City of London Police upgrades business alert system

The City of London Police has announced the completion of a major upgrade to its real time emergency communication system, Priority Alert. Priority Alert has been providing real time security information to businesses since its inception after the Bishopsgate bombing in the early 1990s.

The upgrade was the result of a contract signed with Vocal, the corporate communication solutions provider. Priority Alert now becomes ‘Warn and Inform’ and includes a mix of emergency voice, SMS text, pager and e-mail messages which will be sent to London businesses, schools and residents to provide information and instructions in the event of a major incident. The system also has the ability for maps to be broadcast providing details of incidents including cordons and road closures.

Mike Bowron, Commissioner at The City of London Police, said: “Protecting lives is our number one priority in an incident. The Warn and Inform system saves valuable minutes, even seconds in communicating that there is a security threat. It is already part of the emergency and evacuation plans of a large number of London companies. I have no doubt, one day, the system could save lives.”

Currently there are around 1500 businesses within London that subscribe to the Priority Alert System, all of which will be given access to Warn and Inform.

www.warnandinform.com/cityoflondon

•Date: 23rd October 2007• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Crisis comms
Rate this article or make a comment - click here