aug. 1, and that local governments around the county, including Glen Cove and Long Beach, have signed up to be a part of the system so they can issue localized warnings.

To illustrate how the system worked, Suozzi had the system activated during the press conference to set off the cell phones of reporters and television camera crews.

The system, which operates with software and hardware purchased from Swiftreach Networks, a New Jersey firm, stores home telephone numbers -- including unlisted numbers -- and cell phone numbers, Suozzi said. He said the system is encrypted so the database can be used only in the emergency-alert system.

The system will cost the county $168,000 this year and $120,000 in subsequent years, he said. Local governments can utilize it at a cost of $4,200 annually, far less than the $20,000 it would cost for their own systems, he said.
 

For more information about SwiftReach products and services, continue to browse our web site or contact us.