The power of voices
Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
On Sept. 26, Newcastle Police Chief Jim Owens, along with representatives from the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp and Weston County Emergency Management, held a town hall with the “primary goal being to try and calm down some of the emotions over the escape, clarify how things work and review the overall picture of what goes on in escape situations.”
The town hall was precipitated by the Sept. 22 escape of two inmates from the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp north of Newcastle. According to a timeline provided by the camp, the escape was confirmed during a census count that began at 10 p.m. and the notification to the public was made at
approximately 11:30 p.m.
Owens said during the gathering that he and others had reviewed complaints and concerns voiced on Facebook about the delay in public notification of the escape and, as a result, have revamped the notification system.
Owens said that the camp did everything it was supposed to do and that the city was notified as soon as an escape was indicated. The notification process for the city and county, he said, was also followed the way it was previously set up. The “negative comments,” however, led to a rewrite of the notification procedure.
“For all practical purposes, we have rewritten our notification process, and I think you will find real improvements. The big part is we will have joint ownership in all of this,” Owens said. “The big change is that Gilbert (Nelson, the Weston County emergency management coordinator) will have an active role in the notification process. All involved agencies have decided that the safety of the community is the priority, and that is what we will focus on.”
Owens said that he hoped to use the town hall to inform the public that notifications take some time because certain protocols have to be put in motion before the public is notified. But he also said that the public notification should be within 25 to 30 minutes of the occurrence instead of more than an hour, as occurred last week.
“There are notification concerns, the chief and I have learned this. We (the camp) have no means to do public notification, but I am willing to do whatever with the sheriff’s office and police department to make those identifications and get a system that can make those notifications faster,” said Todd Martin, warden at the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp.
According to Martin, facility’s notification system only notifies staff and he does not have the capability to notify the public.
Owens said that the city will now use two phone notification systems.
The first of these systems, according to Owens, is CodeRED, which the public must register for, and the second is IPAWS, or integrated public alert and warning system.
“CodeRED made 6,000 phone calls, and 4,000 of those connected. It took over 30 minutes for those calls to be made,” Owens said. “IPAWS is a new system in the area that we will be putting into effect. It overrides the signal on any network, and anyone within reach of the cell tower will get the notification that an escape took place. It will duplicate the notification process.”
Owens explained that an escape at the camp is a Weston County Sheriff’s Department case and that the city government has no role in the process. He added that dispatch only has a support and notification role when an escape takes place.
“The way it is set up is there are certain things you have to do, including making phone calls to bring in additional dispatchers, notifying the sheriff and all deputies, notifying the chief and police officers and then notifying other law enforcement agencies, news agencies, and then once that is all in place, it was up to a sheriff’s deputy to activate the siren,” Owens said.
After the most recent escape, Owens said, the agencies reevaluated the process and that support from Nelson would shorten the process “a bunch.”
“When dispatch is notified, the first phone call will be made to the dispatch supervisor saying there was an escape and I need help. The supervisor will find someone to come help and make sure there is dual coverage,” Owens said. “Then, dispatch will notify the sheriff, and he will be responsible for calling deputies. So dispatch is making one call instead of seven.”
After the sheriff is called, dispatch will notify the chief of police and then the emergency management coordinator for the county.
“The county emergency management coordinator will take care of the CodeRED and IPAWS so dispatch doesn’t have to worry about that. He will see that those are both activated,” Owens said. “He will also notify the news agencies, the National Weather Service and cable television system.”
He said that having additional individuals involved means that an already busy dispatch center will not be the sole source of information.
“When you hear the sirens and you don’t know what they mean, turn on your radio station or go to another source like the News Letter Journal or National Weather Service,” Owens said. “If you do that, dispatch will be free to take care of other responsibilities.”
According to Owens, there will still be a delay in notification with the new process but from a confirmed escape to the sounding of the sirens should only take 35 to 40 minutes instead of the 1½ hours reported in the most recent escape.
“CodeRED and IPAWS will also be notifying the public before that,” Owens said.
According to Owens, responses to escapes are going to vary depending on the situation, time of day and other factors.
“We are going to do everything possible to keep the people updated,” Owens said.
Owens said that alerting any additional organizations, such as businesses, would only delay things.
“We are not going to select specifics. If we want this to go rapidly, then everyone has to be notified at once. Hopefully, we will be reducing that time,” Owens said. “Everyone says they want to know right away, but you simply can’t with the technology we have. We will reduce the overall process to a minimum and get the siren going off quicker.”