Residents use 9-1-1 to report emergencies to the police, but the police can now also report emergencies to the general populace using Reverse 911. The City of Dallas Reverse 911 Emergency Notification System is used to rapidly send telephone notification to residents and businesses in an affected area in the event of an emergency. It would be in everyone's best interest to sign up to be in the system database.

The system will automatically call listed and unlisted telephone numbers within the affected area and attempt to deliver a recorded message. If phone lines are busy, the system will redial those number to make contact. The system will leave the message on an answering machine if available. Cell phone numbers are not automatically included in the system database but can be entered in.

Interested parties can sign up for Reverse 911 by checking out the City of Dallas website. Any information provided will only be used in the event of an emergency and not released to any third party. Reverse 911 is used in conjunction with other notification and alerting tools. It is only one component of the overall comprehensive emergency warning system and should not be seen as the only means of emergency notification.

For more information, visit the Office of Emergency Management's website.