Telemarketing technology will soon be put to “good” use in Iowa’s largest city. The Des Moines Police Department plans to buy an automated telephone machine which can call dozens of numbers at once to deliver recorded emergency messages. Police Chief William Moulder (MULL’-dur) says it’ll be a big help in tracking down missing children, for example.Chief Moulder says the automated device can also be used to notify entire neighborhoods at once about strings of burglaries or looming disasters, like rising floodwaters that demand evacuations. One of the systems Des Moines is considering is called “Reverse 9-1-1” which Moulder says is an appropriate name. Bettendorf used to have a system that was a much earlier version of this device several years ago, but Moulder says it’s no longer working.Des Moines plans to buy the 50-thousand dollar device using federal grant money and should have it working by fall.
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