When the city of Philadelphia deployed RSAN they created a model for interagency communication which has benefited the police department, as well as local emergency response teams, business owners, school districts and local government agencies.

Communication for the City of Philadelphia is centralized within one department that is responsible for routing phone calls, providing information on city departments and services, and for alerting key city personnel of events affecting city government such as major fires, severe weather, bomb threats and terrorism. The same department is also responsible for radio dispatch which complements and coordinates the dispatches of other city departments such as police, fire, streets, and water.

The Communications Department needed a faster and more efficient way to communicate to key city personnel that would not overload operators and dispatchers in the performance of their regular duties, and would not require hiring countless new operators. The city was also faced with the challenge of establishing a communication system that efficiently communicated dispatch messaging to command level police personnel, which also operated across both public and private agencies in Philadelphia and enabled rapid response to emergencies with the added benefit of knowledge sharing.

The Department adopted a text-based notification system that would alleviate several operational challenges and provide a more reliable solution to the alert notification process to be used by the communications center switchboard and municipal radio dispatch. The system became a joint project between Philadelphia Police and the Center City District, and was rolled out to the private sector, numerous business institutions and building managers, local school districts and universities as well as federal agencies in and around the Center City District.

The city selected a solution which enables authorized users have a single interface to initiate, receive and reply to, emergency alert updates via email and any text-enabled wireless devices such as pagers, cell phones, Blackberrys, PDAs, etc. It is utilized for a variety of public safety alerts including: crime, multiple alarm fires, hazardous materials accidents, and major incidents requiring evacuations or shelter-in-place instructions. Additionally, the system serves as an online contact management system across city departments. The solution also enables new departments to participate in the alert process, and provide them with their own alert notification system.

With the deployment of the text-based alerting system, the city enhanced its alert notification system for major events impacting the city and requiring the response of city departments. Alerts now reach all users’ emails and wireless devices, including cell phones, pagers, Blackberrys, PDAs and more, within seconds. Staff are also able to track responses in real time. Overall, the net benefits have been: faster delivery and receipt of alert messages, cost savings, increased efficiency and productivity of staff, a wider population of alert recipients and a more reliable means to communicate with groups of key individuals during all types of routine incidents and major emergencies.