Illinois Law Enforcement Coalition Selects Messageone’s Alertfind Emergency Notification & Escalation Service
Illinois Law Enforcement Coalition Mobilized 300 Volunteers to Respond to Hurricane Katrina Using MessageOne’s AlertFind
Urbana, IL – February 7, 2006 – The Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS), a coalition of more than 780 law enforcement agencies, including police, sheriff and state agencies, has selected MessageOne’s AlertFind as its emergency communications, notification and escalation platform.
The AlertFind system, initially deployed by ILEAS (www.ILEAS.org) in late summer of 2005, was put to use immediately in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Using AlertFind, ILEAS was able to provide rapid aid by mobilizing 150 emergency law enforcement volunteers in just one day after Katrina’s landfall.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana requested aid from other states. This request quickly prompted ILEAS to send an emergency alert to Illinois law enforcement agencies via its MessageOne AlertFind emergency notification system to request volunteers to assist with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. During a disaster or emergency, AlertFind provides a direct two-way communication channel with large numbers of employees, customers and constituents, such as volunteers.
“After our emergency alert was sent to our members for assistance in Louisiana, we were quickly overwhelmed with responses from officers and departments willing to send resources and staff to assist in this most devastating tragedy,” said Jim Page, Executive Director, ILEAS. “It was gratifying to be able to communicate so effectively with these officers and deputies, and to see the enthusiasm of those who wanted to help.”
ILEAS Executive Director Jim Page used AlertFind to create the message asking for Hurricane Katrina volunteers and entered it in to the system via the Web. Then, AlertFind automatically tracked down recipients via phone, BlackBerry and email, and pagers, escalating between devices based on the users preprogrammed preference. Next, Jim Page used AlertFind to authenticate recipients, and conducted a poll of ILEAS police chiefs, sheriffs and senior command officers to gather real time data on their status to quickly mobilize volunteers.
In only one day, “Task Force Illinois” was assembled with 150 law enforcement officers ready to volunteer in Louisiana. The responding ILEAS group represented 72 law enforcement agencies from throughout Illinois, and included 150 sworn personnel. Sixty of the officers were specially trained local and state Weapons of Mass Destruction Response Teams, including experienced SWAT personnel trained and equipped by ILEAS, Chicago and the Illinois state police.
When Louisiana requested that law enforcement officer support from Illinois be extended another month, ILEAS once again quickly mobilized an additional 148 law enforcement officers to relieve those already deployed there.
To coordinate deployment, the chiefs and sheriffs were notified via AlertFind that officers volunteering for the second wave of Louisiana support were scheduled to meet at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on Friday, Sept. 16th at noon. The new wave of volunteer officers arrived in Hammond, Louisiana to relieve the first group of volunteer officers from Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 17th.
Page added, “Prior to implementing the MessageOne solution, ILEAS relied on regular email and individual phone calls. Given the large scope of this deployment and our small staff, MessageOne’s AlertFind has become a critical communication tool for us.”
ILEAS had put the MessageOne AlertFind emergency notification and escalation service in place to be prepared for rapid communications with its more than 780 law enforcement agency members, prior to hurricane Katrina.
MessageOne’s AlertFind is one of the most powerful crisis management and communication tools available for the enterprise today. It was designed from the ground up to provide business and crisis management administrators the ability to quickly, securely, and reliably distribute critical information in real-time across multiple communication channels to large numbers of employees, customers and other constituents.
AlertFind is in use by hundreds of business and government agencies around the globe to provide fast, efficient, two-way emergency communications. Currently AlertFind is deployed by the National Weather Service Fort Worth, Texas office; the Town of Vernon, Connecticut; the Town of Belmont, Massachusetts; and in hundreds of businesses including T. Rowe Price and Motorola.
About MessageOne
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, MessageOne is the leading provider of managed services for email management, archiving and business continuity. For enterprise email and wireless messaging systems, the company’s Email Management Services (EMS™) provides comprehensive email archiving, storage management and e-Discovery with the total continuity, recovery, and security protection only available from a managed service. In addition, MessageOne’s AlertFind™ provides guaranteed emergency notification and escalation to help companies protect their employees during any crisis or disaster. Millions of users around the world depend on MessageOne for its award-winning managed services.
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For more media information, contact:
Paul D'Arcy
Phone: 512-652-4500
Email: paul_darcy@messageone.com
Kirstan Ryan
Phone: 512-652-4500
Email: kirstan_ryan@messageone.com
