By Mary Garrison
Tribune-Courier Features Editor
mgarrison@tribunecourier.com

MARSHALL COUNTY – Marshall County E-911 has adopted a new way to disseminate potentially critical information to the general public.

Nixle is a community information service devoted to keeping residents connected to local police departments, schools, agencies and emergency services. The service is free to the public and governmental agencies, and subscribers may customize their information to receive only what they deem of relevance from their geographic region of choice.

“I’ve been looking into it for the last several weeks,” said Marshall County E-911 Director Jeff Daniel. “The police department in Collierville, Tenn. — in Shelby County, where I grew up — had been using it, and it’s been really good for their community.”

Daniel said after he discovered the system was free of charge and partnered with the National Law Enforcement Telecommunication System, he was sold on the idea.

The service will allow the county’s E-911 to distribute messages such as weather alerts, lost or missing alerts for children or loved ones, road closure notifications, traffic problems and public safety notices in emergency situations. Subscribers to the Nixle service will receive the messages through mobile phone devices such as text messages, via email or the internet.

It’s something Daniel said E-911 plans to take full advantage of.

“I think that there are endless opportunities for us as a public service agency to utilize this free service,” Daniel said in a statement released to the Tribune-Courier. “But it will take the community coming together to register for the entire community to be aware of emergency information as it happens.”

While the service itself is free to the public, standard text messaging rates apply as outlined in individuals’ mobile phone provider plan.

According to information on the Nixle website, subscribers may opt not to make use of text messaging as part of the alert system.

Daniel said Nixle is secure and does not track its subscribers, nor will it share personal contact information with E-911.

The system is already in place for Marshall County, as well. Daniel said as of Friday, he’d already sent two messages via Nixle. As soon as residents subscribe, they have access to the service.

Daniel said he keeps one ultimate goal in mind.

“I just want to keep Marshall Countians informed of real-time events, as they happen,” Daniel said.

To subscribe to the Nixle alert system, visit www.nixle.com.