Hamilton County statement on failure to issue warnings in connection with a school shooting

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Hamilton County is receiving questions about the alerts from its emergency notification system during the shooting rampage near Hamilton Place on Monday.

Here is the statement they issued:

“In this case, a perpetrator was trapped inside the building. If there was a threat outside the building, our office would have consulted with the Chattanooga Police Department (who had jurisdiction over the crime scene) to obtain public message approval. These messages are only disseminated when the public is at risk and in no way serve as a news alert.

We analyzed all sources of information during yesterday’s incident and worked with all authorities involved to make consistent decisions.

This is an important reminder for citizens to sign up for our emergency notification system, REGROUP. Hamilton County has over 360,000 residents and to date only 6,000 have signed up to receive alerts. In order for OEM to use this tool effectively, people need to sign up. We encourage local media to use this as an opportunity to make the public aware of this resource in the event of a school shooting situation.”

The Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management continues to encourage Hamilton County residents to sign up for emergency alerts: www.hamiltonready.org

Front page in a red box: REGISTER FOR EMERGENCY ALERTS

Link: https://embeds.regroupcloud.com/orgs/hamiltontn/channels/hamilton-county-resident-emergency-notifications/signup_embed