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However, the first selectman’s plea is not related to a lack of participation by the town's residents, according to Deputy Police Chief Chris Lyddy.
“After two years, people change phone services, numbers, addresses,” Lyddy said Thursday. “We need residents sign up and sign in to change and update their contact information.”
According to Lyddy, Fairfield decided to change its service from Reverse 911 to CodeRED in 2012 to save money in the long term and to take advantage of CodeRED’s efficient service.
“With [Reverse 911] we had to house and maintain servers and 16 phone lines … when we had to use the system we were limited to 16 calls a minute,” Lyddy said. “I now have the options to do an all call, where we notify all the citizens, but I can also be very specific with whom I notify.”
In a demonstration, Lyddy highlighted “the power of the system.”
CodeRED can be used as a traditional emergency notification system as Reverse 911 once did for Fairfield, but it can also be used in a number of different ways and requires less personnel to run.
In the case of a missing person, Lyddy can use the $30,000-per-year service to notify residents in a search area where it is believed the person of interest may be.
Fairfield Police, Fire and Health officials can also use the service to notify citizens of chemical spills, health and weather emergencies and in the case of South Benson Road, notify residents not to park on the street so the town can finish lining the recently paved road.
“I can also notify only businesses,” Lyddy said. “For example, if there was a bank robbery I could use CodeRED to notify all banks in the area.”
Residents can register with the service by going to the town's webpage or by downloading the mobile app on their iPhone or Android devices.
With the mobile app, users can be notified of an emergency notification when they enter a notification area designated by the town, even if they are not a resident of that area.
For instance, if there is a severe weather notification issued on Fairfield Beach Road, an app user will be notified that it is unsafe to park in that flood zone.
“We’ve learned in emergencies, communications with residents is absolutely critical,” Lyddy said. “Remember, we are still in hurricane season and certainly with the winter season coming it is important for all residents to sign up with the service.”
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