In Wake of Connecticut School Shooting, How Does the CodeRed Alert System Work?

In the wake of the shocking shooting at a Newtown, CT, elementary school on Friday, Dec. 14, officials reunited parents with their children. They had help from a reverse 911 call that automatically went out to parents of the public school students to notify them about the shooting.

Olivette is the latest community in the St. Louis area to approve a contract with a company that provides so-called "reverse 911" service. Olivette's contract is with Emergency Communications Network, the company that offers the CodeRed service. The council voted unanimously this week to approve a contract that would cost $7,635 in the first year and $9,260 the following two years.

In fact, thousands of communities across the country, including several Patch towns, have signed up for the storm messaging system CodeRed. The company provides automated emergency weather alerts sent to residents by text, phone or email, as well as alerts from city officials about gas leaks, crime sprees, power outages and missing people.

It has not been without controversy, however. On the very day Olivette signed its contract, news broke that Branson, MO, was ending its contract over a dispute related to the February 2012 "Leap Day" tornado. 

Most of the 900 Branson residents who had signed up for alerts never got them, KSPR reported. ECN blamed the mishap on the city of Branson, saying it failed to renew its contract on time.

"Ultimately, this was a contract problem," Stephanie Meyers, marketing manager for ECN, told Patch in a statement. "Their agreement was terminated, resulting in a lapse of service."

This week, Branson city officials announced their decision to switch to Everbridge, a competitor of CodeRed.

How CodeRed Works

Services like CodeRed are called "reverse 911" because they allow an agency to automatically call people in the 911 database in their community. Once contracted, CodeRed has access to the database, so any residents listed there are automatically signed up for voice alerts. Residents who are not listed in the database or don’t have a landline, or those who want to register for text or email alerts, have to proactively sign up.

The service, which allows users to choose how and when they want to be notified of emergencies, costs communities between $6,000 to $10,000 a year—and that’s a great deal for some.

How It’s Worked in Other Communities

In some places it’s billed as a money saver: The city of Green River, WY is considering switching to CodeRed because its current emergency notification system hadn’t been operational for two months. The cost to keep the old system running was $160,000, while a contract with CodeRed would cost $7,010 a year—with a promise to drop to $5,916 a year if neighboring towns also adopted the system, according to the Green River Star.

Other Patch towns, including , and , also have contracts with CodeRed.

CodeRed is owned by Emergency Communications Network, an Ormond Beach, FL-based company that was founded in 1999. In the past six weeks, Emergency Communications Network has secured at least six contracts, ranging from $7,000 a year to $53,000 a year, with government agencies.

Regional Editor Kurt Greenbaum contributed to this report.