Getting Adams County residents to attend local meetings about law enforcement issues is good community outreach.
On that, we agree with Adams Sheriff Doug Darr. But the sheriff’s insistence on using a reverse 911 system that is clearly designed for emergencies to get them there is not OK.
Rather than rethink his use of the FirstCall emergency alert system to inform people about non-emergency meetings, however — first revealed more than a week ago — Darr has doubled down.
In a on the Adams sheriff’s office page, the agency insists the system can be used for both emergency and non-emergency uses.
We beg to differ.
There are more appropriate ways of getting the word out about community meetings, including e-mail and flyers.
The use of FirstCall for routine meetings is bound to dull its impact when there is a true emergency. Darr’s agency used it for routine meetings 17 times in the last year, according to a .
The Facebook post took exception to Maass’ story, saying it’s inappropriate to describe FirstCall as an emergency alert system.
That’s nonsensical.
On the for FirstCall alerts, the system is described as an “emergency notification system.”
It says: “FirstCall will only be activated in an emergency situation where there is a risk of significant harm, an urgent threat, or when a general notification is needed.”
of it as an emergency system within Adams County’s documents and Web pages. The sheriff should reconsider this practice.
