Pierce County will develop new guidelines for how and when to use its telephone emergency notification system after some Lakewood residents complained about phone calls last week.
About 11,000 homes in the city received automated calls after a 50-year-old deaf and disabled man went missing from a health care facility (he was later found). Some residents complained about the timing of the calls. Some came at 11:30 p.m. last Thursday, others at 6:30 a.m. Friday.
The county announced Wednesday that a public safety work group will review how the county uses its Target Notification System, which allows notification of residents within certain areas when an emergency arises.
Steve Bailey, director of the county’s emergency management department, said the county has used the system hundreds of times to warn citizens of floods, hazardous materials, missing children and other problems. He said the county has had “great results.”
“However, given the events of last week, it is prudent and timely that we sit down with representatives of our police and fire departments and our E-911 call centers and agree on some general principles of how and when the system will be used,” Bailey said.
David Wickert, The News Tribune
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