Auto dialers can be used to get a message out quickly to many people, simultaneously. Local police departments, in Lower Allen Township have just starting implementing this technology in order to directly get in touch with residents, in case of an emergency.

 Jan Sayre, who lives in the Allendale development in Lower Allen Twp, said in a statement that she would have liked to have had an auto dialer 14 years ago, when she was one of the many people who had their homes burglarized. “Had there have been an alert, the other families who were hit would not have been hit at that time,” she said.

According to a recent article in The Patroit-News, Lower Allen spends about $13,000 for an annual subscription to Blackboard (News - Alert) Connect. Derry and Susquehanna Townships use a similar system called Code Red. This system closely mimics a cell phone plan, in that it charges by the minutes used with year-to-year rollover options available.

It was also reported that recently, Mechanicsburg purchased an annual contract with Global Connect (News - Alert) and paid several thousand dollars, in order to have access to a similar type of auto dialer system.

“The people really like it,” Lower Allen police Chief Frank Williamson said in a statement. “Out of everything, this is really money well spent.”

Before Lower Allen purchased this emergency notification system back in 2008, police officers were forced to travel door-to-door to get phone numbers for residents who lived in flood zones. Then when it rained, a clerk would have to manually call each and every person. “It would take two to three hours,” Williamson said in statement. “With this I can get it out to our flood plain residents from time I end the call ... It can be done in about 10 minutes. From public safety standpoint this is a great, great tool.”

These auto dialer systems don’t have to only be used to notify residents about possible floods but can be used to let residents know of procedures to follow during snow emergencies, or to provide residents with information about recent neighborhoods that criminal activity has taken place in.

Police Chief Rob Martin said in a statement, “We use it in various different ways—for flooding ... criminal activity we want folks to be aware of, ongoing residential burglaries, the township has used it for changing trash pickup dates. It benefits the government as a whole.”