That blinking light on your smart phone could be Cobb County trying to tell you about an emergency.
Cobb will launch an upgraded citizen alert system this fall that could reach thousands of residents at home, on their cell phones or by text message.
The county’s new CodeRED Emergency Notification System can call up to 60,000 residents simultaneously and play a recording, or send a message, which notifies residents of life-threatening emergencies in their section of the county.
“It’s next generation communications,” said Ann Flynn, assistant director of Cobb County 911.
“We’ll be able to text people, which is huge,” she said.
DeKalb County has no reverse 911 system but will purchase one this year, a county spokeswoman said. Atlanta and Fulton County share a system. Gwinnett has a system that can only reach about 1,000 residents per hour and can’t reach cellphones or send texts, a police spokesman said.
Metro counties have used the reverse 911 system to alert residents to boil-water notices, gas leaks, a missing child or a SWAT team operation in the neighborhood.
Cobb’s new system will be able to reach more people more quickly, said Mickey Lloyd, Cobb’s director of public safety.
The old system, installed in 2001, consists of 20 phone lines that call 1,200 people per hour. Cobb has not used that system to call residents about a full-scale emergency.
The new system will rely on lists of registered land line telephones, but those with cell phones can contact the county this fall and ask to be added to the new notification list, Flynn said.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the new system last week at a cost of $125,000 per year.
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