What precautions are being taken to protect personal information?

Will there be a way to positively identify incoming calls which are made by the city using the system?

Will the Connect-CTY service work if I have a call screening system on my phone?

If I am a non-resident home or condominium owner, what phone should be listed in the notification database?

What is the Connect-CTY service?

The City of Dickinson, in cooperation with The Water Company and Dickinson Economic Development Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the Connect-CTY service, our new city-to-resident notification system. With this service, Emergency Management can send personalized voice messages to residents and businesses within minutes with specific information about time-sensitive or common-interest issues such as emergencies and local community matters. The Connect-CTY service will be used to supplement our current communication plans and augment public safety/first responder services.

How does the service work?

Authorized officials record a voice message that is then delivered quickly to individual phones in the notification database.     

What types of messages will be sent using the service?

Any message regarding the safety or welfare of our community would be disseminated using the Connect-CTY service.

Examples would include severe weather warnings and updates, evacuation notices, hazardous traffic or road conditions inside the city or affecting local routes, and any other situation that could impact the safety, property, or welfare of our citizens.

Does the Connect-CTY service replace other systems that have been used to provide time-sensitive information to residents? 

This system is a significant enhancement to existing means of communication and is supplemental to, not a replacement for, the systems we have used in the past.

The call-in emergency information line 281-337-4700, which is activated during an emergency situation, will still be available.  Also, TV, radio and our city web site will continue to broadcast important announcements.

Is my telephone number included in the notification database?

It is our intention and hope that every residence and commercial facility in our community be included in the notification database.  For businesses, we only store one main phone number.  For residents, we may have more than one number that belongs to you in the database.  Additionally, you may request to have a secondary number be entered into our database for priority calling.  

May I use a cell phone as my notification database listing?

Yes, we can accept cell phones as secondary phone numbers in the database and encourage you to request that your number be included.

What precautions are being taken to protect personal information?

Connect-CTY® is a service of Blackboard Connect Inc. (BCI). BCI takes security and privacy concerns very seriously and does not sell, trade, lease or loan any data about our clients to any third party.  From a technical perspective, we utilize multiple physical and virtual layers of firewalls to maintain data security.  BCI only utilizes secure transmissions with its customers. No confidential information is ever transmitted between BCI and its customers using e-mail or FTP, but rather always utilizes either a VPN tunnel or SSL.  Data is hosted in state-of-the-art facilities which require photo identification, thumb-print recognition, keyed access, and are manned 24/7 with full-security personnel.  All data is encrypted prior to being placed on tape for offsite storage. BCI also retains an external, independent security firm to perform annual security audits. 

Will there be a way to positively identify incoming calls which are made by the city using the system?

The caller-ID number for calls generated by the Connect-CTY service will be the same as the City Office number: 281-337-4700.  In addition, every message will begin with the same standard announcement:  “Hello this is the office of Dickinson Emergency Management calling with an important message.”  The message content will follow this standard introduction.

Will the Connect-CTY service work if I have a call screening system on my phone?

There are several varieties of call screening devices which use differing protocols for screening.  In general, the system has been found to work with these devices; but, some may require some type of pre-programming to allow our city’s telephone number to pass through.  We may conduct periodic test to assure that messages are being delivered to numbers in the notification database.

If I am a non-resident home or condominium owner, what phone should be listed in the notification database?

For non-residents owners who reside out of our town/city, you may provide an additional phone number to be included in our database to contact during certain situations.  In general, calls are sent to the primary number only, but we also have the ability to call multiple numbers for each resident or business when requested by the resident or business.  Please contact Cindy Ginn at the Police Department office at 281-337-4550 to provide us with that information. You may also send an email to: connectcty@dickinsontexas.gov