Community Alert System
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What is Community Alert System?
The Community Alert System is a fast communication service allowing the City of Portsmouth to notify citizens of an emergency situation. It enables the City to provide mass notification quickly and easily. This service is free to all Portsmouth residents and businesses located within our incorporated limits.
What do I have to do to receive this benefit?
The Community Alert System is only as good as the telephone database. If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called. The system allows individuals and businesses the ability to add their own phone numbers directly into the system's database. Although an initial load of telephone number data was completed, you should not assume that your phone number is included in the database. Follow the link below the Community Notification Enrollment page. You will be required to provide some information such as first and last name, physical street address, and telephone number.
All businesses should register, as well as those that have unlisted numbers, who have changed their phone number or address within the past year, and those that use a cellular phone or VoIP phone as their primary number.
How will I benefit from this service?
This high-speed telephone system will allow the City of Portsmouth to contact participants to provide information about a critical situation, what action needs to be taken, and notification that the situation has been resolved.
What do I have to do to receive this benefit?
To receive Community Alert System Notifications, you must register your home, cell phone, or business phone number in the Community Alert System database. Click the icon below to sign up for Smart911 Notifications.
How does it work?
Community Alert System delivers the important message through a high-speed telephone calling system to a phone number on the Community Alert System database. City staff will access Community Alert System via a secure portal on the web. A "call area" will be marked identifying street addresses. Telephone numbers will be matched up electronically to these addresses through the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). A pre-recorded message will be sent out via telephone, text, and email with information about the incident and possibly instructions for action to be taken.
What should I do if I receive a Community Alert System message?
- Listen Carefully
- Follow Instructions
- Don’t hang up until you hear the whole message (the message will not be repeated)
- DO NOT call 9-1-1 unless instructed to do so (You will only tie up emergency lines)
What should I do if I don’t receive a message?
Your area of the community may not be affected. In which case, you won’t receive a call even if it’s only a block away.
Will the system work with cell phones?
Yes. But, your cell phone number needs to be associated with your City of Portsmouth address and listed on your Smart911 account. We encourage you to register your cell phone number.
What is Community Alert System used for?
Community Alert System will be used for significant incidents and events where the timely notification of an affected population or geographic area is essential. When you create your Smart911 account you select the notifications that you wish to receive. This selection can be modified at any time just by logging back into your account and changing your selection.
How Do I Register?
The following information is required to add a telephone number into the "Community Alert System" database: first and last name; address (physical address, no P.O. boxes); city; state; Zip Code; and primary phone number. A primary phone number is most likely the identified home phone number. An alternate phone number, such as a mobile phone, can also be entered and both the primary and alternate line will be contacted in the event of an emergency. The system works with cellular phones but requires a City of Portsmouth street address. When entering information, please fill out all of the screens and keep updated with any changes
.
For those who are hearing impaired, the sign-up form offers a TDD ONLY option for tone delivery of emergency messages. Messages delivered to phone numbers marked TDD will only be delivered in a TDD/TTY format. Residents without Internet access may visit the public library to use a computer to register or call the Portsmouth Police Department at (603) 427-1500 for assistance.
How do you protect my data, what is your privacy statement?
The information that is collected by Smart911, the vendor that The City of Portsmouth has chosen for the Community Alert System, is covered under its Privacy Policy that can be obtained by clicking below.
THIS SYSTEM WILL BE USED FOR EMERGENCY PURPOSES OR NOTIFICATION OF INFORMATION CONSIDERED TO BE VITALLY IMPORTANT
Examples of times when the Community Alert System could be utilized: drinking water contamination, utility outage, evacuation notice, missing person, fires or floods, bomb threat, hostage situation, chemical spill or gas leak, and other emergency incidents where rapid and accurate notification is essential for life safety.
Click here to sign up for Smart911
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