 Beltrami County Emergency Management has been recognized for its successful use of the cold red alert system. Josh Peterson shows us how the system works and why the county was recognized for the use of the system. On February 2nd, when a gunman was on the loose, a cold red alert was issued for a specific area in the city of Bemidji. The gunman was captured and the cold red alert was called a success. That success got the attention of ECN, the company that provides the cold red alert program that recently awarded Beltrami County for its successful use of the system. Emerging through communication networks, which is our vendor, which provides us the service of cold red, which is our community notification system, takes an opportunity to recognize and highlight good use of their product. Here at the Beltrami County Law Enforcement Center, the cold red alert system was installed shortly after the summer storms of 2012. Since then, the cold red alert system is used on average about 10 times a year. The alert system is used for a variety of different events ranging from bad weather to a security threat. We can use a cold red for a number of different events or incidents that occur. We've used it for weather events. We also use it in hazmat incidents. The cold red alert system streamlines the process simply by writing an alert that is less than 160 characters long, drawing on a map, and then selecting the area that has the most impact. The program then automates phone calls, text messages, and emails to all of those who are signed up in the selected area. We could have made the calls way back when it would take longer and the incident might have already mitigated itself and now you have a chance to punch it out and it gets out there like almost instantaneously. In Bemidji, Josh Peterson, Lakeland News. Only half of Beltrami County's population is currently signed up for the cold red alert system. If you'd like to sign up, we've posted a link on our website at lptv.org slash news. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.