Skip to Content

Emergency Messaging

Background: On September 20, 2004, the State of Florida asked several states, Illinois included, for EMAC assistance to provide up to 50 officers per state for assistance during Hurricane Ivan. They had already been hit with two hurricanes and their resources were being stretched to the limit. The Governor's Office from Florida called the Illinois Governor's Office who okayed the request. That request was passed along to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency which contacted the ILEAS Administrative Office. ILEAS then broadcasted an all-points LEADS message to all law enforcement agencies. Unlike a normal request for mutual aid where the decision to send assistance to a local agency is made by a street level supervisor, the decision to send an officer and a car to another state for two weeks is a "chief/sheriff" decision. Given that the request went out late on a Friday afternoon, it was difficult finding all of the chiefs and sheriffs.

ILEAS Response: ILEAS automated its membership and alarm card system with custom software. ILEAS collected from each department the name, cell phone, pagers, office numbers and email addresses of the chief, sheriff and primary command officers. That information was collected in anticipation of implementing a system of statewide, emergency, direct notification of law enforcement command officers. Each agency was also given a chance to opt out of whatever emergency notification system that was eventually implemented. At the end of July 2005, ILEAS signed a contract with MessageOne, a business continuity company. MessageOne is providing emergency messaging service to ILEAS for free as a public service. ILEAS and MessageOne are working together to implement an emergency messaging and notification system.

How it works:

  • All of chiefs, sheriffs and command officers information from the ILEAS member agencies that have opted to receive emergency messages will be connected to the MessageOne system.
  • If a significant emergency occurs, ILEAS can use the system to send text and voice messages to every chief, sheriff and command officer in Illinois - virtually simultaneously - with the alert message.
  • The system will "hunt" each chief/sheriff/command officer - it will try a cell phone first, then an office phone and then email - until it finds them. The message recipient can acknowledge that they received the call by responding to the email or following the instructions they are given with text or voice messages (usually pressing the number 1 at the end of the message - follow the prompts).
  • ILEAS will also send bulk email to its membership and a LEADS message regarding the emergency.

A "significant emergency" includes significant terrorist attacks in the United States, requests for significant amount of mutual aid by an agency in Illinois, or an EMAC (interstate) request for mutual aid from Illinois agencies. Messages will be short and request that you contact your station for more details from a LEADS message. ILEAS can even tailor the message to agencies in a specific county or region of the state. This will also be used for the activation of the WMD Special Response Teams.

This is what will NOT happen:

  • ILEAS will not use the system for anything but significantly important messages. When you see a message coming in on your cell phone or pager from ILEAS, you will know it's important (instead of bombarding you with lots of useless stuff on a regular basis).
  • MessageOne and ILEAS have agreed in writing that your numbers and email addresses will NOT be accessible by anyone but the ILEAS staff. They will not be sold or passed along to a third party for any business purpose whatsoever. This is a particularly important aspect of the relationship for ILEAS. Please see MessageOne's website and check them out. They are a legitimate business continuity company.


Theme by Dr. Radut.