S.C.A.R. ready to keep residents updated

He said the notification system holds numerous advantages for RCMP operations. He explained that they have a compliment of about six officers and getting these notifications out to residents will add extra sets of eyes and ears on the streets.

“By being able to get messages out to a large number of people in a very quick, or short amount of time – what this will do is it will go from giving us six sets of eyes and ears on the road and now it will give us thousands of sets of eyes and ears. This will be beneficial to us in solving property crimes out in the rural areas. It will also be a benefit if we know there is something happening in a certain area,” he said.

“From a crime reduction standpoint, if we see that a certain area of the MD of Taber is experiencing a higher than normal amount of break and enters or whatnot, we can get the information out to people that these crimes are occurring. We can also give them safety tips – basically remind them to lock their vehicles, leave valuables out of sight etcetera. So, it will enhance our policing operations immensely.”

Coordinator of S.C.A.R. Bryce Surina with the MD of Taber said they were inspired B.A.R.C.C., or the Barhead & Area Regional Crime Coalition based out of northern Alberta. They also took inspiration from Alert Ready, the Canada-wide notification system that sends updated on items like Amber Alerts to cell phones.

“That is one of the pieces – to ensure our residents [receive] information on their devices. [With] kind of some of the technology limitations that existed in the area, we wanted to ensure that they had access to those alerts,” Surina told Lethbridge News Now.

“Second fold was to consolidate all of our communications and really have them all in one place. It was kind of a one-stop shop [to have] both emergency alert type communications as well as general municipal communications as well so we wanted to package the two up in an efficient way of getting out to the public.”

Surina explained that in addition to receiving urgent emergency notifications, residents will also be updated on other municipal news items.

He said anyone who registers for the service can choose what kind of notifications they receive and how they receive them, noting that signing up is completely voluntary.

“They can receive them on their phones, they can receive the notifications at home through voice call, they can receive them through email, so we’ve been able to customize the application to present the content to individuals that want to receive it in a certain fashion so there are lots of options related to using the system,” Surina explained.

Yetman said he’s excited to see how far the system can go moving forward.

“The system is positioned to grow and expand and I think being in the early stages of it…perhaps we’re not fully aware of the full potential of the system and it’s definitely something that I’m looking forward to seeing – how it’s going to flesh itself out,” he said,

“I was the recipient last night (Oct. 6) of several text messages regarding weather alerts and I can tell you, I was getting the information I felt I needed in a timely manner, so I’m excited to see where this is going to go.”

Surina added that if the system proves successful, they could potentially partner up with other communities outside of the MD of Taber boundaries.

“We’ve been talking with some of our neighbouring municipalities a little bit as well and there’s some synergies in our area that we’re hoping to create as we grow, so hopefully we can share a little bit of our learns and our experiences as we go along,” he said.

Residents interested in signing up for the service can do so at scarnotify.ca.

by Justin Goulet

S.C.A.R. ready to keep residents updated

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