More information on how to download the app to your smartphone can be found at www.pursuitalert.com/get-the-app.
Courtesy photo
EASLEY/PICKENS — The Easley Police Department, in conjunction with Pickens Police Department, recently announced a new warning system for community members.
The two departments have received equipment and been provided access to utilize Digital Siren by Pursuit Alert. The system will enable citizens the ability to download an application that will alert them to police pursuits and other emergencies within their area, police said.
“Historically, for law enforcement, pursuits have always been a problem,” said Tim Morgan, Founder of Digital Siren. “I was in law enforcement for 37 years and one of the most difficult incidents I had to deal with was the death of an innocent victim in a high-speed police pursuit.”
After retiring from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, he started designing pursuit alert.
According to Morgan, at the flip of a switch, officers could send out a push alert to smartphones within a set radius around a chase. The app would then alert users to “proceed with caution” if there’s no longer a threat from a chase.
But it’s not just for pursuits.
“And the dispatch center can now alert when they get a report of an impaired driver and a drunk driver nearby,” Morgan continued. “Historically, there’s nothing that you can do but dispatch an officer. But now you can alert the public nearby, ‘hey pay attention there’s been a reported drunk driver right where you are.’ Or ‘there’s been a wrong-way driver reported.’ It sends a specific alert for a wrong-way driver, an active shooter, an impaired driver. If an officer is out on patrol, and sees a funnel cloud, he can call dispatch and say ‘hey, send a weather alert out.’”
Easley Chief of Police Stan Whitten said the system will be a “great benefit.”
“We engage in approximately, about 65 pursuits a year. So, this is a warning system for the public to let them know that a pursuit is near them,” Whitten said. “With this app, it will alert them to when a pursuit is near them to get them to move over, to get out of the way so that we can continue the pursuit and they can be safe. There are warning systems for hurricanes, tornadoes and lightning, but police pursuits kill more people annually than all of those combined. It only makes sense for us to have a warning system as well.”
The Easley Police Department said it plans to put the system in all 32 police cars soon. The Pickens Police Department already has.
“On my personal self, I have used it three times so far in pursuits. One being within the last week, I have used it. So, it has been effective already,” said Pickens Police Officer Caleb Cassell. “It will be very beneficial to alert the public that we are approaching and they can get a heads up, to go ahead and move to the shoulder, so we don’t have to navigate through traffic and busy intersections when they can already be on the shoulder when we approach.”
Donnie Wilson, owner of DRW Transport, a local tractor-trailer transportation service, gifted both departments with the equipment.
“Once I talked to Tim (Morgan), started questioning him about the Digital Siren, I knew it was something that we needed to be a part of, and especially in the trucking industry. I have drivers on the road every day and I’m very excited and I knew we wanted to be a part of it,” Wilson said before gifting a $3,292 check to the Pickens Police Department and a $6,398 check to the Easley Police Department.
“Thanks to Mr. Donnie Wilson of DRW Transport and Mr. Tim Morgan, Owner and Creator of Pursuit Alert, the Easley Police Department and the Pickens Police Department, is now equipped with technology that will provide lifesaving alerts to our community,” Whitten said.
Law enforcement agencies are encouraging the community to download the app now.
More information on how to download the app to your smartphone can be found at www.pursuitalert.com/get-the-app.
Reach Kasie Strickland at 864-855-0355.