Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Date & Time: July 9, 2009 10:00 AM
Unit Responsible: Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services

In June 2008, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services announced the official launch of the REVERSE 911® Interactive Community Notification System. The system was established to deliver alerts when there is a threat to the health or safety of residents in the cities of Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula and the unincorporated areas of Ventura County.

REVERSE 911® is able to send notifications to landline telephones, TTY phones, cellular phones, VoIP phones, and email / text addresses. “The system has been used over 30 times for residential calling sessions,” said Erin Edinger, Ventura County REVERSE 911® Program Administrator.

Since it was installed, Ventura County REVERSE 911® has been utilized to warn the public of armed and dangerous suspects in the immediate area. “In one instance, we sent an email message to residents along with a photo of the suspect,” said Edinger. Other examples of how the system has been used include notifying residents of evacuations, wild animal alerts, and emergency response drills.

In addition to residential notifications, REVERSE 911® has also proven to be an efficient way to mobilize emergency responders, as well as contact and share information with multiple groups of individuals working on a response effort. “We currently have over 80 individuals throughout the County trained on how to utilize the system,” said Edinger. Monthly testing is also conducted with participating cities and County agencies.

The Ventura County REVERSE 911® database currently contains both listed and unlisted landline phone numbers for AT&T and Verizon customers. Over the last year, County officials have encouraged residents to register their cellular, TTY and VoIP phone lines with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services; and in the last twelve months 4022 additional telephone numbers have been added to the system.

For more information on REVERSE 911® in Ventura County or to register telephone numbers, residents may go to the County of Ventura website (www.countyofventura.org) and click on the “Disaster Information” link. Questions may also be directed to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services at (805) 648-9283.