By KEITH UPCHURCH
The Herald-Sun

DURHAM, N.C. — Burglars have hit several of your neighbors' homes, but no one told you.

Then your phone rings, and a recorded message warns you about the rash of crimes.

That's CodeRED in action: an emergency notification system that can send recorded messages to 60,000 Durham phones an hour, warning residents of anything from crime to drinking water contamination to a major natural disaster.

"Its purpose is for us to be able to warn citizens of things that could be critical to them and that could be going on in their neighborhood," said Jim Soukup, director of 911 services for Durham city and county.

"It augments what the media would do, and what the normal ways of notifying residents are," he said. "It's not meant to replace anything.''

Since the CodeRED program began in Durham about two years ago, 30-second warning calls have gone out an estimated 20-30 times, mainly to tell neighborhoods about "some type of community policing event," Soukup said.

"We have used it primarily for community policing to warn citizens in their neighborhoods that there's been a rash of burglaries and to pay extra attention, and also for help in solving crimes."

If the person isn't home, the message will be left on an answering machine. Otherwise, three attempts are made to contact the resident by phone.

The program also can communicate with the hearing impaired through a TDD/TTY device.

Other examples of when it might be used include power outages, evacuation notices, missing persons, fires and floods.

"These things have been borne out mainly from the hurricane zones, when you want to get the word out about evacuations very quickly and then, after the event, try to get the word out about where shelters are and what roads are open -- things like that," Soukup said.

If Durham ever experiences a major natural disaster, the CodeRED program would be a perfect way to warn all residents, he said.

"It's a great insurance blanket."

The program costs $50,000 a year, split evenly between the city and county.

The only problem with CodeRED, he said, is that if you have an unlisted phone number, you must sign up to be part of the program. That also applies to those with only cell phone service. The Web site to sign up is: durhamnc.gov. Click on city services, then on CodeRED emergency notification system, then on the link at the bottom of the page.

For those who don't have Internet service, call 560-1200 to sign up.

"It's one of those things you hope you never need, but if you need it, it certainly will help us get the word out very quickly," Soukup said.

Durham Mayor Bill Bell said CodeRED is sort of like having a fire department.

"You hope you don't have to use it," he said, "but if you do, you're really glad it's there.''

Copyright 2008 Herald-Sun