Township Emergency System Set For Friday Test

The Warren Township Police Department will be performing a test of its new Emergency Notification System on Friday. 

According to Sgt. Herbert Hentschel, the test will be conducted at about 11 a.m. to nearly 16,000 residential and commercial phone numbers in Warren and Watchung.

"It's basically going to tell them we have a notification system," Sgt. Hentschel said. He said the message will also include information on changing contact information through the department website. "If you don't get the message, don't panic: (you) can always change the number (for contact) on our website."

Not that many will be missed: After checking a master list of local phone numbers provided by Verizon, Sgt. Hentschel spent several days "cleaning" up the list to eliminate unnecessary commercial numbers, including sorting through the nearly 8,000 numbers assigned to Chubb's corporate offices in Warren, many of which were for people who didn't need to be on the emergency system.

The system is supplied by Global Connect, a web-based voice messaging company from Mays Landing, and will enable the township's first responders to contact residents, businesses, staff members and other emergency response volunteers within minutes utilizing a web-based telephone directory. Funding for this system was obtained through a special legislative technology grant offered by the US Department of Justice. In 2008, Warren Township Mayor Gary DiNardo filed a request with then-U.S. Rep. Michael Ferguson, R-7th Dist., for the funding and requested the sum of $50,000. Through the efforts of Rep. Leonard Lance, a grant of $75,000 was authorized and received.

Sgt. Hentschel, the program coordinator for the township’s Police Department, said Global Connect’s alert system allows the township to send out as few or as many calls needed depending on the situation at hand.  Through the system’s street map component, police can identify and contact specific areas of the township and make notification to an area as small as a neighborhood regarding a road closure, or just as easily notify every household and business in town regarding any major emergencies. 

"It's really simple when you see the system," Chief of Police Russell Leffert said, adding officials can click on an address on the township map, indicate a radius of notification and instantly send a message—something particularly helpful for power outages, fires, chemical spills or other localized issues. "That way, you kill two birds with one stone: you let people know why the trucks are on their street, and you can get people to slow down." 

In the event of a chemical spill, Chief Leffert said the system can check the area of potential contamination from a database and automatically determine which numbers need to be notified.

"Let's say we had a tanker spill on Hillcrest Road (in Watchung), we can let everyone know within a certain radius," Chief Leffert said.

Chief Leffert said his department conducted a considerable amount of research into the project before making the purchase. 

“Our examination of the available technology proved to us that this web-based system is the most cost-effective and efficient way for us to make notifications to a vast number of people in the shortest amount of time," he said. "What also made the system very attractive to the township was that the company allowed us to invite Watchung Borough on board as a partner enabling us to share a very valuable service which both communities were lacking.” 

The system is available for use by police, fire, EMS, OEM, public works and municipal supervisors of both towns.  The system is very user-friendly and can even be activated from a remote location via computer or even a smart phone. 

One training session has already been conducted for department heads of both towns and additional training will be available on an “as needed” basis.

Additionally, members of the community may tailor the system to their liking.  Those residents or business persons who would like to be notified via a telephone number other than their house/business phone may add their cell number or any other number they would like to be contacted through.  Warren residents may make these changes by going to the Warren Police Department website at www.warrenpolice.com, click on the Global Connect icon in the center of the page and follow the on screen directions. Sgt. Hentschel asked residents to wait until after the initial test before changing numbers, however.

The Warren Police Department was able to implement the program at a considerably lesser cost, which still allowed a regional shared service with the Boro of Watchung.