NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Changes are in store for many Mid-State emergency responders who currently use Nixle notification technology to alert citizens to emergencies and important information.
Beginning April 29, the company will begin charging agencies for a service that was initially free.
Agencies currently using the technology include Williamson County EMS, Rutherford County EMS, Mt. Juliet police, Franklin police, Brentwood police, the TBI and TEMA.
The technology allows the agencies to text and email citizen subscribers instantaneously. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, the platform is reliable and tech support is available around the clock.
The service was marketed to emergency responders for free and many agencies are not pleased by the abrupt news.
Sgt Charlie Warner is the public information officer for the Franklin Police Department, which has close to 1,100 Nixle subscribers.
He told Nashville's News 2 Investigates the city embraced the free technology as a tool to communicate with residents.
"Nixle lets us connect with people who want to connect," he explained. "We have used it in unbelievable ways to reach people every day about issues here at the police department. With this service, we can instantly touch anyone who signs up. We have over a 1,000 subscribers and can put out real time information about an overturned tractor trailer, or leaking HAZMAT situation. It's right there, on a person's cell phone. We can tell them to stay out of that area. We can inform them about a missing adult or a kid who is abducted. We can post a picture and you can stop and see the text and see the kid's picture and look over and there is the kid standing there and you didn't know to call the police without this alert."
According to Sgt. Warner, Nixle recently notified Franklin police that the service will no longer be free to emergency responders starting April 29.
Warner said Nixle will charge the city $1,500 for the first year and then increase the price dramatically to $6,000 based on the city's population.
He said the city will probably continue for the next year while it looks at other options.
Wilson County Emergency Management officials said it actively promoted the Nixle site and officials were startled when Nashville's News 2 Investigates informed them of the price hike.
Officials in the agency equated the Nixle marketing plan to that of a bait and switch campaign.
The TBI said it has 10,000 Nixle subscribers statewide. The agency said it may continue with the company for the next year, but if the price is calculated on jurisdiction, the price to the TBI could be cost prohibitive.
Brentwood Police Chief Ricky Watson said the agency will not pay the new price, opting to keep whatever the company will offer for free.
That will be extremely limited, according to Sgt. Warner.
"Some say we can use it for emergency, but what constitutes an emergency?" he asked. "They are in business to make money and we want them to make money, but when they rolled this out to us, they said they make money in the private sector and they wanted to offer this out to public safety for free to keep communities safe. So they have hundreds of agencies signed up. They have hundreds of thousands of citizens that will stop getting messages unless these agencies are willing and have ability to pay for the services now."
In a statement posted on its Web site, the company said, "The proliferation of Nixle across the United States has resulted in an unprecedented demand for capacity and new functionality. Nixle currently provides its free commercial grade text-based notification platform to almost 5,000 agencies across all 50 states and last month (February 2011) processed and paid for over 2,000,000 text messages on behalf of its clients. In order to be able to continue to provide a free service, Nixle is now rolling out additional paid plans that incorporate some of its existing functionality plus upcoming exciting new releases."
Read more at Nixle.com.
