Portland mayor urges residents to utilize CodeRED system

PORTLAND, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Portland mayor has urged residents to utilize a communication tool that could save lives: CodeRED .

That recommendation came in light of a shooting outside a Planet Fitness on July 24. The suspect took off after the shooting, leaving the community to worry. The gunman was later found dead near a Kentucky church. The victim is recovering.

Portland’s mayor, Mike Callis, said that this situation was a wake up call. He added that the community should know about situations like that sooner and city leaders asked themselves how they could improve response.

“What can we do better? What can we utilize?” Callis asked. “One of the tools we have not traditionally utilized for any emergency, other than a weather situation, has been CodeRED.”

CodeRED is a free alert system that shows up on your phone. In the past, the city used it for severe weather. However, officials have worked together to utilize the system in other emergencies, such as the July 24 shooting.

“We are putting an action plan in place of what events would trigger a CodeRED,” Callis said. “It could be an active shooter, but it could be a train derailment, it could be an airplane crash — whatever may be going on at that time.”

Callis said that he hopes all citizens sign up for CodeRED. He added that it’s a useful tool that could save lives.

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“CodeRED is a free service and we encourage you to sign up and it’ll be one of the tools that, if there is an emergency need inside the city, it will alert you to what’s going on,” Callis said.

Those that have signed up for CodeRED may receive calls or text messages as part of a test on Friday, August 2, according to the City of Portland’s Facebook page . That test would happen between 10 a.m. and noon.

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