Self-Dispatching

If your agency or organization does not utilize a dispatch center or CAD system to manage your calls, it is possible to send alerts directly through ActiveAlert. 

Utilizing the self-dispatching feature can also come in handy if you would like to inform your personnel of a non-emergency event or notification in a quick manner. 

There are two ways to send an alert. 

Send an Alert via Active911.com 

1. Login to your agency account at Active911.com. Be sure that you have the correct agency selected in the agency drop down. 

2. Click the “Send Alert” button in the left side menu. 

3. Fill in all pertinent information in the pop-up window, then click “Send Alert” 

Send an alert via the ActiveAlert App 

1. Open the app 

2. Navigate to the map 

3. Long-press on where you would like the alert to originate (this is particularly helpful if emergency crews on a campus or facility that wants to notify their team of an active incident at their location). 

4. Select “Create Alert” in the bottom menu 

5. Fill in the form with all pertinent information – note that the GPS coordinates and address will auto populate with where you selected on the map. 

Form Field Explanations: 

Title – Give your alert a specific name in order to help your personnel quickly understand context 

CAD Code or Alert Number – this is not necessary for self-dispatching when you do not have a CAD system. This is a unique code or number that the CAD system will use for alerts. 

Priority – again, this is not necessary for self-dispatching when you do not have a CAD system. CADs will use this to place priority types on a call. 

Place Name – use this field to give a specific place the call is located, such as “Elementary School” or “Station 1” 

Address – This is where you will enter the street address of the call. 

Cross street – You can fill in the cross street of the call, especially helpful if the incident is happening in the road. 

City – The city of the call. 

Latitude & Longitude – If you have the exact GPS coordinates for the call, you can input them here. 

Map – This is where you can enter map code information, if you have any. 

Details – This is where you will enter the details related to the call, such as number of people or vehicles involved, type of structure fire, medical information, etc. 

Recipients – You can select whether you want to send to everyone or to specific groups. Groups are a great way to help get alerts to the right individuals without alerting everyone. Learn more about groups here. 

Send directly to – If you don’t have groups set-up, or if you only need to send your alert to a select few people, you can use this feature to send your alert to specific devices. This works well if you want to alert only your officers or a similar group of people but don’t have a need to set up a page group for those individuals. 

Non-emergency – Selecting this will label the alert as non-emergency, and depending on the user’s device settings, will not use a ringtone to notify them of the alert. 

Those are the steps to get use ActiveAlert for self-dispatching. If you need any further assistance, you can reach out to our support team who will be happy to assist you. 

Check out our other tutorials to learn more about using your account and getting ActiveAlert set-up for your agency.