MONROE - A free service that sends out emergency notifications via email or text message is now available to Green County residents, the sheriff announced Wednesday.
The service, called Nixle, replaces an outdated, expensive system.
Starting in 2003, the sheriff's department used a communications system called Reverse 911 that sent out a voice message to anyone in the county who signed up. It alerted the community to potentially dangerous situations in the area, such as a chemical spill, an armed confrontation or fleeing felon and any other pertinent safety issues, except weather watches or warnings.
Nixle does the same, but provides the service free. Reverse 911 cost about $6,000 per year to maintain, according to Sheriff Jeff Skatrud, and had become "cost prohibitive."
To sign up for Nixle, go to nixle.com or greensheriff.com and follow instructions. Both the sheriff's department and Green County Emergency Management will be able to send out alerts.
A cellphone or access to email is necessary, however.
"Landline phones cannot receive Nixle messages so it would be very helpful if residents would pass on Nixle messages to folks that do not have cellular phones or email," Skatrud wrote in Wednesday's release about Nixle.
The service, called Nixle, replaces an outdated, expensive system.
Starting in 2003, the sheriff's department used a communications system called Reverse 911 that sent out a voice message to anyone in the county who signed up. It alerted the community to potentially dangerous situations in the area, such as a chemical spill, an armed confrontation or fleeing felon and any other pertinent safety issues, except weather watches or warnings.
Nixle does the same, but provides the service free. Reverse 911 cost about $6,000 per year to maintain, according to Sheriff Jeff Skatrud, and had become "cost prohibitive."
To sign up for Nixle, go to nixle.com or greensheriff.com and follow instructions. Both the sheriff's department and Green County Emergency Management will be able to send out alerts.
A cellphone or access to email is necessary, however.
"Landline phones cannot receive Nixle messages so it would be very helpful if residents would pass on Nixle messages to folks that do not have cellular phones or email," Skatrud wrote in Wednesday's release about Nixle.