RELEASE DATE: 07/03/08 RELEASE TIME: 12:00 pm CASE NUMBER: n/a

WHAT: Douglas County Sheriff Partners With Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership to Make Sure Citizens Keep Informed During Upcoming Democratic National Convention.

NARRATIVE: DOUGLAS COUNTY: Douglas County Sheriff David A. Weaver is pleased to announce an important step that has been taken to enhance disaster preparedness and community awareness during the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

The Sheriff’s Office has joined the Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership Initiative to bring a free alert notification service to the public. Anyone can sign up for text messages or email alerts directly from the Denver Emergency Operation Center during the DNC which can include anything from regular updates to issues that could affect the public, from which Douglas County will be contributing.  Citizens may visit www.thecepp.org to sign up for this free service, CEPP Alert.

MissionMode, a leading provider of emergency notification and crisis management software and the company supporting this effort, will provide the technology to alert the public to possible dangers, reroute them in the event of unplanned road closures or broadcast important instructions directly to handheld devices or e-mail accounts. This alerting system will only be used to share information provided and approved by public safety officials. The intent of the alert is to distribute emergency communications more rapidly and effectively to the public, thereby reducing the cost and impact of operations or incidents.

Even though the main operations of the DNC will occur in Denver, those of us in the outlying areas to need be aware of any situations that could have a “ripple” effect that may interfere with our normal daily routine or those situations that effect Douglas County directly. “I am very excited about being able to include our citizens in this alerting service. If a citizen has an appointment north of the county it would be beneficial to know if there are any major street closures that may affect those plans,” stated Sheriff Weaver. This free service will only enhance what the Sheriff’s Office is doing to keep the citizens of Douglas County informed.

Sheriff Weaver has also decided to take this partnership one step further and join the “Business Emergency Operations Center” which is an online tool that will allow the Sheriff’s Office to share information and resources in real time with other businesses in the event of a disaster. “Unfortunately too many times during a crisis, information sharing is delayed. We believe this tool with only enhance the communication resource tools we already use during a disaster,” Sheriff Weaver stated. According to the Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership, other agencies using the MissionMode software are FEMA, NORTHCOM, BOMA, INFRAGARD, Denver Public Schools, and the Colorado State EOC.

For more information about the citizen alerts or how your business can join the Business Emergency Operations Center, please visit www.thecepp.org