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Crime & Safety

Sheriff's Office: Nixle, CodeRED Services Led to Boy's Discovery

Authorities credit the use of technologies in the finding of 12-year-old boy who left home.

after more than six hours of searching by a citizen subscribed to receive Nixle alerts from the . 

Deputies began searching the immediate area around the child’s residence after receiving word that the boy had left his home on foot. It was discovered that he was on medication for bipolar disorder and reactive attachment disorder, which increased the cause of concern for his safety. Deputies were unable to locate the child during their initial search. Additional manpower was called in including members of the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, K-9 Unit, Crisis Negotiations Team and Georgia State Patrol (GSP) to help with the search. A helicopter from GSP Aviation was used to search the area by air. 

Nixle was used to broadcast a lookout to citizens by e-mail and text message that lived within a 5-mile radius of where the child was last seen. A “reverse 911” phone call was also made using the CodeRED alert system to notify residents by phone of the missing child.

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A Paulding County resident located the missing child matching the clothing description that had been broadcasted using Nixle and CodeRED within 90 minutes of the first “missing child” alert. Dawn Rawson is a county resident and neighborhood watch coordinator for her community. She received the Nixle alerts by e-mail and text message, and, as a mother, felt the need to help. She was riding through the area when she saw the child in a doorway of an old barn that sits near the roadway.

“It was a surreal experience seeing the child and know that he was the same one that everyone was looking for because of the clothes that he was wearing,” Rawson said.  “I immediately dialed 911 since that is what the Nixle messages said for us to do. I was so happy to see that child reunited with his parents, and to know that because of Nixle, I was able to help make that happen.” 

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, nixle.com, to the public in June 2009. Nixle was designed to deliver important and timely information to residents in our area using the latest technology. Nixle delivers trustworthy and important neighborhood-level public safety and community event notifications by web, email, and cell phone. Nixle is completely free, simple, and trusted. Register now and learn more at www.nixle.com then share this new service with friends and neighbors to spread the word. 

CodeRED is an emergency notification system provided to the citizens and business of Paulding County at no cost by the Paulding County Board of Commissioners. The CodeRED system broadcasts geographically targeted severe weather warnings by telephone and text message to those who have signed up for the service. One of the important differences with the CodeRED service is that you will only receive tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings that are issued for your area as well as any “reverse 911” phone calls for emergencies such as abducted/missing children.

“These services will allow us to share important information with our citizens very quickly,” said Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge. “They can receive this information and then respond to us immediately with the information that we may need to solve a crime or locate a missing child.”

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