Ventura County Sheriff's Department

On January 3, 2012, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services will launch the new VC Alert Emergency Notification System by sending a telephonic and email alert to 6,195 Ventura County residents.

VC Alert is an emergency notification system that may be used to deliver alerts when there is a threat to the health or safety of residents. This system will replace the existing Reverse 911® system deployed in 2008.

“With improvements in technology, upgrading to a more advanced emergency notification system was a natural step in continuing our commitment to disaster preparedness and response in Ventura County,” said Laura Hernandez, Assistant Director for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services.

VC Alert has the ability to contact thousands of residents instantly via home telephone number, cellular telephone number, business telephone number, email address, text messaging, facsimile, and instant messaging.
“A robust emergency notification system is essential to notify residents rapidly and efficiently during a local emergency or disaster,” said Hernandez. “VC Alert has the ability to send approximately 100,000 simultaneous telephonic calls, text messages and emails per hour.”

VC Alert utilizes commercially available phone data as a core source of contact information. This includes some landline telephone numbers, some cellular telephone numbers and some Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone numbers.

Therefore, all Ventura County residents are encouraged to register their contact information - home phone, cell phone, work phone, email, fax number and instant messaging information.

To register online, residents may go to www.vcalert.org.

In addition to emergency information, residents may also:
• Select to receive community messages regarding crime alerts, road closures, public meetings or other community events.
• Choose the locations they want to be contacted about - such as their parents’ home, their workplace or their child’s school.
• Receive alerts on their home phone, cell phone, work phone, email, text, facsimile or instant messaging.

VC Alert is a free service provided by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services and participating cities.

Participating cities include: City of Camarillo, City of Fillmore, City of Moorpark, City of Ojai, City of Oxnard, City of Port Hueneme, City of Santa Paula, City of Thousand Oaks, City of Ventura, and the unincorporated areas of Ventura County.

For more information, please visit www.vcalert.org. Questions or concerns may be directed to the VC Alert Hotline at 805-648-9283 or via email at vc.alert@ventura.org.

Nature of Incident: VC Alert Emergency Notification System
Date & Time: January 3, 2012
Unit Responsible: Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services
Staff Preparing Media Release: Cynthia Elliott, OES Program Administrator 805-654-3655
Media Release Date: December 29, 2011
Follow-Up Contact: Patrick Maynard, OES Program Administrator 805-654-3843
Approved by: Laura D. Hernandez, OES Assistant Director 805-654-2552