INFORMATION ABOUT COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE TO SOAR. Sandra Wilson (May 19, 2013)

Transcription

1 INFORMATION ABOUT COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE TO SOAR Sandra Wilson (May 19, 2013) The following is an overview of the passive and interactive communication systems that provide customers with communication solutions. CHICAGO EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS: The city of Chicago has several emergency alert systems: 1. REVERSE 911 In 2008, Chicago acquired a Reverse 911 system. It is a mass notification system. The Office of Emergency and Communication can notify everyone in the 911 telephone database (Master Street Address Guide) of impending emergencies.these messages can be delivered to different geographic areas in the city.it is an expensive system and can cost between 20 to 100 thousand dollars initially with monthly fees. The price depends on the number of people who need to be contacted. People can specify the different ways that they want to be contacted for example fax, home phone, text message etc. This system is used in conjunction with tornado, radio, and TV alert systems. The disadvantage of Reverse 911 is that it only has the numbers of land line phones. People with unlisted numbers and people who only use cell phones have to call the OEMC and give their numbers to be included in the database. This means that some SOAR residents would not get the emergency alerts if they are not aware of the need to contact the OEMC or if they are disinterested. 2. NOTIFY CHICAGO The OEMC has purchased soft-ware to send s, pre-recorded phone messages texts s, faxes etc. It sends out notifications pertaining to safety, fire, weather, accidents, disasters or any incident that can disrupt the life of Chicagoans. These alerts are sent to home phones, smart phones, computers, etc. Notify Chicago is part of the OEMC s Alert Chicago Initiative. A resident has to register to get these texts, alerts, text messages etc. The FCC restricts mass notifications to wireless users so registration is necessary. Notifications include messages about safety, weather, accidents, and local disasters.the service is free. When a person registers he

2 or she adds a cell number and an address. People can also specify what alerts that they want to receive 3. CAPS, (CHICAGO ALTERNATIVE POLICING STRATEGIES0 CAPS is a police initiative to build ties between the police and the communities that they serve. CAPS activities include beat meetings, safety education, identifying the roles of different members of the police force etc. The CAPS on-line site or portal is Clear Path. Clear Path is an on-line resource that helps residents learn more about their districts, how to protect themselves, and how to report crime etc. To get up to the minute information directly from the Police, a citizen can sign up for Nixle. Nixle sends real time crime alerts and breaking security news. These messages are delivered by s and text messages at no charge. FREE NON-GOVERNMENTAL CRIME ALERTS 1. Spotcrime.com Spotcrime is a crime mapping company that is the outgrowth of a research paper funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. The parent company is ReportSee and it is located in Baltimore. The company covers crime in the US, Canada, and London. It started operating in The crime information is provided by police departments, news reports and user generated information. Spotcrime maps data for any police force that provides unrestricted access to crime data. In 2012, the company made its historical database available to the public for free. There is a lag of 8 to 9 days before crime information is available. If a person registers, he or she can receive crime alerts on smart phones, computers, Layar, and Direct TV. Spot crime has twice the number of subscribers as competing firms. Spot Crime provides the same type of alerts and crime statistics as CAPS. 2. Spotcrime s Non-Governmental Competition The following firms offer similar types of crime information.these websites include: Crimedar.con Crime Reports.com Crimemapping.com EveryBlock.com MapNumbers.com

3 MyNeighborhoodUpdate.net RAIDSOnline.com SECURITY FIRMS THAT HAVE CONTACTED SOAR 1 Dial My Calls This company provides mass notification services that the user manages. A customer logs into a website to register and gets a username and password. No software is needed. The customer exports an excel worksheet with the names of the people to be contacted. When a customer needs to send a message, he/she logins to the Dial My Calls website. An automated call is made to the customer so he or she can record a message. When the client hangs up the phone, the message is sent to the designated group. This company s clients include city halls, police departments, private companies and schools. A customer buys a quantity of credits. One credit pays for 1 thirty second message for l contact. Two credits cover a phone call to one person for 60 seconds. The length of the calls and the number of contacts determine the price. For example, sending a 30 second message to 1800 people would cost $30. The price of the credits goes down based on the quantity of credits purchased. Not-for-Profit organizations get a discount. For example, a not-for profit organization can purchase 25,000 credits for $799. Fifty thousand credits costs $1500. Once customers deplete their number of credits, they can purchase more. The advantages of using this company include: Relatively low cost and ease of use If power fails in a city, the customer can sign in with a smart phone Dial My Calls is a 24/7 service. There are no designated hours to phone in a broadcast a message. The customer manages the texts and the contact list. The firm offers a free trial of the system The disadvantages of using Dial My Calls are:i The company does not back-up contact data. Also the customer has to motivate its contacts to keep information up-to-date.

4 Contact Name: Tammy and her toll free telephone number is Titan Security Titan Security provides manpower (doormen and security guards).it also sell security d security equipment such as cameras, access systems, etc. to residential properties such as LPT. They have no mass notification or personal security service. The prices of the equipment, maintenance services, and manpower depend on the size of the buildings that become customers. Titan has a good rapport with the Chicago Police. If Titan receives an alert from the police, the company shares that information with their security staffs at different Chicago properties. Although it would be an excellent idea for SOAR to have a list of qualified security vendors, Titan is not involved in security or emergency communications services.. Contact: Beth Schmitt at One Call Now This company has mass notification services like Dial My Calls. Its notification system is used in the following ways: Reminding apartment dwellers of renewals Collection calls Sending messages to a sales force Sending emergency messages Communications with customer bases. The messages can be sent on multiple platforms-smart phones, cell phones computers etc. The pricing differs based on whether the customer is a not-for-profit organization, a religious group, or a private business. This information comes from the One Call Now web-site. I left 3 messages for Mr. Nick Frantz. He never returned my calls so I do not have examples of their prices or information for One Call Now competitive advantages. Contact: Nick Frantz at Street Safe

5 Street Safe has a personal security system for individuals. Their system operated on smart phones-iphone, IPad, Android, Black Berry etc. The customer downloads an app that connects the customer to the Street Safe security crisis center. There is a red button and green button on the app icon. One uses the green button if he or she is nervous. A person could be on the street, at a bus stop, in a unfamiliar area of Chicago, or in a different city. Due to its GPS capability, The Street Safe Crisis Center employee will know where the customer is and can give advice on how to handle a threatening situation. If the situation escalates, the customer is already on the phone and the Street Safe advisor will call 911. The purpose of this service is to give the customer relevant information to avoid problems. The app also has a red button. If a person presses this button, Street Safe immediately contacts 911. Since Street Safe already has all your profile information, it can give the Police all the information it needs and your location very quickly. Small subscribers can use this system in all the major cities in the US and Canada. For an individual, the cost of this service would be: Monthly Plan $19.99 Quarterly Plan $43.99 Annual Plan $ Street Safe would give SOAR a slight discount if it can guarantee 100 subscribers. Street Safe was originally designed to help women avoid sexual assault. Its clients include shift workers, health professionals, people who are impaired etc. It also has a large corporate business. Street Safe provides a corporation s employees security services all around the world. For example, United Airlines provides Street Safe s services to all of its employees. Street Safe negotiates a price base on the number of employees based on the corporation s size.

6 Street Safe has many advantages: Disadvantages: It is inexpensive and reliable According to the salesperson, it is the only personal alert company that has a 2- way conversation with the customer to guide them in a dangerous environment. According to Pepe Miller, the company s competitors don t provide security advice. They listen to what is going on and will alert the police in case of an emergency. However, they don t give advice. In case of an emergency, Street Safe gets the police to you faster than calling 911 personally. Street Safe has all the information the police needs to get to you quickly. It is an easy system to use and it is on a mobile platform. Pepe is a responsive sales person. It is not a mass notification system People without smart phones would not be able to use this technology Contact: Pepe Miller at Everbridge Security Corporation The following information came from two sources -- Mr. Eric Swanson of Lurie Childrens hospital and Mr. Joe Zelinskas of Everbridge. According to Mr. Swanson, Everbridge has a very robust mass notification system. Mr. Swanson says that he has used Everbridge s system at other hospitals. Children s Hospital initially purchased the software for its Lincoln Park facility. It uses the same system in its new location. Not only does the system send the messages but it also has a confirmation feature. Employees have to press a number to confirm that they have received the message. The software provides up to 20 different ways to reach contacts. Lurie however uses no more than five ways to contact people such as, home phones, text messages, business phones, faxes and s. When an employee inputs contact information, he or she designates the priority of the different ways that he or she wants to be contacted. If the Hospital doesn t get a confirmation from the employee s number one priority, it then contacts the employee s second priority. In terms of database management, once employees input their data, they are personally responsible to keep it up to date. The hospital doesn t have to waste resources on database maintenance. Also, it is easy to add additional employees to the system. Moreover, Everbridge s software enables the hospital to target different types of employees and to send different customized messages to them.

7 Lurie only sends out emergency messages after they have comprehensively checked them for accuracy. The Hospital has some Liaison Personnel who have a close working relationship with the Police. They also have working relationships with the security forces of Northwestern and other key organizations, The Everbridge system is a cloud based. on-line portal that is accessed using the internet. The company s software also has other features including incident management, live weather reports, and monitoring social media for an organization. Adding these features would increase a customer s cost. The price for Everbridge s mass notification and confirmation software varies. It depends on the number of features it wants and the number of people to be contacted. For example, if an organization wants to send messages to 150 to 3000 contacts the annual cost would be $6800 in the first year of implementation. This price includes setup costs and training on the system. After the first year, the price is 8% less. If a company licenses the Everbridge system, it can send an unlimited number of messages to the specified number of contacts. The advantages of the Everbridge system are numerous: The firm is very reputable, efficient and reliable. If the power goes out, a customer can use a cell phone to call Everbridge and ask them to send out necessary messages 24/7. The firm follows best practices for security and emergency communication It is a customer managed system and is easy to use. The system is used by the largest organizations in the health care, financial, and city / municipal industries. Depending on SOAR S communication needs, the major disadvantages include: The high cost of the system Securing contact information for Streeterville residents who are not members of Soar Contact: Mr. Joe Zelinskas at