The Coronado Police Department has shifted to a new system for providing emergency notification to residents, launching the Everbridge community alert platform.
Beginning Oct. 7, the department started a six-month transition period where notifications will be sent through both Nixle, the current program, and Everbridge, until April 1.
“However, Nixle subscriptions will not carry over to Everbridge,” Police Chief Paul Connelly said at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting.
Nixle users will have to create an Everbridge account by the first of April to continue getting notifications.
Residents will be able to customize their Everbridge notifications based on their needs and what they are interested in seeing. There are also multiple ways to receive notifications, including text, email and phone calls, and users can choose their preferred mode of communication.
When the city or Police Department sends a notification, residents will be notified by the method they’ve selected. The notification will first be sent through the preferred method of communication. Then, if the user doesn’t acknowledge it within two minutes, the system will send another message to the next preferred method.
Acknowledging the message could be responding with a “Yes” or clicking the link sent via text or email.
Everbridge does not replace statewide emergency alert systems such as wireless emergency alerts, also known as WEA, according to Fire Chief Jayson Summers. WEA is used for imminent threats and utilizes geographic targeting to reach people in danger like national emergencies or Amber alerts.
However, if a life threatening situation were to occur, messages would be sent through WEA and Everbridge.
