DC Police Use Text Message Alerts—Oops!

The police department in the District of Columbia launched a citizen alerting system via text messages in October 2008, but at least one dispatcher didn’t get the message. According to a citizen who posted a message on an Internet fourm, her husband called in response to an alert about a shooting, and dutifully gave the “event number” at the end of the message. But, the citizen wrote, “The dispatcher…had no idea what he was talking about.” Her husband was eventually transferred to a supervisor who fully understood the program, the citizen said. Police chief Cathy Lanier later personally responded to the Internet posting, saying all the comm center employees had been trained, and that the comm center director would investigate. Read more here.