DeKalb committee backs five‑year Rave Alert contract after Code Red breach

The DeKalb County Employee Relations and Public Safety committee on Monday voted to recommend a five‑year agreement for the Rave Alert mass‑notification system from Motorola Solutions, a contract officials said would not exceed $687,600.

A DEMA representative said the county began the procurement after learning "through the state that Code Red had a data breach," and that DEMA conducted demonstrations with three vendors before selecting Rave. The presenter said Rave offers landline and mobile reach, geofencing to target specific areas, and the ability to integrate IPAWS (the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System). "With that, we own all of the data," the representative said, adding that the platform records who received and acknowledged messages.

Commissioners pressed staff on how the system will treat lower‑priority incidents, whether alerts would be ranked to avoid warning fatigue, and whether the county would adopt a policy defining when geofenced alerts are used. The DEMA representative said templates and prioritization exist in the platform and that the county will control the system and its ranking. On GIS integration and geofencing, staff said they will link the county's GIS to the platform to target areas.

On opt‑in questions, staff said residents will generally need to opt in to receive geofenced alerts, though certain alerts such as life‑threatening weather warnings issued through the National Weather Service are delivered automatically. The presenter estimated Code Red had about 33,000 contacts and said the county aims to reach roughly 80% of residents within the first two weeks of rollout after adoption; staff said rollout would begin immediately after Board adoption.

An unidentified commissioner moved to approve the item and the motion carried; the committee forwarded the contract recommendation to the full board.