26 July 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Many residents in Wichita got texts, phone calls and emails Tuesday from Sedgwick County’s Civic Ready Alerts.
“I would give this a good grade. Probably at least an A-minus,” said Sedgwick County Emergency Management Ops Manager Cody Charvat.
Charvat says this is the first big test for the system since it went online earlier in the year and was expanded on May 1.
You can get Civic Ready Alerts by signing up here. Alerts can also be sent even if you are not signed up.
“Multiple ways that I can draw an area on the map of Wichita Sedgwick county,” said Charvat. “It will tell me how many public users have signed up within that area… It will capture any published phone number it, can find, whether that’s white pages, yellow pages, published online as a business contact number.”
Charvat can draw a polygon on a map and send out alerts to anyone in case of an emergency when the public needs to be informed.
KSN asked if the system could also be used to alert people when there is a shooting, like the situation recently in Old Town where multiple people were shot.
“It has the potential for that absolutely,” said Charvat. “If it’s an active shooter in an area, those things are over so fast it would probably be done by the time we could get the alert sent out.”
But Charvat says the alerts can be sent out in a matter of a couple of minutes once police or fire have requested the alert to be sent to residents located in a certain area. It’s just a matter of drawing a map on the system, and the calls and emails will be on the way.
“Like we had today, like a standoff situation where we want people to avoid the area or shelter in place if they are already there, then absolutely, we could use it in a situation like that in Old Town or in any part of the city.”
The county will still use the alert system it has always relied on to inform the public of big events like the Andover tornado or other instances. But the new system is considered a success with the technology now going out to phones in any chosen area.
“It’s ever-changing. You know this was the first time we used in this capacity,” said Charvat. “And we will learn some things from this, and we’ll be even better the next time we have to use it.”