Question: Can you identify and stop who in the state Department of Public Safety is abusing the Nixle emergency system by sending out announcements like the one on Feb. 4, "Man arrested by state sheriffs for stealing restaurant tip jar." And frequently, we’ve seen Nixle announcements saying that visits at state prisons are on — not that it’s been changed, but is happening. These are not emergencies. Nixle was set up for emergencies. It’s like a citizen calling 911 saying, "I can’t find my car keys."
Answer: Although Nixle has been touted as an emergency alert system, it’s meant to be a "community information service," explained Toni Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety.
That’s why DPS recently began using Nixle to make announcements about prison visits as well as to send out news releases.
"There is a common misconception about Nixle," Schwartz said. "It can be used as an emergency alert system, and that’s the most frequent type of use by some agencies, but the primary service they offer is information dissemination."
On its website — nixle.com — Nixle says its free Nixle Connect service "connects public safety agencies to their residents via text, Web and email so residents can be informed of important notifications. The applications of civilian communications go well beyond emergency response, and Nixle Connect provides the tools necessary to effectively reach civilians for everything from community outreach to public relations to emergency mitigation."
There are three levels of communication: green, "community" messages; yellow, advisory; and red, alerts.
"Community" includes notices about canceled visitation hours at prisons; yellow flags traffic delays/accidents and high-surf warnings; and red signals potential dangers, including prison escapes.
Schwartz acknowledged the release about sheriffs arresting the tip-jar suspect "was sent out as an advisory by mistake." It "was supposed to be a community message."
"When we signed up (for Nixle) we were encouraged to put out news releases as well, but we didn’t consider it until recently," she said. "Every agency chooses to use it differently. Government agencies who use Nixle can and do put out various messages such as news releases, stats, employee recognition, traffic notifications and crime alerts."
Schwartz said DPS began sending out Nixle notices about visit cancellations last year after receiving many complaints about people going to a facility not knowing visits were canceled.
"Believe it or not, there are a lot of people statewide who pay attention to our visits, and that alert is important to them," she said.
Schwartz said if Nixle subscribers don’t want to receive certain information, there is an option to change their settings for a particular agency.
To sign up for free text and/or email messages from Nixle, go to nixle.com.
CITY ALERTS
We also checked with the city Department of Emergency Management about how it uses Nixle to alert the community.
Nixle has been used not only to "relay important emergency" alerts, but also "routine messages" since 2010, said spokesman John M. Cummings III.
With Nixle the department sends warnings about severe weather, tsunamis and hurricanes, etc. as "alerts"; notices about flash flood watches, high surf, siren testing and news releases as "advisories"; and notices about emergency preparedness meetings and fairs, special events, etc., as "community" messages, he said.
"We make every effort to ensure that the message we issue and the Nixle message type we use are complementary," he said.
Cummings said Nixle has become an invaluable tool for the city to keep residents and visitors informed. More than 34,000 residents have signed up to receive Nixle messages from his department.
Meanwhile the Honolulu Police Department said its Nixle alerts are usually sent to announce road closures or other traffic-related changes due to collisions, road spills, water main breaks, etc.
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