The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, along with the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency recently implemented a new mass notification system from Cooper Notification, which allows them to send text messages and e-mails to residents and business owners that contain information about crimes committed in their area.

The system, dubbed by authorities as "DC Police Alert," which is part of Cooper Notification’s Roam Secure Alert Network citizen warning system, will be used by law enforcement to send information to residents about alleged perpetrators in hopes of catching criminals and reducing crime.

To receive alerts, residents must first subscribe to the free service and enter in their contact information. Business owners who want to receive the alerts must also register their business address.

According to Ned Ingraham, vice president of homeland security services for Cooper Notification, the RSAN is simple for law enforcement agencies or municipalities to setup.

"It is another step in the crime fighting process. It takes very little time or effort to accomplish," he said. "(The alerts) are initiated with the click of a button, a template comes up for the communications officer, he fills in the specifics of this event and presses the send button. So it’s a very simple process to send these alerts out."

Though Washington D.C. authorities have chosen to send alerts via e-mail and text messages, the network is not limited to only those two types of mediums.

"You can (send a message through) e-mail, text, voice (message), XM radio, AM radio, FM radio, outdoor speaker systems, and indoor speaker and alarm systems," Ingraham said. "Through the Roam Secure Information Exchange, which comes bundled with an RSAN system, we have setup a national framework for emergency messaging so virtually any sort of message from any source can be transmitted through the system."