A dispatcher monitors emergency communication consoles at the Westfield Public Safety Communications Center. Westfield would like more residents to sign up for the free CodeRed alert notification system, especially for those who often park on the city’s streets and road and need to be notified of a parking ban during a snowstorm.
Reminder Publishing file photo
WESTFIELD — Because too many vehicles park on the city’s streets and roads during a snowstorm, the efforts of the DPW and private snowplow operators to clear the streets are all too often slowed.
To solve this issue, the Police Department and the regional dispatch center want residents to know there is a way to immediately learn if a parking ban has been a problem: CodeRed.
“It all about public safety,” said Police Capt. Steve Dickinson about the importance of keeping the streets clear and signing up for the city’s CodeRed service, which is an emergency notification system used by the city to quickly alert residents about local events like severe weather, missing persons, evacuations, public health issues and parking bans by phone, text or email.
Rolled out about a year ago, over 1,500 residents have signed up for the service, but of those, only about 600 have signed up to get parking ban alerts, said Nina Barszcz, the director of the Westfield Regional Public Safety Communication Center.
“Anyone who parks on the streets in the city should sign up for the parking notifications when signing up for the service,” Barszcz said.
When the snow starts falling and forecasts call for accumulation, plowing doesn’t usually start until after it stops, which is the window of opportunity for residents to move their vehicles.
And when plowing starts, there is always a coordinated effort between the plows and patrol officers to get vehicles off the streets.
Dickinson said that if a resident’s vehicle is parked on the street about to get plowed, officers will stop, check the status of the vehicle registration to determine the address of the vehicle owner and knock on their door. If no one answers the door, the dispatch center will call the owner’s number, and if no one answers, the officers are authorized to tow the vehicle.
“Towing is a last resort,” Dickinson said, adding that having a vehicle towed causes even more of a delay for the plows.
He also said that most residents don’t know that all the city’s municipal parking lots are available for those who have nowhere else to go, but they should understand that at some point, those lots must be plowed.
The CodeRed alerts are all “user-driven,” Barszcz said.
That means the city will not sign a resident up for the service. They must do it.
She said when a resident does, it’s important to choose which notification method they would like; text, phone call, or email, or all three.
And because the CodeRed system can geotarget the message, Barszcz said residents should include their home address.
The system is precise enough to geotarget residents within an exact area of impact, so that only those people who are affected by an emergency situation are notified
For example, if a resident lives on Montgomery or East Mountain Road, they probably won’t need to choose to be alerted when a parking ban is issued.
For those unfamiliar with the free service, it sends alerts for a variety of situations, like boil water notices, gas leaks, and fire or police emergencies.
When an alert is issued, the CodeRed message will have a caller ID of 206-536-3695. The city suggests programming that number into a user’s cell phone as a new contact.
Residents can also register more than one phone or email address.
It is highly recommended that residents register at least one phone number and email address.
“This is to ensure that you will receive alerts in the event of a power outage or incident that occurs late a night,” according to a CodeRed fact sheet.
If a resident gets an alert, don’t call 911 for additional information unless directed to do so.
The system will leave a message on an answering machine or voicemail if the phone is missed. If no one answers or the line is busy, the system will retry the call two more times.
“At any point, you may redial the 800 number on your caller ID to hear a replay of the message,” according to the fact sheet.
The city also recommends downloading the free app, which, in addition to getting alerts based on the location of the phone, allows users to hear alerts from other cities and towns they may be traveling to.
To sign up, visit cityofwestfield.org/codered, and for questions, email codered@cityofwestfield.org.
