CodeRED Call Creates Chaos In Texarkana

If you got a CodeRED call Sunday night about a missing man, you, like hundreds of others in the Texarkana area, were probably confused because of call timing and information. The man was found unharmed. Now CodeRED officials are trying to work out the kinks in the system. When an Alzheimers patient went missing Sunday afternoon, the CodeRED system was activated to send information to 56,000 registered phone numbers. "It did accomplish what we needed it to do," says Captain Shawn Vaughn, who oversees the program. As initial calls were going out, the man was found unharmed and that caused problems in the system. Officials decided to send out another call alerting everyone the man had been found, which meant 112,000 calls were being activated at one time. "It resulted to the system slowing down," says Vaughn. Calls started going out at four in the afternoon and residents in Miller and Bowie County were still receiving calls at 11 p.m. Sunday night. Even Captain Vaughn. "I got a call at my house at 11:22 and it was activated at six in the evening." Now residents are calling the Texarkana, Arkansas Police Department wanting off the CodeRED list, and officials want a chance to get the problems fixed. "It is real important that people allow us to work through this." Captain Vaughn says his office has been in contact with the makers of CodeRED to troubleshoot the problem. He says he will personally call each and every person wanting off the list to explain the system, its kinks and why it is important.